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 learn

• The psychology of high performance: obsession, OCD loops, and “winning against yourself”

• Building, losing, and rebuilding: dot-com crash parallels + LUNA lessons

• Why networks dominate (Metcalfe’s Law + Barabási) and how that maps to crypto

• Behind the scenes of launching the world’s first televised crypto show on CNBC (2017)

• Scaling Crypto Banter, monetization, and dealing with hate comments at scale

• Ran’s framework for 2026: commodities, tech, AI agents, and crypto’s role

Chapters (approx.)

• 00:01 – Intro: who is Ran Neuner?

• 02:30 – “Winning” obsession + constructive paranoia

• 13:20 – Israel → South Africa + early entrepreneurship

• 16:15 – The stockbroker story (and getting fired)

• 21:40 – Dot-com crash, insolvency, and the J-curve

• 28:45 – Building Africa’s largest marketing agency + $150M sale

• 32:40 – Harvard, network effects, and why crypto clicked

• 39:50 – CNBC Crypto Trader: the first televised crypto show (2017)

• 46:00 – The coffee shop YouTube era → Crypto Banter explosion

• 49:45 – LUNA: “I lost $130M in four days”

• 55:20 – Monetizing Banter + rebuilding

  01:01:15 – 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

EY’s Global Blockchain Leader Paul Brody joins Yitzy on Beyond the Code to peel back the curtain on how big companies really operate (“chaos on the inside”), why public blockchains beat private networks, and what it takes to ship serious enterprise workflows on Ethereum.

We trace Paul’s zig-zagging path—Nigeria during a coup, Apple’s textbook S&OP, a Samsung prototype with a young Vitalik—to EY’s privacy stack (Nightfall/Starlight) and his “pragmatic ETH-maxi” thesis. Also: the lore behind EY’s most coveted swag.

• 
  

• • Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbrody/

  • Paul on X: https://x.com/pbrody

  • Book — Ethereum for Business (in Plain English): https://www.amazon.com/Ethereum-Business-Plain-English-Generate-Management/dp/1954892101

    Buenos Aires event:⁠ https://luma.com/kylnbzb8

  • EY Blockchain (Nightfall/Starlight code): github.com/eyblockchain ・ blockchain.ey.com

• 
  Timestamps:

• • 00:00 EY boxer-shorts 😄

  • 07:06 Paul’s backstory: Africa studies → Nigeria mobile → first trip to Israel

  • 10:49 The coup, payroll, and a Swissair IOU

  • 13:35 “Chaos on the inside”: Samsung & big-company reality

  • 21:33 Apple’s S&OP masterclass (sales/marketing/supply chain in lockstep)

  • 33:48 Bitcoin → Ethereum: CES 2015 prototype with Vitalik; the light-bulb moment

  • 37:43 EY Blockchain: services + software; why zero-knowledge privacy mattered

  • 45:36 OpsChain, tokenizing “stuff,” notarization, contract manager; Xbox case study

  • 51:15 “Pragmatic ETH-maxi”: why standardization and network effects matter

  • 54:37 Enterprise Ethereum Alliance: becoming chair; back to public-chain roots

  • 56:50 ETH as an asset; closing notes & where to follow Paul

In this episode, Yitzy is joined by Yehuda Lindell—founder of Unbound Security (acquired by Coinbase), longtime professor and one of the earliest researchers in secure multiparty computation (MPC).

We trace his journey from Australia to Israel and from theory to industry, then dive into how Coinbase secures customer assets using layered cryptography: MPC, secure enclaves, HSMs, cold elements, and rigorous review processes. Yehuda explains MPC in plain English (with a great DNA example), why “defense-in-depth” beats any single fortress, how insider threats are modeled, and what Coinbase’s production bar looks like.

We also talk CS education in the age of AI, and why students should learn to program with AI rather than fear it. Yehuda closes with a pointer to CB-MPC, Coinbase’s open-source MPC engine, and a broader call for rigor when turning cryptography papers into production systems.

Resources and Links:

Yehuda on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yehudalindell/

Yehuda on X: https://x.com/LindellYehuda

Coinbase's CB-MPC library: https://github.com/coinbase/cb-mpc

Timestamps:

• 00:00 — Intro & Yehuda’s background

• 05:43 — What is cryptography (for non-experts)

• 16:00 — MPC 101 (privacy, correctness, shard thresholds)

• 19:36 — Real-world key splitting; surviving full IT compromise

• 23:38 — Coinbase’s defense-in-depth philosophy

• 24:34 — What secure enclaves are (and side-channel realities)

• 28:52 — Cold elements, cross-domain guards, layered participants

• 31:31 — Coinbase’s production bar & independent reviews

• 35:54 — CS, AI, and training “with” AI
  41:59 — CB-MPC and parting advice

  
  

In this episode of Beyond the Code, Yitzy sits down with Steve Epstein — a distinguished systems/cybersecurity & AI engineer with roots at Bell Labs (alongside Peter Shor & Lov Grover), decades at NDS/Cisco/Synamedia, and currently working at Rafael, in Israel’s defense sector.

Steve explains, in plain English, why quantum computing threatens today’s internet (RSA, ECDH, ECDSA), what Q-Day means, and when [it might be] coming, and how post-quantum cryptography (PQC) must be rolled out across clouds, hardware, supply chains, and especially blockchains.

We cover the journey from satellite-TV smart cards and anti-piracy cat-and-mouse, to Netflix’s cloud migration and account-sharing detection (one of Steve’s 40–50 patents), to the stark reality of “harvest-now, decrypt-later”.

Bottom line: crypto agility and PQC migration have to start now if we want banking, messaging, and crypto ledgers to survive the 2029–2035 Q-Day window.

Topics & Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro — who is Steven Epstein (Bell Labs → NDS/Cisco → Rafael; 40–50 patents)

• 07:45 Smart cards, satellite TV security, and why hardware upgradability mattered

• 12:20 Cloud era: Netflix, AWS, microservices — and the collapse of legacy pay-TV models

• 18:45 Piracy at scale: finding and knocking down illegal streams (and why it barely works)

• 23:30 Quantum 101: Shor’s algorithm, RSA/ECDH/ECDSA risk, Q-Day timelines

• 31:40 PQC overview: Kyber, Dilithium, Falcon, SPHINCS+, HQC; crypto-agility in practice

• 36:50 Harvest-now/decrypt-later and why blockchains are uniquely exposed

• 41:50 Migration realities: cars, routers, military systems, supply chains

• 47:30 What to do now: prioritize PQC for wallets, ledgers, key exchanges, and messaging

In this episode, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein (Tokyo Vice) joins Yitzy to discuss his newly published book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin, a front-row narrative of the Mt. Gox collapse, where ~850k bitcoin went missing, and the cast of characters that shaped crypto’s formative years—from exchange founder Mark Karpelès to law-enforcement sleuths and the corrupt agents who derailed the Silk Road case.

We trace Jake’s path from police beat reporting in Japan to human-trafficking investigations, dig into what Jake refers to as Japan's “hostage justice” system, and debate regulation vs. libertarian ideals in crypto.

Enjoy!

Links:

Substack: Tokyo Paladin (Jake’s essays and investigations): https://tokyopaladin.substack.com/

Wikipedia overview (bio, books, and TV adaptation of Tokyo Vice): ⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Adelstein

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Takes-Bitcoin-Cryptocurrency-Connection/dp/1964992176

X (Twitter): https://x.com/jakeadelstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeadelstein/