Welcome to Beyond the Code, the podcast where we dive into the legal, regulatory, and ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies. Each week, we bring you in-depth conversations with industry experts, discussing the latest advancements in technology and their implications on society and the legal system. From artificial intelligence to blockchain, we'll be exploring all the hot topics in the field. Your host, Yitzy Hammer, a lawyer and tech enthusiast, is joined by a diverse group of experts, providing valuable insight into the complex and ever-evolving world of technology.
E110: Mark Karpelès on Ledger Implants & the Real Mt. Gox Story
Mark Karpelès bought a half-price Ledger Nano X, opened it, and found a mass-produced spy implant. The former Mt. Gox CEO explains what he found, and how to check your own wallet.
Mark, now CEO of Karpelès Labs in Japan, spotted the implant before the CryptoBillis story broke. He walks through how it uses an LTE antenna to send data back to the attacker, why he's now sharing his findings with Ledger, and the detector he's building to tell you "clean" or "not clean." He also explains how to open a Nano X yourself.
Then we go back to 2010: accepting Bitcoin for web hosting, taking over Mt. Gox from Jed McCaleb, growing from about 6,000 customers to 1 million in two years, the Silk Road fallout and the $5M US seizure, years under public suspicion, and how he'd build a secure exchange today with all-cold storage and FROST. We finish with AI and CatCard, his custom firmware for the Coldcard.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome, Mark Karpelès
04:11 Karpelès Labs: "specialized in doing the impossible"
06:14 The CryptoBillis Ledger implant story
08:03 Finding a mass-produced implant in a half-price Nano X
12:22 Ledger's response, and cooperating now
14:40 The risk of a broad reseller network
15:50 Mark's implant detector
19:22 How to check a Nano X yourself, and the warranty catch-22
21:17 A cat-and-mouse game with implant makers
23:40 Mark's story: from France to Japan
30:49 Taking over Mt. Gox from Jed McCaleb
34:10 From 6,000 to 1 million customers
35:39 Silk Road, banks and the $5M US seizure
41:11 BIP32/BIP39: what could have saved Mt. Gox
42:24 Living under suspicion
45:42 How he'd build an exchange today
48:44 Bankruptcy and creditor recoveries
51:31 A few months in Israel
55:30 Crypto, AI and 20–30 agents at once
1:00:49 CatCard: custom Coldcard firmware
1:04:00 Where to follow Mark, and a parting warning
Guest: Mark Karpelès – X: https://x.com/MagicalTux
Host: Yitzy Hammer – X: https://x.com/ijhammer · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ijhammer · DLT Law: https://www.dltlaw.io
Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/MeG8kFkCPQQ
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24 Sept 2026
E109: Zohar Fisher on AI, the Future of Lawyers & the End of Hourly Billing(?)
I’ve told my wife I might need to retire in five years. Not because I want to stop working—but because I’m wondering whether AI will leave commercial lawyers with a profession that looks anything like the one we know today.
Zohar Fisher (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoharfisher/), founder of Robus (https://www.robus.co.il/) and co-founder of LawFlex (www.lawflex.com), joins me to debate that prediction. He sees disruption coming, but also an opportunity for adaptable lawyers who move quickly and build relationships their clients won’t want to lose.
We explore legal outsourcing, human review of AI-generated work, the uncertain path for junior lawyers, and the shift from hourly billing to value-based legal fees. Zohar explains the idea behind AI-native law firms, while I ask what happens to insurance, professional responsibility and the price clients will pay for human judgment.
We finish with a problem many commercial lawyers will recognize: AI turning a routine agreement into a long list of objections—and making a deal harder to close.
If you’re a lawyer, law student, founder or someone wondering what AI means for your own career, this conversation is for you.
Hosted by Yitzy Hammer on Beyond the Code.
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14 Sept 2026
E108: Diego Borgo | How Great Brands Make You Believe
Diego Borgo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegoborgo/) helped bring Adidas into the NFT and metaverse (https://www.adidas.com/us/blog/825513-into-the-metaverse-lets-go)world during one of the wildest moments in crypto history.
In this episode, Diego takes us behind the scenes of Adidas’ move into Web3 and reflects on whether the NFT boom was a failed experiment, a successful one, or simply too early.
We also dive deep into branding and storytelling: why great products aren't enough, what tech founders get wrong when explaining what they build, and how brands like Patagonia, Salesforce and Tesla create stories people want to become part of.
But the conversation eventually becomes much more personal. Diego opens up about faith, fatherhood, hope, leaving security behind, and the importance of showing your kids what's possible.
He also shares the story of the wall of images he created during one of the hardest periods of his life — pictures representing the future he wanted — and what happened when he looked back years later and realized he was living it.
Who has been a guest on Beyond the Code
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Samuel Cardillo
Gabe Shapiro
Aaron Payas
Justin Wales
Joni Pirovich
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
10,769
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
16 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 64 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
70
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
71
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Yitzy host the show. Published by Yitzy Hammer.
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