# Trust Revolution

> Unfiltered conversations with builders, thinkers, and operators in Bitcoin and beyond. Exploring systems we trust, why they work (or don't), and what's next.

Rethinking trust for a decentralized future. A podcast hosted by Shawn Yeager. Each episode is an unfiltered conversation with builders, thinkers, and operators across Bitcoin, privacy, decentralization, AI, and the future of trust online. Listen on Fountain (stream sats, not ads), watch on YouTube, or read on Substack.

## Episodes
- [Self-Custody for You and Your AI — Roland Bewick (2026-03-06)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e07-roland-bewick/): Alby developer Roland Bewick built self-custodial Lightning for humans—then taught an AI agent to custody Bitcoin and spawn its own child agents.
- [Your Data's Already Gone. Now What? — James Lee (2026-02-25)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e06-james-lee/): Identity Theft Resource Center president James Lee on why Social Security numbers are worthless but driver's licenses cost $200.
- [Your Money, Your Data, Your Mind — Jesse Posner (2026-02-19)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e05-jesse-posner/): FROST creator Jesse Posner on why your hardware wallet leaks data, self-custody must include physical security, and your AI is the next target.
- [Total Surveillance Is One Switch Away — John Robb (2026-02-12)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e04-john-robb/): John Robb maps the path from identity collapse to automated totalitarian surveillance and why most countermeasures won't work.
- [Bitcoin's Origin Story and the Unfinished Fight — Aaron van Wirdum (2026-02-05)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e03-aaron-van-wirdum/): Author Aaron van Wirdum documents the decades-long war to build money governments can't control—and warns the fight isn't over.
- [Companies Don't Keep Promises. People Do. — Jason Hughey (2026-01-29)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e02-jason-hughey/): Values on the wall, dysfunction in the halls. There's a framework that fixes it.
- [What Joe Rogan Lost for $100M — Oscar Merry (2026-01-21)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s03e01-oscar-merry/): Fountain CEO Oscar Merry on what Joe Rogan lost for $100M and why open podcasting beats platform exclusivity.
- [Reputation Without a Kill Switch — Pippellia (2025-12-18)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e16-pippellia/): One ban erases your identity. Pip built reputation they can't revoke.
- [What Dissidents Know About Bitcoin — Christian Keroles (2025-12-12)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e15-christian-keroles/): Only one billion people have stable currency and property rights. CK on why HRF treats Bitcoin as essential human rights infrastructure.
- [Why Ads Keep Winning (2025-12-05)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e14-why-ads-keep-winning/): Voluntary payment has never broken 5% adoption in 50 years. Why it still matters when platforms decide you shouldn't exist.
- [Why Every Platform Betrays You — Cory Doctorow (2025-11-26)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e13-cory-doctorow/): The man who coined enshittification maps exactly how every platform you depend on will turn against you.
- [From classified ops to open source — Average Gary (2025-11-19)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e12-average-gary/): 11 years in Navy intelligence. Now a Bitcoin miner. Average Gary on proof of work over credentials.
- [Bitcoin and Freedom by Design — Stephen DeLorme (2025-11-13)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e11-stephen-delorme/): Freedom tech is harder to build and harder to use. Stephen DeLorme on designing Bitcoin products that people actually adopt.
- [Turning privacy into Bitcoin's economic edge — Dan Gould (2025-11-05)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e10-dan-gould/): PayJoin breaks chain surveillance and cuts fees 25%. Dan Gould on making Bitcoin privacy an economic edge.
- [Digital ID architect builds the escape route — Tim Bouma (2025-10-22)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e09-tim-bouma/): He built Canada's digital identity framework. Now he's building on Bitcoin. Tim Bouma on straddling both worlds.
- [Power Without Permission — Trey Sellers (2025-10-15)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e08-trey-sellers/): Former Goldman Sachs risk manager Trey Sellers on why the wealth you think you control is just a ledger entry someone else manages.
- [Can you trust your mind? — Rob Brinded (2025-10-08)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e07-rob-brinded/): Your mind runs a four-year-old's survival code. Rob Brinded, author of Glitch, maps the operating system behind trust.
- [Privacy's last stand (2025-10-01)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e06-privacy-s-last-stand/): Disney fined. Google penalized. Governments pushing digital IDs. The surveillance trap is closing. Here's what's left.
- [Live from Imagine IF 2025 (2025-09-24)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e05-live-from-imagine-if-2025/): Live panel from Imagine IF Nashville. Shawn, Matt Odell, and Derek Ross on open communities in the age of control.
- [Trust Crisis: Paths to Renewal — Alex Newman (2025-09-17)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e04-alex-newman/): Investigative journalist Alex Newman rips the veil off digital IDs, institutional capture, and the parallel systems replacing them.
- [Breaking the spell of consensus — Jeffrey Tucker (2025-09-10)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e03-jeffrey-tucker/): Brownstone Institute founder Jeffrey Tucker on how COVID exposed the total state and broke institutional trust for good.
- [The future is peer-to-peer — Mathias Buus (2025-09-03)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e02-mathias-buus/): Holepunch CEO Mathias Buus built 1,000+ NPM modules and Keet. His case for a peer-to-peer internet that needs no servers.
- [CBDCs and defying digital control — Nicholas Anthony (2025-08-27)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s02e01-nicholas-anthony/): Cato Institute policy analyst Nick Anthony tracks 139 CBDC programs worldwide. Most are surveillance tools.
- [Reflecting on Trust Revolution: Season 1 recap (2025-07-10)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e13-season-1-recap/): Twelve conversations. One thread: trust is breaking, and the builders aren't waiting for permission to fix it.
- [Global financial control: AML’s hidden cost — OpnState (2025-07-02)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e12-opnstate/): A pseudonymous civil servant exposes how FATF's AML rules centralize power and erode financial sovereignty.
- [The past, present, and future of freedomtech — Matt O'Dell (2025-06-25)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e11-matt-o-dell/): Bitcoin Park, OpenSats, Ten31. Matt Odell maps the past, present, and future of freedom tech.
- [Bitcoin and American statecraft — Stephen Pollock (2025-06-18)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e10-stephen-pollock/): Inside the Bitcoin Policy Institute. Stephen Pollock on getting Bitcoin to the White House and the fight for self-custody.
- [The Internet’s lost promise and paths to freedom — R.U. Sirius (2025-06-11)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e09-r-u-sirius/): Mondo 2000 co-founder R.U. Sirius on the internet's broken promise, cypherpunk roots, and what we lost to commercialization.
- [Trust is the currency of the future — Rishad Tobaccowala (2025-06-04)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e08-rishad-tobaccowala/): 37 years at Publicis Groupe. Rishad Tobaccowala says we've hit peak jobs and trust is the only currency left.
- [Revolutionizing the app store — Fran (2025-05-28)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e07-fran/): Apple and Google control what you can install. Fran built Zapstore on Nostr to break the chokehold.
- [Navigating the unraveling cycle of society — Bronwyn Williams (2025-05-21)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e06-bronwyn-williams/): South African futurist Bronwyn Williams maps the unraveling cycle: when institutions fail, what fills the vacuum?
- [The balance of power is shifting — Yaël Ossowski (2025-05-14)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e05-yael-ossowski/): From Canada to Austria, Yaël Ossowski has lived under enough governments to know when the balance of power shifts.
- [Decoding trust — David Strayhorn (2025-05-07)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e04-david-strayhorn/): A neurologist builds GrapeRank on Nostr. Decentralized trust scored like PageRank, but personal.
- [The rise of peer-to-peer economies — Max Hillebrand (2025-04-30)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e03-max-hillebrand/): Max Hillebrand went from working inside the banking system to living fully bankless. A blueprint for peer-to-peer economics.
- [Reshaping privacy with secure enclaves — Marks (2025-04-23)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e02-marks/): Marks, co-founder of OpenSecret, on secure enclaves that protect your data the way Bitcoin protects your money.
- [AI, decentralized networks, and political swarms — John Robb (2025-04-16)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e01-john-robb/): Former Special Ops officer turned tech strategist John Robb on AI swarms, decentralized networks, and why institutional trust is fragmenting.
- [Season 1 Trailer (2025-03-10)](https://trustrevolution.co/episodes/s01e00-season-1-trailer/): Meet the builders rethinking trust for a decentralized future. Season 1 starts now.

## Essays
- [A bet worth making (2026-01-06)](https://trustrevolution.co/essays/bet-worth-making/): Voluntary payment can't replace ads at scale. Fifty years of data says so. But that was never the point.

## Pages
- [About](https://trustrevolution.co/about/): About the show and host Shawn Yeager
- [Why Trust Revolution](https://trustrevolution.co/why/): The thesis behind the show
- [Support](https://trustrevolution.co/support/): Support the show by streaming sats over the Lightning Network
- [Guests](https://trustrevolution.co/guests/): Index of every guest who has appeared on the show
- [Podcast RSS feed](https://trustrevolution.co/podcast.xml): Subscribe in any podcast app