back
user profile
rdl
39,336karma·10,537submissions·July 8, 2008
about
Working on stuff at the intersection of cryptocurrency and computer security. Also a Puerto Rico resident (Act 20/22); happy to help people move to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the federal tax exemption, 0% capital gains rate, and 4% business income tax rate. Also FFL07/SOT02.
Chief Security Officer for Evertas Insurance -- the world's first cryptoasset insurance carrier. https://evertas.com/
Previously, CEO and Co-Founder of CryptoSeal (YC S11), which was sold to CloudFlare on 2 June 2014. CISO/Board Member of Tezos Foundation 2018-2020.
Previous startup founder (HavenCo, a couple ecash projects, distributed colo, and DoD/Iraq contracting, new thing), too. Deeply interested in computer security, infrastructure, security, conflict zones, and making the world a better place.
Aside from living on a Caribbean island during crypto export controlled 1990s, I've lived on a tiny artificial platform in the North Sea, plus more reasonable places like London, Amsterdam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and spent 6 months diving in Thailand.
"I, the greengrocer XY, live here and I know what I must do. I behave in the manner expected of me. I can be depended upon and am beyond reproach. I am obedient and therefore I have the right to be left in peace."
Email: ryan@venona.com (etc) Twitter: @octal https://twitter.com/octal LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlackey
Top color: aaaaaa
recent activity (10,537 total)
comment
That's true, but depot-level maintenance could certainly deal with that. Taliban in caves in Afghanistan probably not, but ISI/AQ Khan organizations in Pakistan are fairly sophisticated (they built n…
comment
Actually, a lot of people pointed this out, as well as the suspicious address, and other inconsistencies (her age, lack of presence in the MIT student database, ...) Check out http://twitter.com/fake…
comment
I don't see anything saying the enemy is using US provided stinger missiles against US aircraft. There was a report of "smoke trail", which may or may not be accurate. If accurate, I would assume it…
comment
The scary thing is that Pakistan apparently now produces "Stingers" as well (ANZA-II); probably superior to the other foreign MANPADS out there. We let them distribute thousands to the Muj in Afghani…
comment
Not a crime. The US doesn't have an equivalent of the UK's official secrets act. I don't think it's actually a crime, although there could be court injunction against publishing, which you could the…
comment
Second (and more) languages are definitely valuable for the US -- having immigrants living in the US with fluency in their heritage language as well as English makes it easier for US companies to do b…
comment
I think that is not accurate. While undocumented workers pay more into FICA-funded programs than they take out in services, those are generally federal. Illegals probably consume higher per-capita ser…
comment
I'm expanding a startup in Texas or Washington State due to not just the high costs of California, but the uncertainty -- the state is basically bankrupt, as are many local municipalities, and it's re…
comment
Why does illegal immigration seem to be a bigger problem in California than in Texas? Maybe my perception of the relative problems is wrong, but certainly Californians complain a lot more about illeg…
comment
Probably the only way to genuinely reduce costs by an order of magnitude would be to create a "cash and carry, no recourse except gross/criminal negligence" parallel system. Given US society, the onl…
comment
Biomedical maintenance is definitely expensive, but there are a lot of things which can be done technologically which improve quality AND lower costs:
1) Better remote diagnostics on equipment
2) Desi…
comment
I wonder how much this lowers the price of 30 day rentals in April 2011 vs. 3 x 10 day rentals today. I was going to AirBnB a few separate places in different parts of NYC for a month or so, but now i…
comment
It's interesting and nice to see that they are working hard and applying Actual Computer Science to solve a problem which really just enhances privacy for end users, and which they aren't legally forc…
comment
This sounds like Core Wars and Network Tierra combined, both from 15-25 years ago. I would definitely play an MMO which let me script and didn't require my realtime involvement. EVE Online is like th…
comment
It seems like it is worth the goodwill and ongoing non-CEO involvement of a founder to keep him on in a role other than CEO after being replaced (if necessary) in year 3-5. There are still plenty of i…
comment
Why can't they just lease Ka (or maybe Ku) band transponders, at least to start? That replaces $1b capex with somewhat-higher opex.
comment
2C-D actually was alleged in PIHKAL to be cognition-enhancing in sub-5mg doses.
comment
Somehow the thought of close air support pilots on 2C-I does not fill me with confidence. What dosages are you talking about? 2-5mg? 10-25mg?
comment
Even an unsuccessful claim could cost tens or hundreds of thousands to defend.
comment
I am definitely a fan of a service which passively learns my tastes as a side effect of activity (like amazon recommendations, last.fm) vs. Requiring me to manually enter my favorites, especially over…
comment
private fiber maps are sometimes kept private (post 9-11) on vague "anti-terrorism" grounds. however, the palo alto metro fiber map is public. I just don't happen to have a copy on my iPad, sorry.
comment
This is a great point against living in NYC metro area. I doubt you'd suffer this in Boston (Academia seems to be the dominant life form), SFBA (tech; a trader would be a lot less sexy than the found…
comment
centered around university, waverly, and bryant. I know 365 Forest (condo building) would have been about $3k to add, since the fiber was in the basement. There is a utilities guy at city hall who has…
comment
I personally think "worthwhile" girls are not so much attracted to money as financial stability and responsibility. However, there are times when toys are really nice to have, and can be fun in socia…
comment
An open fuel cycle (without reprocessing) makes nuclear power pretty worthless, as has been shown in the US over the past 30 years. President Carter banned reprocessing in the US over bogus weapons pr…
comment
Palo Alto, if you can pick the right property, also has the benefit of metro fiber. If you can find a house or office on the right street (Waverly, a few others; ask at City Hall, the fiber utility g…
comment
I lived in the loin around 2003, pretty much at the worst part (6th/Jones). It was bad enough that I got hassled on the streets by drug dealers when I stood outside (I think they assumed I was involv…
comment
For the past 12 years I have often been either the only American in a group, or the only white guy, or the only person who went to a top-tier tech school. I've been in groups that have been totally m…
comment
If you put it that way I sort of agree, although I think Americanized ethnicity or race is much less dominant as a trait than other traits.
comment
I sit with people with a googledocs spreadsheet and we plug in numbers for various scenarios, so they can see what happens if there is a quick sale vs. multi round and then later. And show how cash …