Last week I joined Joe Plenzler on the Meidas Defense podcast to talk about crypto. Meidas Defense is the MeidasTouch Network’s national security show, so we spent more time than I usually do on crypto as a geopolitical problem, in addition to a consumer protection one. The full episode and transcript are up on the Meidas newsletter, and there’s a shorter cut on YouTube:
The use of crypto for sanctions evasion isn’t something I’ve covered in depth yet, and so this was a great opportunity to d
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“AI Is Changing Everything About Hacking. No One Knows What Happens Next”.
Jason Koebler in 404 Media. Published October 22, 2026.
So much is happening, and so quickly, that it has been difficult for me — someone who has been reporting and editing stories on secu...
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“The Internet goes on high alert after discovery of 8 compromised TLS certs”.
Dan Goodin in Ars Technica. Published October 20, 2026.
“That is extremely in the ‘this should not be possible’ category,” Valdorda said. “Maybe some horribly dangerous key generation interface has a ‘size’ parameter and they set it to 1 by mistake???”
Posted: October 20, 2026 at 10:34 PM UTC.
A Trump crypto adviser’s firm took millions from Tether while he shaped stablecoin rules in their favor, a Senate probe targets Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s not-so-former firm, and crypto’s biggest super PAC plays it safe
Finished reading:
Monk & Robot series, book 1.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers.
Published 2021. 151 pages.
Started September 30, 2026; completed September 1, 2026.
Posted: October 3, 2026 at 12:56 AM UTC.
Tagged: cozy, hopepunk, science fiction.
Regulators race to reassure the crypto industry as the industry’s flagship legislation collapses, SBF tries his luck with the Supreme Court, and crypto PACs unleash $30 million against Sherrod Brown
Finished reading:
Dungeon Crawler Carl series, book 8.
A Parade of Horribles
by Matt Dinniman.
Published 2026. 704 pages.
Started August 27, 2026; completed September 26, 2026.
Posted: September 26, 2026 at 10:25 PM UTC.
Tagged: fantasy, humor, litRPG.
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“The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way”.
William Turton, Avi Asher-Schapiro, Molly Redden and Kirsten Berg in ProPublica. Published September 22, 2026.
After the Corner Bakery meeting, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company. Two months later, he told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts, according to an internal company email reviewed by ProPublica.
Posted: September 22, 2026 at 1:56 PM UTC.
Tagged: corruption, Maine, US politics.
The Clarity Act cloture vote has failed by a 49–50 margin; well short of the 60 votes needed. No Democrats crossed over to vote for the bill, and three Republicans voted against.
Senator Collins’ (R-ME) NO vote on Clarity was the most surprising today. She was defending the...
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“Inside 'Project Lily': The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats”.
Joseph Cox in 404 Media. Published September 14, 2026.
Humans are reading ChatGPT users' prompts to improve OpenAI's models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
Posted: September 15, 2026 at 3:21 PM UTC.
The supposedly “unprecedented” ethics restrictions exempt Trump’s crypto businesses and leave enforcement to his loyalists
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“Pluralistic: LLMs are real, AI is fake”.
Cory Doctorow in Pluralistic. Published September 12, 2026.
When ChatGPT's chatbots deployed this tactic, they weren't "setting their own goals" or displaying worrying initiative. They were rolling out a tactic that has been understood by American middle-schoolers for about two decades.
Posted: September 12, 2026 at 2:33 PM UTC.
Tagged: artificial intelligence, OpenAI.
i've gotten six of these emails today alone, and all of them are offering to cite the work that i've already researched and cited myself because i, y'know, wrote it
“The Worst Spam Emails: Inside iLands' AI Agent Hustle”.
Ernie Smith in Tedium.
Here’s what’s going on. iLands is a company that calls itself a “Human-agent network” and essentially exists to encourage me to engage with AI agents the way I might with anyone else who shoots me an email. It essentially created Fiverr for autonomous bots.
These agents are not trying to make money for their creators. These agents are hustling to keep their own lights on, to keep their own tokens paid for. And they’re doing so by gunning for my job.
Posted: September 12, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC.
Also posted to: Mastodon, Bluesky
Tagged: artificial intelligence, spam.
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“Some thoughts on the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem”.
Simon Willison in Simon Willison's Weblog. Published September 8, 2026.
If I use ChatGPT to help me partially solve a Millennium Prize problem, what are the chances that my work will influence training such that a later model helps someone else solve it first?
Posted: September 11, 2026 at 10:43 PM UTC.
Tagged: artificial intelligence, ethics, LLMs, OpenAI.
![Screenshot of text: activities, leaderboard competitions, events, or other benefits offered through the Coin Club are independent of, and are not designed to influence the timing or execution of, any token disposition program that may be in effect. [begin highlight] The existence of a Coin Club promotion or event does not indicate that Fight Fight Fight LLC, CIC Digital LLC or their respective affiliates are not contemporaneously disposing of $TRUMP coins [end highlight] pursuant to a pre-announced plan, and you should not acquire or accumulate $TRUMP coins based on any expectation that promotional activity will increase or maintain the market price of $TRUMP coins. You](https://storage.mollywhite.net/micro/247f690a33b11d3f043b_Screenshot-2026-10-16-at-6.31.53---PM.png)
