Sam Venis

Reporter at The Block

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Articles

How the US could sleepwalk into a dystopian digital ID system

1 month ago | projectglitch.xyz | Sam Venis

Hello again! Today we continue our quest into the wilderness of digital identification. And once again: all the news that’s fit to Glitch, from Tornado Cash to World Liberty Financial. Jay Stanley isn’t a crypto guy. But the longtime American Civil Liberties Union policy watcher and privacy advocate is aware of the novel capabilities crypto folks have invented to get privacy on blockchains. And he thinks we should use them to escape a “nightmare” he sees unfolding.
I have seen the future of identity, and it is weird as hell

1 month ago | projectglitch.xyz | Sam Venis

Greetings! We’re excited to be back in your inbox. In this edition we’ve got a reflection on digital identity from ETH Denver, and an acknowledgment of North Korea’s growing crypto money laundering skills. Plus all the news that’s fit to Glitch. The question of how to best identify ourselves in digital spaces is as old as the internet. The rise of artificial intelligence is making how we try to answer that question weirder and weirder.
Has crypto lost the plot?

1 month ago | projectglitch.xyz | Sam Venis

Greetings from ETH Denver, where things have changed a lot since last year. Exciting projects still abound, to be sure. But it’s impossible to deny that the atmosphere has shifted—no longer can the crypto industry lay claim to the mantle of insurgent outsiders held down by oppressive regulators. The halls of power in the US ring with pro-crypto messaging. But is this the promised land? As we contemplate these big questions, we also have a look into the limits of ZK proofs.
Matthew Gasda's "Doomers" Asks, Is A.I. the Future? Or a Sign of the Apocalypse?

2 months ago | airmail.news | Sam Venis

About halfway through the second act of Doomers, Matthew Gasda’s new play, inspired by the ousting of Sam Altman from OpenAI, a camo-wearing think-tank blogger (played by Ira Gamerman) asks the corporate board a question: “Have you heard about the gardener of Babylon?” “His pride was a tree that bore fruit of pure knowledge,” the blogger continues. “But the tree began to grow uncontrollably, its branches reaching the heavens....
The Ghost in the Machine

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Sam Venis

6 hours agoWith the help of X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence, scientists have peered inside a 2,000-year-old Roman papyrus scroll scorched when Mt. Vesuvius erupted — and they’re thrilled by what they see. “This scroll contains more recoverable text than we have ever seen in a scanned Herculaneum …
The anti-crypto army lost, but developers aren't out of the woods

2 months ago | projectglitch.xyz | Sam Venis

Happy 2025! Sorry it’s been a while. We’ve been working hard trying to make Project Glitch into a sustainable business (more on that below). We’ve also been trying to make sense of the scene now that America has a “pro-crypto” President. At least one thing that hasn’t changed…Many in crypto have been taking victory laps since Donald Trump ascended to a second term as US President.
What was the New York Young Republicans Gala?

2 months ago | technicalpersonae.substack.com | Sam Venis

I wrote the majority of this story in December in the days after the gala, but it took me some time to finish it for wholly boring and administrative reasons. Consequently, I’ve had some time to ask myself whether it was worth publishing at all, since the event is long past and the news has already moved onto the next right-wing slightly fascist tinged party.
The Island of Eternal Life

Dec 6, 2024 | marsreview.org | Sam Venis

It was a clear tropical morning on the Honduran island of Roatan, and with the naked eye you could see right across the channel to the mainland, past the cruise ships and diving boats that dominate the coastline, looking out from a small city known as Coxen Hole—named for a British pirate who settled there in the 17th century to pillage the Spanish armada.
The moment we've been waiting for

Sep 10, 2024 | open.substack.com | Sam Venis

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Worldcoin’s struggle for hearts, minds, and irises

Aug 31, 2024 | projectglitch.xyz | Sam Venis

Happy September! Sorry we haven’t been around as much recently—we’re working on something big and we’re NEARLY ready to talk about it. It’s coming! In the meantime, let’s take a few moments to consider the implications of iris-scanning crypto orbs. In at least one important way, the conversation about Worldcoin is misplaced in time.