Beyond the Code

In this episode of Beyond the Code, Yitzy Hammer sits down with Scott Thiel, CEO and founder of Tokinvest, to explore how real-world asset tokenization is moving from hype to reality.Scott shares his path from award-winning lawyer and legal innovator to startup founder building regulated on-chain investment products in Dubai. He reflects on his years at DLA Piper, his early fascination with the intersection of law and technology, his exposure to China’s fast-moving tech ecosystem, and how that journey ultimately led him into blockchain, Hedera, and the world of tokenization.The conversation dives deep into Tokinvest’s mission to make high-value assets more accessible through fractional ownership, from racehorses and art to commodities and real estate. Scott explains why regulation has been the missing piece for RWAs, how Dubai’s VARA framework created the right environment for innovation, and why Tokinvest’s latest approved real estate product marks a major step forward for retail access to tokenized finance.They also discuss the hard realities of building in crypto, what it takes to bring compliant products to market, why not every asset should be tokenized, and what the next wave of adoption could look like as RWAs finally begin to scale.

Erin West returns to Beyond the Code to unpack the terrifying scale of today’s global scam economy.A former prosecutor and founder of Operation Shamrock, Erin explains how organized criminal networks built massive scam compounds across Southeast Asia, how human trafficking fuels these operations, and why scams like pig butchering, fake investment platforms, and extortion schemes are affecting far more people than most of us realize.We also talk about victim support, crypto tracing, Bitcoin ATMs, public awareness, and why this crisis is as much about loneliness and trust as it is about technology and crime.A powerful conversation about one of the most urgent and underappreciated threats of the digital age.Also, make sure to check out Erin’s podcast, Stolen.

Stephen Sargeant (Airdropd) breaks down what crypto compliance actually looks like from the inside: five years at Bitfinex handling investigations and law enforcement requests, why the compliance community is tighter (and more welcoming) than people assume, and how a single 20-minute video to Chainalysis turned into producing their podcast, Public Key.We also get practical on content: why “AI slop” is making real creators stand out, why LinkedIn is a “value piggy bank,” and what crypto Twitter natives get wrong when they try to port their influence over. Plus: surviving trolls, building narrative in a chaotic industry, and how early-stage founders can approach compliance without killing the business.

I sat down with Yoni Assia, co-founder & CEO of eToro, for a wide-ranging conversation that spans Bitcoin’s earliest days, eToro’s journey through the 2008 crisis, and why Yoni thinks AI agents will soon trade more than humans.We talk about Yoni’s early path into tech, his first startup (and the tough realities of unit economics), and how eToro evolved from a trading product into a mass-market platform powered by social investing and CopyTrader. Yoni also shares the inside story of his early crypto conviction - board fights, Mt. Gox, Colored Coins, and his reaction to the Ethereum whitepaper - plus thoughts on NFTs, UBI via GoodDollar (and who's still using it - someone! shocking!) , prediction markets, geopolitics, and whether quantum computing is a real Bitcoin risk (it is, and it isn't - Yoni spells it out real clearly, probably yet another Yoni prophesy).

Crypto lawyer-turned-operator Daniel Lo shares an “alternative legal career” journey, sharing how he wen from M&A in Calgary to Managing Director, GM and CLO at Acheron Trading in Singapore. He explains what it’s wearing both the legal and management hat, breaks down how a market maker supports token projects (from white-glove designated market making to execution/OTC), and what it takes to get regulated in 2026’s tougher environment.Daniel also dives into why he co-founded LDU (Legal Disruption Unit) to help startups and crypto teams move beyond the traditional billable-hour model (much like we do at DLT Law) - especially around licensing, compliance, and regulator engagement. Finally, he shares practical AI workflows for legal/compliance teams (including how to turn regulator guidance into a checklist-based gap analysis), and gives an Asia-focused regulatory outlook on Singapore vs Hong Kong, plus what to watch in South Korea as institutional participation opens up.Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn.

Prediction markets are booming - but Philipp Tsagolov, CEO & co-founder of Trendle, believes the next frontier is attention. In this episode, we talk about “AttentionFi”: markets that let you trade whether a person or topic will gain or lose mindshare online, using an attention index built from signals across X/Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.We also get into why meme coins were an early, chaotic form of attention trading, why perps-style mechanics fit attention better than binary markets, and what Trendle is building next as it moves from closed beta toward a broader launch.

In Episode 86, Yitzy Hammer interviews Ran Neuner (aka “Crypto Man Ran”), co-founder of Crypto Banter, to unpack the real story behind the brand: the childhood hustle that revealed his entrepreneurial wiring, the obsessive “must-win” mindset he calls constructive paranoia, and the hard-earned lessons from building a company to a reported $150M sale—then later watching $130M evaporate in days during the LUNA collapse.Ran walks through how he went from fired stockbroker to founder of Africa’s largest sales & marketing agency, why linear businesses eventually frustrated him, and how a Harvard network-effects framework helped him see crypto as networks + commodities - and why that matters for the future of markets. He also shares how CNBC Crypto Trader started (and why it became a pipeline to the biggest names in crypto), how Crypto Banter unexpectedly exploded on YouTube, and how he learned to handle public criticism when you’re “the face” during volatile cycles.Finally, Ran gives his early-2026 take on crypto - why he expects a major “catch-up trade,” what would make him question the thesis, and how to think about investing when narratives break.What you’ll learnThe psychology of high performance: obsession, OCD loops, and “winning against yourself”Building, losing, and rebuilding: dot-com crash parallels + LUNA lessonsWhy networks dominate (Metcalfe’s Law + Barabási) and how that maps to cryptoBehind the scenes of launching the world’s first televised crypto show on CNBC (2017)Scaling Crypto Banter, monetization, and dealing with hate comments at scaleRan’s framework for 2026: commodities, tech, AI agents, and crypto’s roleChapters (approx.)00:01 – Intro: who is Ran Neuner?02:30 – “Winning” obsession + constructive paranoia13:20 – Israel → South Africa + early entrepreneurship16:15 – The stockbroker story (and getting fired)21:40 – Dot-com crash, insolvency, and the J-curve28:45 – Building Africa’s largest marketing agency + $150M sale32:40 – Harvard, network effects, and why crypto clicked39:50 – CNBC Crypto Trader: the first televised crypto show (2017)46:00 – The coffee shop YouTube era → Crypto Banter explosion49:45 – LUNA: “I lost $130M in four days”55:20 – Monetizing Banter + rebuilding01:01:15 – 2026 outlook: catch-up trade vs thesis check

This episode is with Anna George, co-founder & CEO of CowSwap / Cow Protocol (originally built inside Gnosis, spun out in 2022). What’s wild is Anna spent about a decade in humanitarian/UN work before getting pulled into crypto in 2017 - partly because she wanted impact, and partly because UN bureaucracy will make anyone want to run away and build something. We talk about the real CowSwap origin story: the early DEX experiments that didn’t work (including six-hour auctions… lol), the liquidity chicken-and-egg problem, and how CowSwap finally hit product-market fit with intent-based trading, MEV protection, and “you only pay gas if the trade actually executes.” We also cover where they’re going next: cross-chain swaps that don’t feel like bridging hell, deeper DeFi integrations (including Aave), and a bigger push to make crypto UX not terrible.

In this episode of Beyond the Code, Yitzy sits down with David Alexander “Alex” Scheer, founder and CEO of zkMe, a zero-knowledge identity network that lets users prove who they are - and meet KYC/AML requirements - without exposing their personal data. zkMe builds identity oracles that turn existing credentials (passports, bank accounts, credit scores, tax records and more) into reusable, privacy-preserving proofs using zero-knowledge technology. Alex shares how a career that started in mechanical engineering and aerospace, moved through automotive supply-chain consulting and software, and eventually led him to Shanghai, MiCA, and the decision to jump head-first into decentralized identity. We dig into why MiCA’s early drafts convinced him that Web3 would need a decentralized identity primitive to survive, and how zkMe is now serving millions of verified users while staying fully privacy-first and compliant. Together we unpack what zero-knowledge proofs actually are (in human language), why Alex thinks ZK is more foundational than blockchains themselves, and how zk-based KYC can both meet FATF-level requirements and keep users pseudonymous until regulators really have grounds to pierce the veil. We explore the tension between regulators who are increasingly open to ZK approaches and compliance officers who’ve done things the same way for 40 years, as well as how stablecoins, self-custodial wallets and secondary markets are forcing a rethink of identity and risk.From open banking ZK credentials and under-collateralized lending, to AI agents, the “machine economy,” and the business model behind decentralized compliance, Alex explains where zkMe is growing next and why he sees ZK identity as an anti-cyclical bet on crypto’s regulated future.

In this episode of Beyond the Code, Yitzy sits down with Danielle Tichner, founder of W Source, a deep-tech venture builder operating at the intersection of infrastructure, crypto, and global commercialization. Danielle shares her journey from a red-headed, left-handed, dyslexic kid trying to “fit in” to becoming a top negotiator at Philips Electronics and then building her own firm that helps complex technologies actually reach real markets.We dive into what “deep tech” really means, how W Source evolved from cross-border hardware advisory into software, crypto and full-blown venture building, and why Danielle only wants to work on hard, complex problems. From decentralized vault infrastructure like Lagoon to the emerging world of Bitcoin layer-2s (RGB, OP_CAT and more), she breaks down what she’s excited about, how she evaluates teams and tech, and why most projects underestimate go-to-market far more than they underestimate code.The conversation also detours into negotiation as an art of “perceived win-win,” cultural nuance in Asia and beyond, how to actually get value out of crypto conferences, and closes with Danielle turning the mic on Yitzy to ask whether our future will be governed by regulators or by code.Find Danielle on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielletichner/X: https://x.com/danielletichner