Trip Report: The chocolate coins inside the Bank of Japan
Cody Ellingham | The Transformation of Value, 11/18/2025, 1 engagement
Cody Ellingham | The Transformation of Value
Creative & Host of the Transformation of Value Podcast.
"The threat of war had revived old anxieties about paper money, inspired a desire for the tangible, the immutable."
My latest interview is out.
In the 1970s Mehdi Bassiri worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Imperial Government of Iran, including as an attache in London before coming to Tokyo, where he rose to the position of first secretary at the Iranian Embassy. In 1979, the Iranian revolution took place and Mehdi found himself navigating between the old and the new regimes.
3/12/2026, 2 engagements
How does science fiction explore ideas of money, economics, and government? What is the role of speculative fiction in shaping how we see the world around us as well as helping imagine new possibilities? Eli K. P. William is a Canadian sci-fi novelist, game writer, and translator based in Japan. In 2015 he published his first sci-fi novel, Cash Crash Jubilee, the first book in his “Jubilee Cycle” trilogy.
Other ways to listen:
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/sci-fi-economics-with-eli-k-p-william
1/15/2026, 1 engagement
What if the global monetary system is actually breaking down?
1/15/2026, 1 engagement
Sci-fi & Economics With Eli K. P. William [Video]
How does science fiction explore ideas of money, economics, and government? What is the role of speculative fiction in shaping how we see the world around us as well as helping imagine new possibilities?
Eli K. P. William is a Canadian sci-fi novelist, game writer, and translator based in Japan. In 2015 he published his first sci-fi novel, Cash Crash Jubilee, the first book in his “Jubilee Cycle” trilogy.
1/8/2026, 1 engagement
Sci-fi & Economics With Eli K. P. William [Video]
How does science fiction explore ideas of money, economics, and government? What is the role of speculative fiction in shaping how we see the world around us as well as helping imagine new possibilities?
Eli K. P. William is a Canadian sci-fi novelist, game writer, and translator based in Japan. In 2015 he published his first sci-fi novel, Cash Crash Jubilee, the first book in his “Jubilee Cycle” trilogy.
Most recently, Eli translated The Traveling Tree: Lessons from a Nomadic Life, a book by photographer Hoshino Michio.
12/29/2025, 2 engagements
What is Ecash and how does it related to Bitcoin? Why is a layered approach to digital money important? Why is it important to get the UX of payments right?
In 2024 Erik Cativo (
) left his design job at Ericsson in Sweden to start building on Bitcoin full-time. This year he received a grant from the Human Rights Foundation to work on improving the user experience of Ecash, including both the Cashu and Fedimint protocols. Erik is also the Lead Designer at Hoseki, building proof of ownership infrastructure for Bitcoin.
12/28/2025, 12 engagements
🎧 Greg Girard is a Canadian photographer who has spent much of his career capturing the urban landscapes and people of Asia. He has authored several photographic books, including City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City, Phantom Shanghai, and most recently his upcoming book Snack Sakura, which explores Japan’s iconic night-time snack bars.
Other ways to listen:
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/greg-girard-and-the-art-of-disappearing-cities
People once looked up to work out where they were, now they look down.
11/30/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 Taiwan sits at the heart of global geopolitics, caught between history, identity, and rising tensions with China. In this episode, Chris Horton takes us inside the island’s struggle for survival and what it means for the world today.
Chris is a journalist based in Taiwan since 2015, covering the country’s foreign relations, domestic politics, economy, and society. Chris has released his first book: Ghost Nation: The story of Taiwan and its struggle for survival.
Other ways to listen:
11/11/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 Peter Fzero (
) is a tattoo artist, designer, and decade-long Bitcoiner. He is part of the 2140 Art Collective which includes over 50 artists exploring themes of Bitcoin / privacy / freedom / and consciousness through art.
Other ways to watch:
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/what-is-freedom-consciousness-with-peter-fzero
11/4/2025, 12 engagements
The Dangers Of Reporting On China W/ Peter Langan | The Transformation of Value
It has become increasingly difficult, and even dangerous to report on China. What does this mean for journalists covering sensitive topics like military defence, human rights, and politics?
Peter Langan is a journalist with extensive experience including almost 20 years with Bloomberg News in various roles such as: Asia Editor-at-Large and Tokyo Bureau Chief. He later worked as senior editor for the China Desk at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, during the time of the 2019 democracy protests, the emergence of Covid 19, and the imposition of the National Security Law upon Hong Kong.
10/26/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 It has become increasingly difficult, and even dangerous to report on China. What does this mean for journalists covering sensitive topics like military defence, human rights, and politics?
Peter Langan is a journalist with extensive experience including almost 20 years with Bloomberg News in various roles such as: Asia Editor-at-Large and Tokyo Bureau Chief. He later worked as senior editor for the China Desk at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, during the time of the 2019 democracy protests, the emergence of Covid 19, and the imposition of the National Security Law upon Hong Kong.
Listen now:
Other ways to listen:
10/26/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 For over 20 years Stiven Kerestegian has been exploring questions of design, innovation, and disruption, working with some of the world’s biggest brands including Microsoft, LEGO, and recently as Head of Global Innovation at IKEA.
But since discovering Bitcoin in 2017 everything has changed, Stiven has turned his focus towards applying design thinking to this new form of money, and how we might use it to build a more open and resilient financial system for the world.
Other ways to listen:
🎧 Bitcoin Mass Adoption Vs Parallel Resistance | Cody Ellingham
What do we mean when we talk about mass adoption of Bitcoin? Is it even possible? Or is something like parallel resistance more likely?
Photography of unplaces. Hong Kong.
8/14/2025, 1 engagement
Running A Marathon In North Korea + Arrested In China With Johan Nylander
🎧 I had the opportunity to sit down with journalist and Amazon best-selling author Johan Nylander.
Johan shares with me why running is important to him, and how he ended up running marathons in North Korea and Mongolia.
He also opens up for the first time publicly about his experience getting arrested in Xinjiang, Western China, while reporting on the oppression that the Muslim population faces there.
This episode is a must-watch. We tackle some bigger questions about freedom, the role of journalism, technology, and why it is important to go and see the world with your own eyes.
7/24/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 How Do Governments And Banks Create Money? With Paul Sheard / TTOV Podcast
Paul Sheard is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of The Power of Money: How Governments and Banks Create Money and Help us all Prosper. As a financial markets economist Paul has extensive experience including previous roles as Vice Chairman of S&P Global, Chief Economist of Lehman Brothers, and Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.
Other ways to listen:
6/10/2025, 1 engagement
Photography of unplaces. Somewhere in Japan.
5/29/2025, 2 engagements
"Like that real China, this kid was a victim, a victim of communism."
5/24/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 What Is The Future Of Stablecoins? With Allen Farrington & Cody Ellingham
🎧 Allen Farrington co-wrote Bitcoin Is Venice and Only The Strong Survive, and is a co-founder of Axiom, a Bitcoin-focused venture firm. We discuss the future of stablecoins, their potential scaling issues, and the possibility of stablecoins moving over to taproot assets on the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Check out the original article that we discuss: "A Half-Baked Thesis on Stablecoins" by Allen Farrington
5/23/2025, 2 engagements
Sketches of unplaces. https://blossom.primal.net/6ef7fb9a4c311be4c0770c2e7be69ba38e774e59ca3892d15f1852b4af37b570.jpg
5/18/2025, 1 engagement
The Ghost in the Shell: Having Voice in the Age of Silence with Cody Ellingham
In a world of silence and screens, where the body hides and the voice is masked, what is our political power?
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/979583
🎧 In a world of silence and screens, where the body hides and the voice is masked, what is our political power?
5/14/2025, 3 engagements
Photography of unplaces. Japan.
5/12/2025, 2 engagements
Photography of unplaces. https://blossom.primal.net/28e93a1514fa8b171aea67becabbe2214d04597ce45c99abd2579581acdee11b.jpg
5/11/2025, 1 engagement
Tokyo: A spatial anthropology. https://blossom.primal.net/3ea81ad96624c299f116d7af0f426b5568fc17ef7d94d9290bd59179c9e939c5.jpg
Photography of unplaces.
With all the intense debate on OP_RETURN, worth mentioning that on ethereum, the major "Pectra" update has shoehorned 15 random things into the chain by decree. People are predicting some major risks and vulnerabilities from some of these updates which will be interesting to see unfold. https://image.nostr.build/a6d6fcbf918f6282dafebaeded38aa2950d869a5756ce8e9540f7c39caa20172.png
5/8/2025, 1 engagement
Can I just say, I find it incredible how climate change has been smoothly swapped out for AI as an existential financial risk for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. I was having a long talk with a friend yesterday about this. Both climate change and AI have elements of truth to them, but in the popular mind they have actually been taken further to fill the human need for apocalyptic myth-making and redemption which is as old as time.
5/8/2025, 2 engagements
Photography of unplaces. Somewhere in Japan.
5/4/2025, 1 engagement
Metropolis fiat. Somewhere in Japan.
5/1/2025, 4 engagements
What is Cryptosovereignty? With Erik Cason & Cody Ellingham
Erik Cason is author of Cryptosovereignty: The Encrypted Political Philosophy of Bitcoin. Erik is a regular speaker and essayist, focussing on the social, political, and philosophical aspects of Bitcoin.
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/965017
4/28/2025, 2 engagements
The Waves of Meaning | Cody Ellingham
https://www.patreon.com/posts/waves-of-meaning-127326271
"In the choppy ocean of meaning-making the waves are colliding and smashing together constantly in ways that are unpredictable and profound."
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/955854
4/24/2025, 2 engagements
🎧 James Scaur (
) is a prolific New Zealand Bitcoin entrepreneur and developer now living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. James recently won the bitcoin++ hackathon in Florianópolis with the project NostrPIX, enabling payments to anyone in Brazil using sats.
4/21/2025, 3 engagements
Short Story: The Coffin Makers of Ho Man Tin by Cody Ellingham
https://www.patreon.com/posts/coffin-makers-of-126921159
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/947826
4/19/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 Latest pod is out! I talk with
about her experience in Zimbabwe and Sub-Saharan Africa and how Bitcoin education can be shared to promote financial sovereignty.
4/14/2025, 2 engagements
This thing really is "picking up". I feel like something is going on with this amount of MSM co-ordination. Who is behind the curtain? Who are the Bitcoiners with their citadels?
4/4/2025, 1 engagement
I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with Ian Meredith and discuss his electric motorcycle company, Arlington Motorcycles. I also had the chance to test ride the Arlington A1 and capture some shots of it around Auckland.
Ian and I share a common history growing up in Hawkes Bay before making bigger moves globally, reconnecting through our interest in design and Bitcoin.
The level of Kiwi design talent behind this is exceptional. What’s also fascinating is how Ian has been able to use Bitcoin to fund the business while embracing a low time-preference approach.
Check out the interview here:
3/26/2025, 4 engagements
✨ Can you pull the money lever just right to control inflation? Spotted at Bank of England exhibition on money and the future of money. If you think that's crazy then you should study Bitcoin.
3/21/2025, 8 engagements
🎧 Latest episode is out: Andrew Wilson is an Author, Bitcoiner, and Professor of History of Christianity as well as host of The Disentanglement Podcast, exploring privacy tech and the surveillance state. We set out to explore the political identity of the left and the right. These labels have come to define our modern world. But where do they come from? What underwrites it all? How can bridges be built between them? From the French Revolution to the technological society, we explore anarchism, freedom, human agency, and what Bitcoin means for all of this.
3/9/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 Roger Huang
is author of the book “Would Mao Hold Bitcoin?”
We talk in-depth about China and Bitcoin and what is going on when it comes to Bitcoin mining bans, the Chinese Communist Party and the broader Chinese economy. We also unpick the various layers of optics and politics involved when talking about anything to do with China and how freedom and money play into all of this.
YouTube:
2/26/2025, 4 engagements
🎧
Ketan is co-founder of Ministry of Nodes providing educational content and tutorials on how to run Bitcoin nodes and private and self-sovereign computing.
We talk about freedom, privacy tech, threat models and the journey to being more private and secure in the way we use the internet.
2/20/2025, 1 engagement
O captain, my captain. A jug of milk still costs $10 right?
🎧 I am joined by Carmen Lau is a former Hong Kong District Councillor who was forced to resign by the government and later fled Hong Kong to the UK where she lives in exile. She is a pro-democracy and freedom advocate with the Hong Kong Democracy Council and a Freedom Fellow with the Human Rights Foundation and is wanted by the Hong Kong police with a $1 million Hong Kong dollar bounty being offered for information leading to her arrest. We talk about freedom and self-determination and importantly what it means to lose freedoms that you once had. We also touch on China and the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party.
2/18/2025, 8 engagements
The world's second hardest money. #misterdonut
2/18/2025, 1 engagement
🎧 How Do Tariffs and Geopolitics Impact Bitcoin Mining? With Bob Burnett
Bob Burnett is heavily involved in the Bitcoin mining industry, including being founder and CEO at Barefoot Mining and Board Member at Ocean.
We talk about Bob’s experience building personal computers in the 1990s and early 2000s in Japan, how those lessons apply to Bitcoin mining hardware today, and the manufacturing and geopolitical challenges and considerations for Bitcoin mining.
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/879522
2/8/2025, 4 engagements
🎧 Latest pod is out: Bob Burnett is heavily involved in the Bitcoin mining industry, including being founder and CEO at Barefoot Mining and Board Member at Ocean.
We talk about Bob’s experience building personal computers in the 1990s and early 2000s in Japan, how those lessons apply to Bitcoin mining hardware today, and the manufacturing and geopolitical challenges and considerations for Bitcoin mining.
2/8/2025, 3 engagements
🎧 Latest episode is out.
I'm joined by Nick Wilson who has spent over two decades working in energy and sustainability policy internationally, most recently at Mercury in New Zealand helping lead the company's energy transition strategy.
We ask: How does the energy market work and what are the political and market forces at play? Who is deciding what the sustainability goals are and what are the real-world challenges? What is the connection between renewable energy and the need for flexible demand, and how can Bitcoin mining fit into all of this.
12/20/2024, 4 engagements
Me: Please! Don't destroy the economy and create a recession! New Zealand's Central Bank:
12/19/2024, 2 engagements
👀⚡️ New Zealand is the homeland of small and medium-sized enterprises where cashflow and savings are often a major challenge. Understand what a Bitcoin treasury can do for your business to strengthen your financial resilience.
⚡️🥑 Buy your avocados with Bitcoin in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
12/17/2024, 4 engagements
12/16/2024, 3 engagements
Can CBDCs claim to be digital cash if they are not private?
🎧 I’m joined again by
We ask: How do smaller currencies like the Kiwi Dollar (New Zealand Dollar) survive in a US Dollar dominant world? Is there a deeper geopolitical reason for the push for Central Bank Digital Currencies? Is the fight for physical cash a red herring when most transactions are already digital? And what is the role of Bitcoin in all of this?
🎧 Latest pod is out.
Dr. Anthony Jefferies is co-author of the book "Decrypting Money: A Comprehensive Introduction to Bitcoin", which gives an excellent technical overview of Bitcoin and includes a foreword by world chess champion and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, Garry Kasparov.
We talk about Anthony's background in automotive R&D and how a system’s design approach translates over into Bitcoin Thinking.
We also explore the interesting interplay between the different participants in the Bitcoin network: Cypherpunks, libertarians, and speculators, and how together push pull of these groups leads to Bitcoin becoming more antifragile.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/decrypting-money-with-anthony-jefferies
🎉 Thanks everyone for the recognition and the award from Web3NZ! I'm grateful to the Bitcoiners in New Zealand who have been pushing forward to build awesome stuff. Together we've been steering the meaning of Web3 back to what it ought to be: Bitcoin + Nostr!
My friends over at LightningPay NZ also snapped up Startup of the Year and there is a $100K party happening afterwards.
12/5/2024, 2 engagements
Shots from last weekend's Bitcoin #proofofwalk in Kamakura, Japan.
Framed my sketch of a temple in Kamakura.
12/4/2024, 4 engagements
Photography of unplaces. Somewhere in Tokyo. Instagram does not want me to upload this image for some reason so maybe I can get some zaps here instead?
12/4/2024, 4 engagements
Photography of places. Tokyo.
🎧 Latest pod is out.
I am joined by Aness Kattan and we talk about how his company, Structural Engineers NZ, have embraced Bitcoin by accepting it for payment as well as holding Bitcoin on the balance sheet of the company.
We talk about business, Aness’s background and his Bitcoin story, and the broader outlook for the construction market and housing sector as it relates to inflation and monetary policy.
11/29/2024, 1 engagement
🎧 Latest episode is out. Chris Moss is co-founder of ZBD
, a company building payments infrastructure for games and apps to easily integrate Bitcoin using the Lightning Network.
We talk about Chris’s background with Bitcoin and video game development as well as his time living in Japan during the Bitcoin Blocksize War. We also talk about the opportunities for integrating Bitcoin into other services such as for Podcasting 2.0 where you can stream sats to shows that you like listening to.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/bringing-bitcoin-into-gaming-with-chris-moss
11/25/2024, 1 engagement
🎧 Latest TTOV episode is out with Allen Farrington
, who co-wrote Bitcoin Is Venice and Only The Strong Survive, and is a co-founder of Axiom, a Bitcoin-focused venture firm.
We talk about Bitcoin is Venice and the book’s explorations of capitalism and the philosophy of economics. We also discuss Allen’s current venture with Axiom, investing in Bitcoin companies as well as broader ideas about capital allocation in a sound-money world.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/the-philosophy-of-economics-with-allen-farrington
11/22/2024, 4 engagements
gm.
🎉🌩️ I had the awesome chance to work on a workshop about renewable energy and Bitcoin mining at a technical college in Japan with Kenji Tateiwa, president of Agile Energy X who are mining Bitcoin in Japan.
With the students we discussed the possibilities for reusing heat, circular economies, and stranded energy and got hands on with an S9 and a Bitaxe. A bit of fun!
The technical college is located in Kanagawa prefecture and is focused on aquaculture and fish farming / fisheries which are also an interesting area for mining heat reuse.
https://m.primal.net/MCbt.jpg https://m.primal.net/MCbu.jpg
11/14/2024, 3 engagements
🎧 With the new Bitcoin ATH and euphoria it is worth remembering the long-term plan, check this episode with
11/9/2024, 3 engagements
🎧 Finding Freedom and Purpose with Alex Martynov.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/finding-freedom-and-purpose-with-alex-martynov
🎧⚡️ Latest pod is out! I talk with Nick Touran about the nuanced reality of nuclear energy, its history and the current political, economic, and regulatory challenges globally, as well as the outlook for nuclear and energy abundance more broadly.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/what-is-nuclear-energy-with-nick-touran
🎧 Latest pod.
I am joined by Alex Martynov, a leadership coach based in Prague originally from Ukraine. Alex founded the first website in Ukraine dedicated to Austrian economics and libertarianism and he also has an interest in Bitcoin and Freedom technology.
We discuss the big questions of purpose, self-actualisation, and meaning making as well as explore the nature of liberty, and what is meant by the idea of the good life.
We also talk about how psychology can be applied not only to individuals but to states and societies and the complex relationship people may have with the idea of freedom.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/finding-freedom-and-purpose-with-alex-martynov
11/2/2024, 1 engagement
Does anyone have any good detailed resources on the range of impacts and effects that miners can have by manipulating block header timestamps, and the mitigating timestamp rules?
E.g. Do mining pools dictate timestamps somehow in the template or is it up to the hasher? If it is up to the hasher, does the pool enforce the timestamp rules during scoring to make sure the compensated hash is valid?
🎧 Latest pod is out. I talk with Sovereign Origin (
) about his concept FITS (Financially Independent, Time Sovereign) a new alternative to the traditional FIRE movement (Financially Independent, Retire Early).
While both approaches aim to escape the “rat race,” FITS redefines the pursuit of financial independence through the lens of Bitcoin, focusing on sovereignty over one’s time with a unique perspective towards wealth, work, and life.
We had a great talk about the FITS concept, exploring some of the technical aspects, as well as some of the challenges inherent in the traditional FIRE approach which is built on the premise of the ongoing growth of the stock market and ultimately is not truely independent because the state can always come and turn off or confiscate your retirement fund – Something they can’t do with Bitcoin.
🎧 Latest episode is out.
Robert Warren is the author of The Bitcoin Miner's Almanac: Where Code Meets Business and Everything in Between, published 2024.
We discuss the book, which gives an excellent overview of what Bitcoin mining is and the operational considerations, as well as fascinating case studies of the different business models and types of mining operations.
Alongside this we discuss energy and the electrical grid more broadly as well as how to communicate Bitcoin mining and the importance of maintaining the grid and producing energy for human flourishing.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/the-bitcoin-miners-almanac-with-robert-warren
Photography of unplaces.
10/26/2024, 1 engagement
🎧 Latest pod is out.
Kenji Tateiwa is CEO of Agile Energy X who are mining Bitcoin in Japan and helping to reduce grid congestion with flexible load that matches the variability of renewable energy.
We discuss the long term outlook for Japan as it moves towards renewable energy more broadly and the challenges with the existing infrastructure network and how the innovation of Bitcoin mining can help with this.
Kenji also share his background in nuclear energy and we talk about strategies for communicating the Bitcoin mining story to the public.
There is no future timeline in which New Zealand becomes a wealthy and prosperous nation without embracing Bitcoin and its properties as hard money.
🎧 Latest pod is out.
James Pierog is co-founder and CEO of Bitcoin Prediction Market, a new company back by Bitcoin startup accelerator Wolf, enabling bets on real-world events using the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
We explore what a prediction market is, why Bitcoin is the perfect medium for this, and what new forms of crowd intelligence through prediction markets could mean in an increasingly complex world.
Along the way we discuss the intersection of philosophy and mathematics, the wisdom of the crowd, AI, and the challenge of dealing with rapid change.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/bitcoin-prediction-market-with-james-pierog
10/18/2024, 2 engagements
🎧 Latest Pod: Sam Trevethick is an award-winning music producer, songwriter and performer most renowned for his role as founding member of the live drum and bass group Shapeshifter.
We talk about Sam’s music, his inspiration, and his Bitcoin story - drawing a thread between the dynamic creativity of music and understanding the implications of Bitcoin on the world.
For the vibes:
10/14/2024, 1 engagement
🎧 Latest pod is out.
Bayani Mills is the Secretary & Acting CEO at the Australian Bitcoin Industry Body, providing advocacy on behalf of their Bitcoin industry members and advancing the adoption and understanding of Bitcoin in Australia.
We take a deep dive into Bayani’s work with the industry body: educating politicians, making submissions on bills before parliament, and trying to carve out a clear space for Bitcoin in the minds of the public and politicians.
Not everybody agrees with the idea of engaging the political leviathan, but as Bayani outlines there can be real consequences to inaction and though Bitcoin functions fine regardless, regressive policy can make life hard for everyday Australians to get started with Bitcoin.
https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/australian-bitcoin-industry-body-with-bayani-mills