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PODCAST

Trust Revolution

Unfiltered conversations with builders, thinkers, and operators in Bitcoin and beyond. Exploring the systems we trust, why they work (or don"t), and what comes next.

technology social sciences

All Episodes

85:20

S02E09 Tim Bouma — Digital ID architect builds the...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/10/22

“You cannot have trust without some form of governance. And governance is basically rules.” Tim Bouma has spent two decades inside government building Canada's digital identity framework. He's also building on Bitcoin. This is the conversation about what he's learned straddling both worlds, why centralized architecture creates problems that better policy can't fix, and why the future isn't about choosing between government systems and freedom tech—it's about understanding what each reveals about

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62:42

S02E08 Trey Sellers – Power Without Permission

Trust Revolution ·

2025/10/15

"If you go into a local community bank and ask for $50,000 in cash, you're going to get a lot of questions—and very likely they're going to say, 'Come back in a week, we need to order that.' The cash doesn't exist." Former Goldman Sachs risk manager Trey Sellers spent 15 years inside the machine before realizing the wealth you think you control is just a ledger entry someone else manages.Episode Summary Trust is breaking where it matters most: at your bank. Trey Sellers ran risk models at Truist

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83:22

S02E07 Rob Brinded – Can you trust your mind?

Trust Revolution ·

2025/10/08

What if the mind you trust is running a four-year-old's survival code?Rob Brinded, author of Glitch: The Hidden Code Running Your Life (And How to Debug It), joins Shawn to reveal how childhood programming creates unconscious “hamster wheels” that determine who we trust, why we repeat patterns of betrayal, and how intelligent people make devastating choices. This conversation maps the five binary programs installed in early childhood that run our lives—left-siders seeking value through

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32:07

S02E06 – Privacy's last stand

Trust Revolution ·

2025/10/01

September 2025 marked a critical turning point in the surveillance economy. Disney paid $10 million for illegally collecting children's data. Google faced $425.7 million in penalties for nearly a decade of smartphone tracking. Microsoft cut off a military unit for using their tools to surveil civilians. While corporations face mounting fines and compliance nightmares, governments worldwide are accelerating digital ID mandates—offering a false choice between corporate surveillance and state control

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22:17

S02E05 Live from Imagine IF 2025

Trust Revolution ·

2025/09/24

This week we feature the “Open Communities in the Age of Control” panel, recorded live on September 20th at the Imagine IF conference in Nashville. The discussion dives into the erosion of trust in a digital age dominated by surveillance, opaque algorithms, and centralized platforms. Trust Revolution host Shawn Yeager joins Matt Odell and Derek Ross to explore how broken incentives turn users into products, with censorship and deep fakes threatening livelihoods and verifiability. They advocate for

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49:20

S02E04 Alex Newman – Trust Crisis: Paths to Renewal

Trust Revolution ·

2025/09/17

Centralized systems—Big Pharma, globalist agendas, government education—are crumbling under their own weight, leaving trust in tatters. Alex Newman, investigative journalist and CEO of Liberty Sentinel Media, joins Shawn to rip the veil off these failures. With 2025 exposés on digital IDs, vaccine mandates, and institutional overreach, Newman reveals how entities like the WEF and UN erode sovereignty. This Trust Revolution episode delivers a raw dissection of power grabs and practical, decentralized

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64:48

S02E03 Jeffrey Tucker – Breaking the spell of consensus

Trust Revolution ·

2025/09/10

Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute and Austrian economics advocate, joins Shawn to dissect the COVID-19 response's devastating impact on institutional trust and explore paths to personal sovereignty. This conversation unveils how the pandemic revealed the “total state” pervading all aspects of society, why libertarian institutions failed during the crisis, and how Austrian economics principles point toward reclaiming individual freedom through timeless values and critical

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62:01

S02E02 Mathias Buus – The future is peer-to-peer

Trust Revolution ·

2025/09/03

In This EpisodeShawn interviews Mathias Buus, CEO of Holepunch, about revolutionizing the internet with peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies like Pear Runtime, Hypercore, and Keet. Mathias shares his journey from math student to open-source powerhouse with over 1,000 NPM modules, driven by empowering individuals. They discuss centralized platforms’ flaws, Keet’s open-source controversy, and how businesses can adopt P2P for a trustless future. Guest Bio Mathias Buus, Holepunch’s CEO, is a

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61:53

S02E01 Nicholas Anthony – CBDCs and defying digital...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/08/27

Shawn Yeager kicks off Season 2 of Trust Revolution with Nick Anthony, policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and fellow at the Human Rights Foundation, leading their CBDC Tracker. They dive into the escalating risks of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which supercharge government surveillance beyond laws like the Bank Secrecy Act. Nick, author of Digital Currency or Digital Control, traces the 2019 CBDC surge to Facebook’s Libra and flags

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00:19:35

S01E13 – Reflecting on Trust Revolution: Season 1 recap

Trust Revolution ·

2025/07/10

In this solo episode, host Shawn Yeager reflects on the first 12 episodes of Trust Revolution, expressing gratitude to listeners and sharing insights gained from conversations with various builders, thinkers, and leaders. The podcast aims to explore the erosion of trust in traditional institutions and the potential of decentralization and technology, such as Bitcoin, to restore personal sovereignty. Shawn discusses the importance of reaching those curious about alternative systems and highlights key

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01:05:59

S01E12 OpnState ‒ Global financial control: AML’s...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/07/02

OpnState, a pseudonymous civil servant and former corporate banker, joins Shawn to expose the hidden mechanisms of global financial standards and their impact on trust and sovereignty. From his role drafting anti-money laundering (AML) legislation, OpnState reveals how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) enforces KYC and AML rules, centralizing power and eroding individual rights. He discusses the challenges of reforming a surveillance-heavy system, the power of citizen action through Freedom of

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01:11:20

S01E11 Matt O'Dell ‒ The past, present, and future of...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/06/25

Matt O'dell, Bitcoin OG and freedom tech advocate, joins Shawn to dissect trust in a world of surveillance and centralized control. From Bitcoin’s role as a beacon of financial agency to Signal's strides in secure communication, O'dell unpacks the tools reshaping money, identity, and expression. As co-founder of Bitcoin Park, OpenSats, and Ten31 Ventures, and host of Rabbit Hole Recap and Citadel Dispatch, he shares a decade of insights on building privacy-first businesses and communities. Recorded

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01:21:18

S01E10 Stephen Pollock ‒ Bitcoin and American statecraft

Trust Revolution ·

2025/06/18

Stephen Pollock, SVP of Development at the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), joins Shawn to explore Bitcoin’s growing role in U.S. policy and statecraft. This discussion covers BPI’s mission to educate policymakers, the challenges of Washington’s political landscape, and the push for Bitcoin as a tool for freedom and national interest, including the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.BackgroundStephen Pollock, Senior Vice President of Development at the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

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00:54:03

S01E09 R.U. Sirius ‒ the Internet’s lost promise and...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/06/11

In this episode, Shawn sits down with a legendary figure from the early days of digital culture, R.U. Sirius, exploring the radical roots and transformative potential of the Internet. Our guest shares insights from his experience with pioneering publications like Mondo 2000, reflecting on the early ideals of user empowerment and decentralization. We delve into the evolution of the Internet from a space of individual freedom to one dominated by corporate interests, discussing the shifts in power

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01:11:38

S01E08 Rishad Tobaccowala – Trust is the currency of...

Trust Revolution ·

2025/06/04

Rishad Tobaccowala, futurist and author of Rethinking Work, joins Shawn to unravel the dynamics of power, talent, and trust in a decentralized, AI-driven future. This conversation exposes the seismic shifts dismantling traditional jobs, the rise of talent over capital, and why trust—rooted in truth and integrity—is the ultimate currency for brands and leaders. From technology’s promise to demographic realities, Rishad delivers a wake-up call for navigating the unbundled world of

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01:09:03

S01E07 Fran

Trust Revolution ·

2025/05/28

In this Trust Revolution episode, Shawn Yeager and Fran, the Buenos Aires-based creator of Zapstore, explore the chokehold of centralized app stores. Fran details how Apple and Google’s control stifles innovation and erodes trust, then unveils Zapstore, a Nostr-powered, decentralized solution with cryptographic security and social trust layers. This 65-minute conversation spans the frustrations of arbitrary curation to the promise of AI-driven “vibe-coded” apps, showing how decentralized systems can

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01:04:03

S01E06 Bronwyn Williams

Trust Revolution ·

2025/05/21

In this hard-hitting episode of Trust Revolution, Shawn sits down with Bronwyn Williams, a South African futurist and economist, to dissect the collapse of trust in centralized systems. Bronwyn analyzes how globalization and technology challenge institutional credibility, using South Africa’s governance struggles as a backdrop. She critiques AI’s centralizing risks, questions Bitcoin’s decentralized promise, and discusses ways businesses and individuals can rebuild trust. This conversation unravels

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00:55:33

S01E05 Yaël Ossowski

Trust Revolution ·

2025/05/14

In this episode of Trust Revolution, Shawn welcomes Yaël Ossowski, a consumer advocate and Bitcoin policy expert, for a candid discussion on the shifting balance of power between individuals and institutions.Yaël shares his global perspective, shaped by living under multiple governments, from Canada to the U.S. to Austria. As Deputy Director of the Consumer Choice Center and a Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, he unpacks how overreach during the pandemic exposed institutional distrust, why

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01:10:02

S01E04 Dr. David Strayhorn

Trust Revolution ·

2025/05/07

In this episode of Trust Revolution, Shawn welcomes Dr. David Strayhorn, a neurologist, electrical engineer, and freedom technologist, for a deep dive into Web of Trust. Recorded at Bitcoin Park in Nashville, David shares his journey from clinical practice to building Brainstorm, a personal Web of Trust relay on Nostr, and GrapeRank, an algorithm reimagining trust curation. Together, they explore how decentralized systems can empower individuals to control their data and trust networks, challenging

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01:01:39

S01E03 Max Hillebrand

Trust Revolution ·

2025/04/30

From working inside the banking system to living fully bankless. In this episode of Trust Revolution, Shawn welcomes entrepreneur, cypherpunk, and Bitcoin privacy pioneer Max Hillebrand for a powerful conversation about how trust, finance, and community are being rebuilt from the ground up.Max shares his personal journey from inside the banking system to living fully bankless, his leadership in advancing Bitcoin privacy, and how freedom technologies like Nostr are fueling the rise of decentralized,

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23 results

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