The Coldcard hack shows how hard it can be to run a bitcoin-only business. While building the hardware wallet itself might not be that expensive, it is a one-off cost. The associated ongoing software updates, paying for the updates to be professionally audited and running a credible bug
A Chinese friend was telling me today that many of his friends felt that the economy today was very unfair. Today isn't like the 1990s in China where everyone was equally poor and "just" working really hard was a receipe for success they say. It sounds
After listening to The Knowledge Project's episode on John D. Rockefeller over the past few days, I started reading more about him online. I knew Rockefeller's Standard Oil was big, but didn't know that it was so big that it was selling kerosene in
Banning Chinese competition is a losing strategy.
Diesel and LPG fuel prices in Hong Kong have massively increased since the beginning of the Iran war. As of today, the diesel price is around US$4.6 per liter...that's approaching US$18 per gallon for the metrically challenged. To help cushion the fast change in
On a rainy day in China with visitors from abroad, one of the best forms of entertainment is free: test driving Chinese EVs. Today, I test drove China's largest EV SUV, the 5.4 meter long NIO ES9 "Executive" SUV. It has 697 hp and is
I didn't invest in the SpaceX IPO and even if I wanted to, couldn't easily do so since they blocked Hong Kong residents. It seems like Elon timed and priced it perfectly for the company. The thing is, it's not a very good business
There are basically two modes of EV charging: Fast mode and slow mode. Fast mode is where you want to use the car, are in a rush and are waiting for the charge to complete so you can continue on a journey. This is the mode used by people on
China energy expert David Fishman penned a masterful analysis and refutation of the theory that China is closing the path that earlier generations of developing countries took to industrialization. This theory is all the rage in western policy circles and most recently espoused in a wildly shared article in Foreign
In the past week, I’ve come across half a dozen comments saying that the poster wants to use the search engine Kagi but cannot in good conscience because Kagi apparently sources some results from the Russian search engine Yandex. To spend $5 a month on Kagi would mean the
The high rate of cigarette smoking in mainland China has been one of its major downsides for the ~23 years I’ve been around. And the progress on this has been very slow. I've heard theories about this having to do with the tax revenue generated by the
Hong Kong-based BitMEX announced it's closing its doors on the 23rd of September of this year. I had the good fortune to know the founders and follow their journey from before they launched in December of 2014. It was amazing watching them go from an idea to