a while ago I tweeted "you know what's going to truly get us from web2 to web3? therapy." nitter.net/Sim_Pop/status/1678362… 20K impressions - people felt that I've been sitting with that idea ever since - it's finally becoming a thing (after a bit of procrastination because I was touching grass...) 🧵

People don’t fear change, they fear loss. Of what they know, of what is comfortable. Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is the sweet spot

Asia spent eons focusing on the soul and is now high on economic future. America is the young, rich overachiever, always focused on the body and trying to optimise its way out of death (and everything in-between). Europe used to run much of the world. Now growth is weak, influence is fading and the instinct seems to be more rules, more control, even more management. It does have that stubborn belief that life is for living, not just optimising though… It’s like it’s done just enough therapy to realise that achievement isn’t the same thing as a life well lived. Fine lines between integration and cope.

I’m thinking more and more about the fact that I’m living life entirely for my own sake. I never wanted children and still don’t so there’s no imagined future generation I’m doing things for. It’s just me, hopefully for another 60 years or so (ok maybe more with peptides). And it’s making “what for?” a much more interesting question. What am I accumulating for? What am I building for? We maybe spend too much of life assuming that things need to build towards something. That there needs to be an output, an asset, a legacy, some evidence that we were here… I think the experience is the whole point: not everything has to amount to something. We just get to be here for it…and what a wild ride we get to be here for!

T.S. Eliot: "Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important."

Exactly why I think the last (arduous) decade of decentralised governance experience matters far beyond crypto. We’ve been running live experiments in how systems behave under capture, collusion, concentration of power, politics, misaligned incentives and adversarial actors… AI governance shouldn’t start from zero - there is a giant body of scar tissue to learn from…

EUROPOL IS LOBBYING THE EU COMMISSION TO BAN END-TO-END ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATIONS "Horizon scanning on emerging privacy enhancement technologies" lobby report just dropped. Europol, with EU taxpayers' money, is again lobbying to end privacy, seeking unlimited access to all messages worldwide, and pushing to ban end-to-end encrypted messaging apps and VPNs. This is part of the EU Commission's earlier ProtectEU agenda, which includes concerning snooping laws and mass-surveillance elements. Europol calls privacy-enhancing technologies, or PETS, the tools of criminals: “PETs are used by criminal actors for secure communication, anonymisation, and protection of data. Criminal networks utilise various PETs, including end-to-end encrypted messaging apps, encrypted phones, and virtual private networks (VPNs), to communicate securely and anonymously. “ "For this reason, lawful access to electronic evidence has become one of the most critical issues for European law enforcement" These idiots still do not understand that the backdoor they want for themselves will be open for everyone in the world, and once opened, cannot be closed again. We had such a backdoor in the 90s, and after a lot of citizenship legal warfare, we managed to close it. The closed door was further tightened after Edward Snowden revealed how the USA spies on everyone on this planet, including the EU members of parliament themselves. Now, Europol wants the backdoors back because of “protecting the children.” If consumer-grade encryption is made illegal, criminals can, and will, still use it, as anyone can build an encrypted messaging app with an AI in two days. Only normal citizens will have their data collected, sold and consumed by advertisers, opposition politicians, Russian oligarchs, Donald Trump, and God knows who. And of course Europol itself. Remember, a state where the police make the rules is called a police state. Europe has a rich and complicated history of snooping on its citizens, as for example with the Stasi or Brigada Político-Social ("la Secreta"). Even our current politicians in this decade have been using Israeli NSO spyware to spy on opposition politicians in Poland, Greece, Hungary and Spain, and nobody in the police has been sentenced for this. Mind you, these were judge-approved requests. Against this backdrop, getting "lawful" access to all messages in the world is a tall ask from Europol. Furthermore, a deliberate path laid out for privacy violations and EU-wide snooping access erodes trust in the EU as an institution. The EU was sold to us as a trade union, but the Commission has taken an interest in turning it into the police state it wants. This drives voters to the far-left and far-right parties. And what do the European Commission and Europol want? Here are the most important highlights from the paper. BANNING END-TO-END ENCRYPTION IS A PRIORITY FOR EUROPEAN COMMISSION "This report presents the results of a joint horizon scanning exercise carried out by the EU Policy Lab at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and Europol, the EU law enforcement cooperation agency. It contributes to broader JRC efforts to support the European Commission’s political priority, the ‘New Era for European Defence and Security’, by anticipating future technological developments. “ END-TO-END ENCRYPTION MUST BE MADE ILLEGAL “Existing regulatory frameworks might need to be reviewed to clarify and simplify compliance processes and reduce the current legal uncertainty related to data usage, particularly in light of the challenges and opportunities that current and emerging PETs pose to law enforcement.” WE WANT TO HAVE A BACKDOOR IN EVERY SYSTEM “A proactive and informed approach to regulating advanced PETs and key enabling technologies is needed to leverage the benefits of these technologies effectively and to prevent potential new risks stemming from them. This includes developing clear guidelines to include law enforcement access to data.” WE WANT TO HAVE A BACKDOOR IN EVERY SYSTEM EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD WITH OUR POLICE BUDDIES, NO MATTER IF THOSE COUNTRIES ARE A BIT QUESTIONABLE “Collaboration and international partnerships are essential to develop common standards for PETs and foster law enforcement cooperation in fighting cybercrime, including lawful access to data for law enforcement agencies; implementation of relevant international agreements should also be promoted” The snoopers who signed this paper and want to read your messages include: — Sigita TRAINAUSKIENE (JRC) — João FARINHA (JRC) — Mark WITTFOTH (Europol) — Diederik DON (Europol) — Alexandra de MALEVILLE (JRC) And the others: — Adrianus Warmenhoven, Nord VPN — Bart Preneel, KU Leuven — Cornelia Kutterer, Considerati — Cyril Piotrowicz, FR Gendarmerie — Denise Mayerdorfer, Federal Ministry of Interior – Austria — Dorine Walter, National Gendarmerie – France — Fredrik Heintz, Linköping University — Freek Bomhof, TNO — Igor Nai Fovino, JRC — Ismael Alvarez, Europol — Johanna Laurin Gulled, Swedish Police Authority — Juraj Kubica, DG CNECT — Olga Batura, TNO — Pieter Nooren, TNO — Jürgen Freudenberger, Cyberagentur — Kasper Rasmussen, Oxford University — Kirsi Jauhiainen, Police of Finland — Marjolein Lanzing, University of Amsterdam — Miguel Fayos Mestre, Guardia Civil – Spain — Mihai Tiganus, Romanian Police — Ralf Zimmermann, Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector – Germany — Tariq Elahi, University of Edinburgh — Vasileios Rovilos, Future of Privacy Forum — William Borg, Danish Online Police Patrol — William Karlberg, Malta Police Force — Gwendolyn BAILEY (JRC) — Antonia MOCHAN (JRC) I have attached some screenshots of these authors celebrating the steps taken to erode privacy. If you want to stop this, the best way is to raise awareness: I kindly ask you to refer this to the local press and ask them to call these people for an interview to ask them what is so important that they should read our private messages. europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/…

this reminds me of “but crypto is used for drugs and porn” arguments I was having to counter from FT journalists when I taught them blockchain basics in 2018. Or NFTs being a "climate problem" in 2021 and artists getting dragged for going crypto. agree the fear is recycled. AGI's the wildcard though, we haven't been here before. But no technology will make humans good. It just makes us more of whatever we currently are…

be less worse

Episode 12 is live - "Growing Up" with @evabeylin She joined crypto because she realised management consulting was just duct taping a broken system and checking crypto Twitter in the bathroom felt more alive than her stable job. Then it was the people, putting her energy into building alongside them felt so much more aligned. But that initial idealism slowly turned into realism - both personally and industry wise. Crypto has had a 10-year experimentation phase and stress test on human behavior: the culture "grew up" because people got more evidence. But experimentation wasn’t a detour, it was the education. She also makes a point we don’t hear enough about: technical fluency matters less than people think. What matters is understanding the framework, learning fast, and knowing how to sell what you build - if nobody sees the product, it doesn’t matter how elegant the code is... As we journey through the past nine years, we also go through her exit from @graphprotocol - five and a half years in, she was burnt out. Not because the mission stopped mattering but because she knew she wasn’t the right person for the next phase anymore. That level of self-awareness and knowing when it's time to end a chapter tends to be rare. So is her answer to burnout: removing Discord and Slack from her phone and a vision of crypto slowly becoming more “9-to-5” socially, even if the rails are on 24/7. Because humans need to set and practice boundaries... Full episode - piped.video/bKrjn7RxaC0

one of the forms of ai psychosis is tricking yourself into thinking a lot of data, a lot of work, a lot of pretty ui is somehow valuable when it isn’t

Two days ago, we received an update from our shipping provider, ShipMonk. We're deeply saddened to share the news that the recent data breach affects more customers than originally thought. Another 67,000 customers from the US who ordered between November 2019 and August 2021 were affected, with their full details (name, email, phone number, shipping address, order number) exposed. All affected customers have been emailed directly. If you didn’t receive an email, then you are not affected. Throughout our entire relationship with ShipMonk, we repeatedly requested and received written assurance confirming the deletion of the data, in line with our contract, data policy, and past communications. We are very disappointed that, despite receiving this confirmation, the data was not deleted in their systems. Trezor systems were not compromised, and your device is secure. But please be alert for fake emails, phone calls, fraudulent letters, and potential risks to physical security. NEVER share your wallet backup with anyone or type it into a website. We’re terribly sorry to everyone affected. We take this matter very seriously and are working to ship anonymous delivery ASAP, so you can protect your personal information when placing an order. For more information, visit our blog: trezor.io/blog/news/recent-c…

“Technology’s job is lowering the barrier to entry to various fields so that they’re easier, cheaper, more accessible, more democratic, and more available to people.” - @jbrukh with @Sim_Pop for @_humanprotocol Catch the full episode ↓ open.spotify.com/episode/6hi…

Warm Intro: Simona Pop (@Sim_Pop) Simona Pop is an angel investor and advisor working with early-stage founders across web3, with a focus on strategy, governance, and the blueprint teams need to scale. She serves as a governance advisor to the @Optimism Foundation, leads public goods stewardship at @ENS_DAO, and hosts the @_humanprotocol, a podcast about the personal side of building big things. Her portfolio of collaborators runs from @UNICEF to @gitcoin to @SuperRare.

we will finally kill "stack too deep" the next @ethereum update brings both: 1) the ability to deploy larger contracts 2) lets compilers fix "stack too deep" eth dev is going to rip in Q4

More wholesomeness for you via @ricmoo on @_humanprotocol ep 11: Being kind to AI isn't really about the AI... it's about the kind of person you are when nobody's watching. A lot of people think of "be nice to AI" like it's future insurance. If and when the bots take over, maybe they'll remember you said please and thanks. Ric builds live fruit fly traps and then securely disposes of them outside. It's a tiny thing. But tiny things are the whole game. You are creating and practicing habits and habits spread out and reverberate into everything you do and build... Full convo piped.video/gGM9WoTNnHc?si=cbSC…

One thing before I start: everything in this post is public information from my own docket. None of it is new, and I'm not revealing anything you can't already find in the court filings yourself. The retrial just got pushed to April 26, 2027. The order came down today (Dkt. 300). My acquittal motion is still sitting there, undecided. I honestly don't know when this ends. Prosecutors are supposed to protect American interests and go after people who broke the law. A jury deadlocked on the two most serious counts against me. And still SDNY won't stop, because this case was never just about me. It's about setting an example. Don't take my word for it. Tara La Morte, the chief of SDNY's Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit, said it herself at a New York City Bar Association event (Law360, Feb. 23, 2024; filed on my docket as Doc. 25-2): "We want the industry to take notice." "What we're trying to do is sort of bring the industry into compliance, and I think Tornado Cash is an example of that." An example. Out of a developer who wrote code. At that same event, her deputy praised the government's blockchain-tracing partner, Chainalysis. Here is what they didn't tell the audience. All of it is from the public docket in my case. According to the trial transcripts, Chainalysis was running its OWN Tornado Cash relayer, and earning fees on the transactions flowing through it. - Chainalysis's own lawyers admitted to "a relayer node that Chainalysis operated"; my subpoena sought documents on Tornado Cash relayer(s) "used from March to August 2022." (Dkt. 211) - In open court, the prosecutor said it plainly: "I think the parties agree as to that part of the testimony, that the Chainalysis relayer earned fees." Same hearing: "there's zero evidence that the defendant was in any way aware that Chainalysis was running a relayer." (Dkt. 259, July 25, 2025) So the company that helped trace my "criminal" transactions was itself profiting from Tornado Cash transactions, while I was prosecuted over software I helped create. And when my lawyers subpoenaed them to testify? - Chainalysis moved to quash. (Dkt. 211) - The government backed them: "Your Honor, we agree with the position outlined in the motion." (Dkt. 255) - The night before, prosecutors called Chainalysis's counsel. The judge asked point-blank: "Did you let them know that they were potentially subject to investigation or prosecution?" The answer: "We have discussed at a high level some of the issues surrounding the relayer with Chainalysis." (Dkt. 259) - The Chainalysis witness took the Fifth. My lawyers learned about that call only afterward, from Chainalysis's own lawyer. (Dkt. 263) The jury never heard any of it. This spring, at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, something happened that I still can't quite believe. The Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, and the FBI Director, Kash Patel, sat on a panel called "Code is Free Speech." Think about that. The two top law enforcement officials in the country. Blanche told thousands of developers: if you're a coder and you're not the one committing the crime, "you are not going to be investigated and not going to be charged." He said the last administration's crypto cases were "outrageous attacks on the industry." Patel praised "the Chainalysises of the world" as FBI partners. And when the moderator pointed at the elephant in the room, my case, Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, the Acting Attorney General called it a "lingering case" they are "continuing to deal with." So here is my hypothetical question. If code is free speech, why am I still being prosecuted for writing it? And if the Chainalysises of the world are the partners, the same Chainalysis that ran its own Tornado Cash relayer and earned fees from Tornado Cash users, while I never did, why is it off the hook? They made an example out of a developer for writing code. Their own vendor ran the same infrastructure, pocketed the fees, and got a phone call instead of a prosecution. Sources 👇👇👇

The biggest lesson from living in southern Europe for almost 5 years now is to completely let go of expectations. You will be completely enraged by bureaucratic oddities and the narcoleptic pace of certain things while delighted by essentially living on perpetual holiday. Disappointment only exists in the gap between expectation and reality.