Everything we publish is open, dated, and written to still be worth reading in five years.
Reports are long-form surveys of a quadrant. Essays argue a single idea. Analysis follows the data. Notes are fieldwork in progress.
The Sovereign Stack: local-first software meets confidential compute
Two research programs that grew up apart — applications that keep data on the device, and hardware that proves what it ran — are converging into a single architecture. This report maps the stack layer by layer, profiles eleven teams building it, and models the financial infrastructure it unlocks: custody without custodians, compliance without disclosure, markets that settle in attested enclaves.
Intelligence is reshaping market execution
A look at how intelligent routing and automated decision-making are changing market execution, and the questions they raise about competition, transparency, and access.
Attestation as a market primitive
Remote attestation lets strangers trust hardware they don't own. The financial applications begin with custody and end with markets whose matching engines can prove their own fairness.
Sync engines and the end of the request
A technical reading of five production sync engines — replication semantics, conflict behavior, offline windows — and why the request/response web is quietly becoming a replication web.
The FHE cost curve, revisited
Fully homomorphic inference was 10,000× slower than plaintext in 2021. We re-run our benchmark suite on 2026 hardware and schemes, and chart what the curve implies for private finance.
The next chapter of digital payments
Connected platforms and intelligent services are changing how money moves. We explore the emerging infrastructure behind faster, more adaptable financial experiences.
Field note: financial tools beyond reliable connectivity
Financial technology has to work beyond ideal conditions. A look at resilient applications, everyday hardware, and the opportunities outside always-connected markets.
Who is liable when the agent trades?
Autonomous agents holding balances collide with a legal system built for persons. A survey of the doctrine, the precedents, and the contractual workarounds emerging in practice.
Annual survey: the state of the frontier, 2026
Our yearly reading of all six quadrants — what compounded, what stalled, and the three theses we retired in public.
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