On The Margin | Boaz Sobrado & Ivan Patriki

I spoke with the Mayor, Police Chief, & City Manager of Miami | The secret behind the city

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 23:10:17 GMT

Miami’s mayor, police chief, and city manager all sat down separately with Ivan Patriki and between them: a $450 million bond, a police force that (probably) didn’t chase aliens, and what it actually takes to run one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

The Mayor, Eileen Higgins spent almost 20 years as an engineer in the private sector before a corporate retreat exercise, writing her own obituary convinced her something was missing. Within a year she quit to become the Peace Corps director in Belize, then served as a U.S. diplomat in Mexico and southern Africa. She joined the Miami-Dade County Commission in 2018 and, in December 2025, was sworn in as Miami’s first female mayor and first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years.

James Reyes was born in Cuba, the son of a political prisoner, and grew up in Hialeah after his family fled with nothing. He spent 22 years at the Broward Sheriff’s Office, eventually managing a $1.8 billion budget and 5,600 employees, then became Miami-Dade’s Chief of Public Safety and ran unsuccessfully for County Sheriff in 2024. Higgins appointed him Miami’s city manager in early 2026.

Edwin Lopez built a nearly three-decade law enforcement career from phys-ed teacher to Miami-Dade Schools’ first Hispanic police chief, then Doral’s chief, before being sworn in this June as the 44th Chief of the Miami Police Department describing himself as “a humble kid from Miami who grew up with no money.”

All three sit down separately with Ivan Patriki to talk about running the Magic City from three completely different chairs.

We cover:
Why the mayor says climate change is real, “a hundred and ten percent”
Eileen Higgins’s corporate epiphany: writing her own obituary before quitting for the Peace Corps
Serving as a U.S. diplomat in Mexico and southern Africa before running for office
Building four thousand affordable housing units, three thousand more in the pipeline
A $450 million bond for fire stations unrepaired for fifty years
Same-day permitting: cutting an eighteen-month process down to one day
James Reyes on being the son of a political prisoner who fled Cuba for Hialeah
Managing a $1.8 billion budget and 5,600 employees at the Broward Sheriff’s Office
What two different officials actually think about crypto in Miami
Whether Mark Zuckerberg moved to Miami because of the city’s leadership (spoiler: no)
Edwin Lopez on inheriting “the keys to the Lamborghini” from two predecessors
The alien rumor Chief Lopez “can’t confirm or deny”
Nearly 1,400 officers and 600,000 FIFA Fan Fest visitors in 23 days
Would a Ferrari doing 25 over the limit get you a warning?

MORE OF MAYOR EILEEN HIGGINS:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-higgins/

MORE OF CITY MANAGER JAMES REYES:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-reyes-78444116b/

MORE OF POLICE CHIEF EDWIN LOPEZ:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chiefedwinlopez/

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Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - Meet Miami’s city manager, police chief, and mayor.
01:05 - “How are you changing the world?” James Reyes takes the mic.
02:54 - Did Zuckerberg move to Miami because of him?
08:49 - Does the city manager still go clubbing?
11:44 - Managing a $1.8 billion budget before Miami.
13:20 - Is there a secret power pulling the strings?
19:19 - The most famous people he’s actually met.
22:20 - “You are the mayor of Miami.” Higgins takes the reins.
23:30 - How much of her week is spent clubbing?
24:01 - Writing her own obituary changed everything.
25:28 - Four thousand affordable housing units, more coming.
26:00 - Do other mayors send hate mail?
29:17 - Is climate change real? “110%.”
29:28 - Is there a shadowy group telling her what to do?
30:19 - Same-day permitting: 18 months down to one day.
31:02 - A $450 million bond for fifty-year-old fire stations.
32:09 - Her one piece of advice for the next mayor.
32:22 - Nearly 1,400 officers and how policing has changed.
33:25 - Did Miami police really respond to an alien sighting?
33:50 - The hardest part of the job nobody understands.
35:02 - Does the police force own any crypto?
35:16 - FIFA Fan Fest: 600,000 visitors in 23 days.
36:29 - “Keys to the Lamborghini”: inheriting Miami PD’s legacy.
38:11 - Would a Ferrari doing 25 over get you a warning?

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He Left JP Morgan to Let AI Move $Trillions For You | T54 Founder Chandler Fung & Ivan Patriki

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:50:57 GMT

A JP Morgan quant trader walked away from Wall Street to build the trust layer that lets AI agents spend your money.

Chandler Fung went from the JP Morgan trading floor to Onyx, the bank's blockchain and AI payments team, to years at Ripple building cross border stablecoin rails. In early 2025 he founded T54, a company solving one problem almost nobody is: how do you trust an AI agent to touch your money?

Backed from day zero by Ripple, Franklin Templeton and others, Chandler and Ivan Patriki dig into what happens when 30% of your daily transactions get delegated to agents, why finance is the one sector you cannot waltz into, and what it actually takes to earn a seat check from a company worth billions.

We cover:
Why an AI agent booking your cheeseburger is a bigger risk problem than it sounds
The moment you ask GPT to buy something and everything that can silently go wrong
How a day zero startup lands Ripple and Franklin Templeton as seed investors
"Idea is cheap" and why execution and a real moat matter more
Is trading on Elliott Waves and ICT legit, or just momentum vs sentiment fishing?
What quant traders actually do (and why everyone using the same strategy breaks)
Why he left a lucrative quant seat to build products for humans instead of numbers
The three pillars before you start a company: team, execution, moat
Why 90% of successful startups end up doing something other than their original idea
Why he feels safe putting $2M in Chase but nervous moving it to a cold wallet
Can a startup become the "Chase-level trust" of the agentic economy?
When do you stop chasing money and start chasing impact?
Marathon vs sprint: the patience trap almost every young founder falls into

MORE OF CHANDLER FUNG:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/znfang

Twitter: https://x.com/chandler_agi

Company (T54): https://www.t54.ai/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

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"I Move $7 Billion for People Who Hate Index Funds" | IRA Financial's Adam Bergman & Ivan Patriki

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:52:02 GMT

A tax lawyer quit his big-law job to bet everything on an idea Wall Street had buried for 50 years, and now he moves $7 billion for clients who invest their retirement money in Bitcoin, real estate, and private deals instead of index funds.

Adam Bergman is the founder of IRA Financial. He started with zero clients, zero assets, and one phone line in his apartment, bootstrapped it on Google Ads, took no salary for five years, and built a regulated trust company custodying over $7 billion for 30,000 clients. In this episode Adam and Ivan Patriki dig into the retirement loophole most Americans have never heard of, why the truly wealthy hold 60 to 70% of their money in alternative assets, and what it actually takes to survive the decade it takes to build a real business.

We cover:
The retirement rule almost nobody knows: only THREE things you cannot buy in an IRA
Why owning the S&P 500 means you basically own seven companies (and that is not diversification)
How the rich actually got rich (hint: it was not stocks and bonds)
$39 trillion in US retirement money and why the big banks wall you off from it
Adam's first client story: going live on Google Ads with no office and no idea what to do next
"Make mistakes with other people's money" and other advice from his entrepreneur father
The 5-year stretch where he and his wife "did literally nothing" while friends got rich
His biggest CEO mistake: not hiring people smarter than himself
Bitcoin in 2015, a friend told him it was a scam, and the risk/reward math he used anyway
Why he almost took the company public 7 years too early (and dodged a disaster)
"If you're not gonna quit, just shut up and fight"
No Adderall, no ketamine, no McLaren: water, coffee, and a morning run
The one platform in the country to trade stocks, crypto, and alt assets in a retirement account for one flat fee
What every young person who "wants to be successful" is getting wrong

RESOURCES & LINKS:

IRA Financial: https://www.irafinancial.com

MORE OF ADAM BERGMAN:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambergman1/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adambergmanesq

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:

Website: https://www.themargin.tv

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MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:

Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - The retirement money nobody tells you how to use.
00:38 - The only three things you can't buy in an IRA.
02:45 - Why IRA Financial doesn't sell you investments.
04:00 - Owning seven companies and calling it diversified.
04:47 - From tax lawyer to founder: the accidental discovery.
09:28 - Starting at 35 and five years with no salary.
12:00 - Zero to seven billion, fully bootstrapped.
13:31 - How do you get strangers to trust you with their money.
15:09 - The famous clients he can't name.
16:32 - Bad investments, and why your IRA gives you time to recover.
18:07 - Is running billions actually relaxing.
20:01 - The morning solitude ritual and "three wins a day."
25:51 - The 80% of businesses nobody thinks to start.
28:57 - The first Google Ads client and figuring it out live.
30:50 - Stop perfecting the business plan and just start.
39:49 - What liquidity actually buys you: long-term thinking.
40:46 - Peptides, ketamine, Adderall? Just water and a run.
43:51 - What the billionaires actually hold in their portfolios.
49:42 - One man sells his house for Bitcoin, another retires middle class.
51:06 - The one platform for stocks, crypto, and alt assets.
54:03 - Why taking a percentage of your gains is "criminal."
56:39 - Advice for the young person who wants to be successful.
01:01:18 - Why buying a course won't make you rich.

Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I'll see you in the next one.

He Runs the Blockchain That Moved $2.5 Trillion | Polygon CEO Marc Boiron & Ivan Patriki

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:48:02 GMT

He slept three to four hours a night for two years straight, and he says he'd do it again for the payoff.

Marc Boiron went from a self described "accidental lawyer" to running roughly 70 to 80% of all DeFi legal work, to becoming CEO of Polygon, the blockchain that has moved over 2.5 trillion dollars. In this episode Marc and Ivan Patriki get into how he actually got the job, why Polygon bet everything on payments, the Meta, Cash App and Deel deals, and a blunt philosophy on sleep, suffering, and happiness that Ivan clearly did not expect.

We cover:
From no homework kid to CEO of a company that moved 2.5 trillion dollars
Why betting on crypto when everyone said it was dead in 2019 was the whole game
"There's basically no lawyers doing this crypto thing" and how that became 80% of DeFi
Generalist vs specialist in the age of AI (Marc picks a side)
Why being a great CEO comes down to just one thing: people
Being genuinely happy when your best employee leaves for more money
The interview question Marc asks everyone: "what makes you want to be successful?"
Why he'll fire a top performer who treats people like garbage
Why Polygon stopped chasing gaming, RWAs and DeFi to become a payments only chain
An off-ramp in Turkey, a remittance app vibe coded in five hours
How you actually land a deal with Meta (and why the CEO is the wrong person to pitch)
The salesman who bought a game ticket to corner a basketball team owner who ignored his emails
Should Polygon care what people spend their money on? Permissionless vs regulated
"Who enjoys their life when they're ninety anyways?"
Sleep six hours a night in your twenties or you're crazy
Two years of torture for 35 years of happiness: how easy is that decision?

MORE OF MARC BOIRON:

Twitter/X: https://x.com/0xMarcB

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcboiron

RESOURCES & LINKS:

Polygon: https://polygon.technology

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - How a kid who did no homework becomes CEO of Polygon.
02:48 - Doubling down on crypto when everyone said it was dead.
04:54 - Specialist vs generalist and why depth wins.
06:08 - There is no training to become a CEO.
08:16 - Why Polygon is unique and the 2.5 trillion dollar number.
11:05 - Going all in on payments and the open money stack.
12:47 - Building the culture that keeps people from getting poached.
16:23 - Feeling good when your best people leave.
18:50 - The archetype of the employee Marc actually hires.
21:26 - Hungry but decent: firing people who treat others badly.
24:45 - Permissionless blockchain vs regulated money movement.
28:50 - The hardest part of the job: nobody outside understands what you do.
33:25 - How Polygon landed the Meta deal.
35:20 - How an entrepreneur actually gets in front of a giant company.
40:31 - Follow up five, six, seven times, and build the real friendship.
47:15 - The Cash App and Deel stablecoin deals explained.
51:50 - Lobbying governments and why most countries open up eventually.
55:17 - What a Polygon CEO does in his free time.
56:37 - Don't think too hard about your life, just be happy.
59:44 - Win because it makes you happy, not the other way around.
01:00:37 - Advice for anyone who wants to run a huge company.
01:04:35 - Two of four burners, dying ten years early, and the MMs.
01:06:24 - The two years of sleeping three to four hours a night.
01:12:39 - Sleep six hours in your twenties or you're crazy.
01:14:35 - Two years of torture for 35 years of happiness.

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The Man Behind Variety & Billboard Reveals How Media Controls You | Penske Media Founder Lee Caplin & Ivan Patriki

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 23:51:22 GMT

He was alone in the Oval Office with JFK at fifteen years old, and that was just the beginning.

Lee Caplin has lived several lives: Justice Department lawyer protecting free speech, co-founder of the company that became Penske Media (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Billboard), arts administrator, and now the architect of the journalism and media school at Florida International University. He sat down with Ivan Patriki to talk about how media quietly molds public opinion, the difference between reporting and news entertainment, and why he never lets anyone in the room who's expecting a "yes" for the wrong reasons.

From subwoofers that raise your tension on cable news to Chinese military money and the Paramount deal, this is a conversation about who really shapes what you think, and how AI, robotics, and rare earth mining fit into what comes next.

We cover:
Being alone in the Oval Office with JFK at fifteen (and the tie clip story)
Why FIU is "the third world rim" gateway for immigrants chasing the American dream
Protecting free speech and wetlands as a fresh law grad inside the US government
How Velocity Services became Penske Media and swallowed Variety, Billboard and Hollywood Reporter
The real difference between journalism, media, and mass communications
"News entertainment" vs. news: how sound design puts you on edge without you noticing
Hemingway and Joan Didion as journalists first, novelists second
Do governments quietly pay media to promote an ideology? (and why it's technically lobbying)
Chinese military money, Larry Ellison, and the Paramount/CBS ownership question
Fake news and deepfakes as an actual FIU course
Why you still need to physically go to college in the ChatGPT era
Secret societies, Skull and Bones, and the Raven Society sold on eBay
Why he's not afraid of AI (and why it won't be Terminator)
AI-controlled robots collecting samples from the sea floor off Florida
Rare earth mining with a scalpel instead of a broadsword
His advice for building a "new elite": consistency, reliability, and no class consciousness

MORE OF LEE CAPLIN:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-caplin-89981666/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leecaplin/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - Overseeing FIU, the gateway to the "third world rim."
02:21 - From Duke and UVA law to protecting free speech inside government.
04:14 - Camelot, Cronkite, and growing up around journalists.
07:00 - The secret to staying present: let someone else take the credit.
08:31 - Building the media empire that became Penske Media.
09:43 - How media molds public opinion without you realizing.
10:01 - Journalism vs. media vs. mass communications.
12:56 - Short attention spans, sound design, and news entertainment.
14:34 - Do governments quietly pay to push an ideology? The Paramount problem.
16:21 - Teaching fake news and deepfakes at FIU.
16:41 - The bridge from LA media to Florida education.
18:19 - Alone in the Oval Office with JFK at fifteen.
20:33 - Helping campaigns instead of running for office.
21:21 - Why you still need to physically go to college.
23:00 - Secret societies, Skull and Bones, and the Raven Society.
26:01 - Vision for the future: AI, robots, and no Terminator.
27:42 - AI, rare earth mining, and robots on the sea floor.
30:27 - Advice for building a new elite.

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The Crypto $Billionaire Building Governments From Scratch | Sign CEO Xin Yan & Ivan Patriki

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 12:06:54 GMT

What if AI ran the government, and a private company built the digital money and IDs to make it possible? Xin Yan is doing exactly that, for over a dozen countries.

Xin Yan started as a crypto mining engineer and built Token Table into 40% market share of token distribution before pivoting his company into something almost no one else in crypto is doing: building sovereign digital infrastructure (stablecoins, CBDCs, and digital ID) directly for governments. He is now working with UAE, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Barbados, Sierra Leone, and more, with backing from the UAE government and Binance.

In this episode Xin Yan and Ivan Patriki get into digital sovereignty, why governments (not Google or Palantir) might be the safer place for your data, UBI paid out like an airdrop, and the case for an AI Prime Minister.

We cover:
Building digital money and digital ID for over a dozen governments
Why crypto adoption failed: nobody worked with the gatekeeper
"If an entity has all your data, better the government than Palantir"
UBI distributed like claiming an airdrop straight from the Treasury
A selfie to prove you had a baby, then the government sends money?
Is centralizing everything into one digital ID dystopian?
How the world's payment rails are controlled by just two countries
Getting endorsed by the UAE government and Binance (sometimes CZ directly)
Why governments don't get "high" on Bitcoin, they just want the problem solved
His prediction: how soon until an AI Prime Minister exists
His crypto portfolio (mostly Bitcoin) and why his mom out-traded him on Doge
Real free time: walks, smoking, and people-watching to reset
Why you should "trust blockchain more" (POW) and fear centralized AI
The yin-yang of centralization and decentralization, and why Bitcoin was born in 2008
How to actually use Bitcoin privately when KYC is everywhere

MORE OF XIN YAN:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xin-yan-658545172/
Twitter: https://x.com/realyanxin

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

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Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - Building sovereign digital money and ID for governments.
01:03 - The dozen countries he already works with.
02:06 - From crypto mining geek to B2G, why crypto needed the government.
05:25 - Is a government digital ID a privacy nightmare?
07:22 - Digital ID and digital money: the two pillars of a digitized state.
09:30 - UBI paid out like an airdrop straight from the Treasury.
11:45 - "Isn't this dystopian?" Centralized control vs Palantir.
15:41 - His first government contract and how trust gets built.
18:43 - Getting backed by the UAE and Binance (sometimes CZ himself).
22:34 - Digital sovereignty, war, and who can debank a whole country.
24:05 - National stablecoins vs USDT, and why the Fed is weird.
26:50 - His portfolio: mostly Bitcoin, and mom's Doge bag.
27:31 - His mindset, sleep schedule, and thinking about the future.
29:45 - The case for an AI Prime Minister.
33:35 - Why the day-to-day is small problems, not grand ideation.
35:04 - Free time: walks, smoking, and people-watching.
37:12 - The future: real-time, multi-currency, P2P global payments.
40:40 - Advice: travel and talk to enough people.
41:31 - Trust blockchain, fear centralized AI, and the yin-yang of power.
43:53 - Monero, and how to actually use Bitcoin privately.

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The $Trillion Gambling Empire Run by Crime | YieldSec's Ismail Vali & Ivan Patriki

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 19:13:47 GMT

The number that roulette wheel lands on isn't random, it's the one you didn't bet on.

Ismail Vali runs YieldSec and GCI, the intelligence platforms that map how illegal online gambling actually operates. He calls it the third largest economic flow on earth, and most of it is controlled by transnational criminal organizations that didn't come to give you good odds. They came to steal from you. In this conversation with Ivan Patriki, Ismail breaks down why "black market" is a name crime gave itself, how the pandemic turned fake amateur sports into a clickbait machine, and why the games are rigged whether you can see it or not.

We cover:
"Who am I harming if I place this bet?" (the answer is you)
Why unregulated gambling actively avoids being regulated, audited, or checked
Illegal streaming as a window into your digital soul for 90 minutes
"You are the product" and how crime uses your data to steal, not to sell
The iceberg: legal gambling is the visible tip, crime is the sea below the waterline
How the UK went from 0% to 9% illegal share by targeting children and self-excluded gamblers
Human trafficking farms in Cambodia and Myanmar running live dealer casinos and scams
How the pandemic killed sports and illegal gambling invented snail racing and fake cricket matches
Why casino is the product everyone wants you in (10-50% margins vs 10% on sports)
Brazil regulated gambling, then handed 60% of the market back to crime in months
Attractive influencers flown to Miami cribs so they can't be arrested back home
The Charlamagne tha God gambling scandal in the hip-hop community
FC Barcelona's sponsor is illegal in most markets it takes money from
Why VPNs are a complete myth (latency kills live betting)
Polymarket, Kalshi, and "it's not gambling, it's trading"
How prediction markets are tanking voter turnout and getting people investigated for insider trading
Why the "gray market" doesn't exist and Malta passed a law so you can't claw your money back

RESOURCES & LINKS:
YieldSec: https://www.yieldsec.com/
Campaign for Fairer Gambling (Derek Webb): https://www.fairergambling.com/

MORE OF ISMAIL VALI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ismailvali/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ismailvali_/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

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Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps
00:00 - How does illegal gambling actually affect you.
02:37 - Illegal streaming, and why you are the product.
05:38 - What Ismail's platforms actually do to fight back.
06:05 - The iceberg: the visible market vs the sea of crime below.
07:00 - The UK went from 0% to 9% illegal by targeting kids and self-excluded players.
09:32 - Human trafficking, live dealer farms, and how crime banks its money.
11:00 - How the pandemic killed sports and crime invented fake amateur events.
14:54 - Just put your logo on everything: porn, kids content, celebrities.
17:11 - How do you know it's trafficking and not just paid humiliation.
18:14 - Why Ismail refuses to name a single illegal gambling brand.
20:14 - The Batman cave: giving governments intelligence, not policing.
23:51 - Are influencers the enemy, or another victim of crime.
25:00 - Brazil regulated, then gave 60% of the market back to crime.
28:19 - Flown to Miami cribs: how crime owns the influencers' souls.
32:05 - At what point is gambling just too much for society.
37:43 - The celebrities and FC Barcelona quietly taking illegal money.
41:46 - Why VPNs are a complete myth that kills live betting.
47:57 - The next ten years: prediction markets and "it's not gambling, it's trading."
53:43 - What it means to say consumers shouldn't be able to make certain choices.
57:18 - White, gray, and black markets don't exist, there's only your jurisdiction.
01:02:23 - Can you sue an offshore company that won't pay out.
01:07:06 - Human beings have always bet, so control the market instead.

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The Mr Beast Deal That Built a $3 Billion Company | Surfshark CMO Regimantas Urbanas & Ivan Patriki

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:25:36 GMT

How a company from a country of 3 million built a brand everybody knows, and paid Mr Beast seven figures to do it.

Regimantas Urbanas is one of the first employees and now CMO of Surfshark, the Lithuanian cybersecurity company that launched into a saturated VPN market in 2018 and turned into part of a $3 billion group. He joined three months after the product went live, gave the brand its meaning, and helped scale it from the first 10,000 users to millions through Google Ads, affiliates, creator marketing, and full on guerrilla campaigns.

In this conversation with Ivan Patriki, recorded inside the Surfshark office, Regimantas breaks down how you actually grow a global brand out of a tiny domestic market, why creator marketing beat traditional advertising, and how AI is quietly making everyday people the new scam targets.

We cover:

Why everybody and their grandma knows a company from a country of 3 million people

“Why do you need curtains if you’re not doing anything shady?” (the case for a VPN)

How Surfshark made cybersecurity human when every competitor looked corporate and techy

Why they deliberately kept “VPN” out of the brand name from day one

The seven figure Mr Beast deal, basketballs included, and how they justified it

Why that Mr Beast video is still converting three years later

Working WITH data brokers? What Incogni actually does (and why it’s US focused)

Free VPNs and the “if you don’t pay, you’re the product” trap

From demand capture to growing the pie: the full playbook for 10K to 1M+ users

Who Surfshark is NOT for, and why enterprise goes to Nord

The Surfshark and Nord merger, and Lithuania’s quiet takeover of the VPN market

Why AI powered scams are now catching younger people, not just grandmas

No logs, external audits, and why they’re legally a Dutch company

Why the CMO still works customer support shifts

RESOURCES & LINKS:

Surfshark: https://surfshark.com

MORE OF REGIMANTAS URBANAS:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/regimantasurbanas/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regimantasu/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:

Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:

Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - A brand everybody knows from a country of 3 million.

00:24 - Joining an early stage startup after Google.

02:20 - Entering a saturated VPN market in 2018.

03:41 - Making cybersecurity human and accessible.

05:17 - Why you need a VPN even with nothing to hide.

07:20 - Why your favorite YouTuber suddenly mentions Surfshark.

11:30 - Who Surfshark is not for, and where a VPN stops protecting you.

13:14 - Working with data brokers and what Incogni does.

15:44 - Free VPNs and the “you are the product” trap.

16:44 - The growth playbook: from 10K to a million users.

19:20 - The seven figure Mr Beast deal (with basketballs).

25:00 - How a bootstrapped company afforded huge creators.

28:30 - What comes after dominating every marketing channel.

30:04 - How AI scams now catch young people too.

32:36 - The $3 billion group and the Surfshark and Nord merger.

36:40 - No logs, audits, and why they are legally a Dutch company.

38:41 - The five year vision and staying close to your users.

Subscribe & leave a comment if you made it this far!

A $25M Deepfake Scam Fooled This Accountant | NordVPN CTO Marijus Briedis & Ivan Patriki

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:00:42 GMT

Your Social Security number, credit card, and passport can be bought online for about 19 dollars. The CTO of NordVPN explains how.

Marijus Briedis has spent nearly 10 years at Nord Security, starting as a DevOps engineer and rising to CTO of a company with over 2,000 employees and a whole suite of cybersecurity products behind the flagship VPN. In this episode, Marijus and Ivan Patriki go deep on how the dark web identity market actually works, why Nord deletes entire servers rather than hand data to governments, and what AI scams are going to look like next.

We cover:

Why NordVPN runs a no logs audit every year (and whether that’s normal or rare)

How a full identity (email, working credit card, ID) sells for around 19 dollars on the dark web

Why Nord pulled its servers out of India instead of complying with a data law

“Do free VPNs sell your data?” The economics that make it likely

The three pillars of the NordVPN app: connect, protect, monitor

Leaked cookies: the unsolved cybersecurity problem nobody talks about

Disinformation as a service, and how bot armies get built for 10 minutes of work

The 25 million dollar Zoom deepfake scam that fooled a Singapore accountant

Vishing: attackers calling your relatives to clone your voice

How to know if the girlfriend calling for a thousand dollars is really her

Why Marijus’s mom is NordVPN’s best QA tester

The “human firewall” and why tools alone won’t save you

Building a unicorn: why product and marketing have to go hand in hand

RESOURCES & LINKS:

NordVPN: https://nordvpn.com

MORE OF MARIJUS BRIEDIS:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marijusbriedis/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marijusbriedis/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:

Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:

Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

Timestamps:

00:00 - Inside the NordVPN headquarters.

00:40 - 10 years at Nord, from DevOps to CTO.

01:26 - More than a VPN: the full Nord Security suite.

04:16 - Does Nord sell your data? The no logs audit explained.

07:45 - When governments came knocking, Nord deleted the servers.

09:36 - Why a VPN alone won’t hide you online.

12:01 - What the dark web really is and how Nord monitors it.

14:09 - A full identity for 19 dollars: the leaked data market.

18:30 - Disinformation as a service and AI bot armies.

21:00 - Scam websites, fake bags, and the Black Friday spike.

24:17 - What scams look like in 10 years: voice, video, deepfakes.

26:54 - Is the girlfriend calling for money actually your girlfriend?

28:52 - What Nord is building to fight AI scams.

29:35 - Managing 1,000 engineers as CTO.

32:05 - Biggest lesson: product and marketing go hand in hand.

Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I’ll see you in the next one.

The Creator of AGI, the Sophia Robot Told Me the Future | Ben Goertzel & Ivan Patriki On the Margin

Ivan Patriki — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:51:47 GMT

Ben Goertzel coined the term "AGI" in a 2005 book, founded the field's first annual conference, and led the AI team that built Sophia, the humanoid robot granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia. He now runs an open-source AGI project and SingularityNET, a blockchain network built on the bet that artificial general intelligence should never be owned by a handful of Silicon Valley labs.

Goertzel and Boaz Sobrado get into all of it.

We cover:

How Ben Goertzel coined the term "AGI" in a 2005 book that put it on the map

Leading the AI team behind Sophia, the robot granted Saudi citizenship

"The creation of machines as smart as people... is almost inevitable"

Why superintelligence could end in "utopia or annihilation"

Ray Kurzweil's 2029 prediction, and why Goertzel thinks we're on track

Which jobs get automated first once human-level AGI arrives (plumbers, roofers, electricians)

The one category of job that may never go away: human-to-human connection

"It'd be a great birthday present to get your kid" - on AI robot girlfriends

Cosmism, panpsychism, and why he thinks a superintelligence could already surround us

The "longevity escape velocity" pill and living for millions of years

Why he'd kill a rogue AGI to save his wife and kids

Why he thinks Sam Altman and Elon Musk both quietly abandoned "open" AI

Building AGI on a decentralized network spanning 50 countries and 10,000 people

"He was also funding Marvin Minsky and Noam Chomsky"

Launching Omega Claw, his new open-source persistent AI agent

RESOURCES & LINKS:

SingularityNET: https://singularitynet.io

MORE OF BEN GOERTZEL:

Twitter/X: https://x.com/bengoertzel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengoertzel

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:

Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:

Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Cold open: "How important is it that humans survive?".

0:53 - Welcome, calling in from an island off Seattle.
1:12 - Transhumanist, cosmist, AGI builder: what Ben Goertzel actually does.
2:40 - Mathematics PhD to Hyperion: how his AGI project works.
4:16 - Coining "AGI" and leading the team behind Sophia the robot.
6:47 - "Almost inevitable": why human-level AGI is coming.
7:50 - Utopia or annihilation: the existential risk case for superintelligence.
12:29 - 2029 prediction, and which jobs get automated first.
16:15 - What young people should study to survive AGI.
19:42 - The jobs that survive: human-to-human connection.
21:19 - "When do I get an AI robot girlfriend?".
22:34 - Is building AGI the closest thing to building God?.
29:43 - The longevity escape velocity pill and living for millions of years.
34:20 - Would Putin rule for a thousand years with AGI on his side?.
36:31 - Why decentralized, open-source AGI is the real safeguard.
38:18 - Does humanity even need to keep existing?.
43:05 - Cosmism, panpsychism, and remote viewing, explained.
49:02 - Is AI doom just a scare tactic for investors?
53:09 - What actually separates AGI from Claude and ChatGPT.
1:02:36 - Nuclear bombs, AI governance, and a one-world government.
1:08:04 - How Ben actually makes money off SingularityNET.
1:11:36 - Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and the death of "open" AI.
1:15:11 - Jeffrey Epstein funded his AI research for 17 years.
1:18:24 - "Did you ever go to the island?".
1:20:22 - Final advice: build your own AI agent army.

Bhutan Just Showed Me How the King is Building a Crypto City | Jigdrel Singay, Yu Zheng, & Ivan Patriki

Ivan Patriki — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:32:06 GMT

Bhutan is going all-in on crypto, the city is called the Geluphy Mindfulness City. They mined their first Bitcoin in 2018, using clean hydropower, years before most governments knew what a blockchain was. Now the Himalayan kingdom of under a million people is building something no other country has attempted: a special administrative region roughly seven times the size of Singapore, with its own regulator, its own licensed bank, and a mandate to become the financial gateway for two billion people across South Asia.

Jigdrel Singay sits on the board of the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority (GMCA), the body building what it calls “two systems, one country” out of the Bhutanese lowlands bordering India. Yu Dong Zheng runs DK Bank, the only bank licensed to operate inside the zone, built from day one to hold fiat and crypto in the same account, something most “crypto-friendly” banks still won’t do.

We cover:

Why GMCA calls itself “two systems, one country,” and what makes it legally separate from the rest of Bhutan The “Hong Kong for China, Singapore for Southeast Asia” pitch, and why South Asia’s 2 billion people don’t have a financial hub yet Bhutan has been mining Bitcoin with hydropower since 2019, years before most sovereign states paid attention Cheap, undocumented labor built Dubai. What builds a five-story-max Buddhist mindfulness city instead? Why Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with any of the five permanent UN Security Council members “We scan the wallet”: how DK Bank monitors on-chain and off-chain flows to keep bad actors out Will there ever be a “Bhutan coin”? Yu Dong Zheng’s answer: “Anything tactically is possible” “What if Bitcoin goes down and never comes back?” A banker’s contrarian answer Won’t two billion potential visitors turn Gelephu into another Delhi or Mumbai? The digital nomad visa program, still being tested, and why it isn’t rolling out to everyone yet Rent, groceries, cheeseburgers and Starlink: what life actually costs there right now

GUESTS: Jigdrel Singay: Board Member and Digital Assets & Fintech Lead for the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority (GMCA). Previously advanced blockchain and Web3 programs at Druk Holding & Investments, Bhutan’s sovereign wealth fund, and sits on the Board of the Royal Stock Exchange of Bhutan.

Yu Dong Zheng (”YD”): CEO of DK Bank, the only bank licensed to operate inside Gelephu Mindfulness City, jointly regulated with Bhutan’s Royal Monetary Authority.

RESOURCES & LINKS: Gelephu Mindfulness City: https://www.gmc.bt

DK Bank: https://www.digitalkidu.bt

MORE OF JIGDREL SINGAY: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jigdrelsingay/

GMC bio: https://gmc.bt/people/Jigdrel_Singay

MORE OF YU DONG ZHENG: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhengyudong/

DK Bank on LinkedIn: https://bt.linkedin.com/company/dkbank

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN: Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO: Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

00:00 - Cold open: does the world need another Dubai?.
00:54 - Meet the GMCA board member and DK Bank’s CEO, and why South Asia’s 2 billion people don’t have a financial hub yet.
03:22 - “Two systems, one country”: Buddhism, mindfulness, and how the king got Bhutan to back a crypto free zone.
07:29 - Speed without skipping oversight: inside the regulator, and Bitcoin mining since 2019.
10:44 - Cheap labor built Dubai. Citizenship, mining targets, and Bhutan’s zero diplomatic ties with the UN Security Council.
19:02 - Setting up a crypto company: compliance, licensing, and solving de-banking.
24:15 -Will there ever be a “Bhutan coin”? DK Bank’s roadmap, and what if Bitcoin never goes back up.
31:15 - What Bhutan can teach the world about mindful growth.
35:02 - Won’t two billion people turn Gelephu into another Delhi? The digital nomad program.
41:54 - The real cost of living, cheeseburgers and Starlink, and why choose Bhutan over Dubai, Bali or Miami.

All of Jigdrel’s and YD’s links will be in the description. Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I’ll see you in the next one.

SquareFi Founder: "We Have Only 6 Developers" Anton Lobintsev & Ivan Patriki On the Margin

Ivan Patriki — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:44:56 GMT

There’s a company processing over to $350 million in transactions that spends less on AI all year than most startups spend on it in a single month. Anton Lobintsev, co-founder of the stablecoin-based financial platform SquareFi, built it that way on purpose.

His company didn’t start as a fintech at all. It started as a platform to tokenize real estate in Georgia and Indonesia, until Anton and his co-founder realized nobody wanted to tokenize their buildings. They just wanted to accept stablecoin payments for them. So they rebuilt the whole business around that instead.

We cover:

The $500 million AI story that kicked off the “what are people doing with all these tokens?” running joke What SquareFi actually is: stablecoin custody, crypto-as-a-service, banking accounts, and cards, all under one platform Why 95% of SquareFi’s customers aren’t crypto-native businesses at all How a company with employees scattered across the world pays salaries in crypto when banks won’t touch the corridor Why venture capital firms use SquareFi to collect capital calls from LPs on three different continents From tokenizing buildings as NFTs to realizing the market wanted payments, not tokenization Why Canada, not Dubai or the Cayman Islands, became the regulatory home base How $50 million in transactions turned into roughly $300 million Why the company spends $5,000 to $7,000 a year on AI, not $50,000 The real reason companies claim to burn “$1 billion in tokens” (and why it’s probably marketing)

GUEST: Anton Lobintsev: Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of SquareFi, alongside co-founder and CEO Denis Spasibo. Serial entrepreneur since roughly 2007, having built and sold companies across telecom/internet, restaurants, and legal services before co-founding a real-estate tokenization platform that pivoted into SquareFi, a stablecoin-based financial platform now processing close to $300 million in transactions across 150+ countries.

RESOURCES & LINKS: SquareFi: https://squarefi.co

MORE OF ANTON LOBINTSEV: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lobintsev/

MORE OF SQUAREFI: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/squarefii/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarefi/

Telegram: https://t.me/Square_Fi

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN: Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO: Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob

Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt

Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt

Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended

Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

00:00 - Cold open: the $500 million AI story and the tokens joke.

00:22 - What SquareFi is: stablecoin custody, crypto-as-a-service, cards, and banking accounts.

03:58 - Two business models, why most customers aren’t crypto companies, and the Bangladesh remittance problem.

08:43 - Getting licensed in Canada, the “umbrella license” model, and why offshore jurisdictions don’t work.

14:20 - The roadmap: UAE, EU, and Singapore licenses.

16:28 - The origin story: tokenizing buildings, meeting his co-founder, and where the name SquareFi comes from.

23:26 - Finding early customers, and today’s transaction volume: roughly $300 million.

26:24 - What to look for in a co-founder, and the painful history of past breakups.

29:38 - Radical honesty as the glue of the partnership, and staying disciplined on spending.

33:24 - What investors are really looking for: founder, traction, team.

37:52 - How AI changed Anton’s workflow as a self-taught technical founder.

42:40 - The goal: a 50-person unicorn, and his CTO’s job managing people and AI agents.

46:05 - The real number: $5,000 to $7,000 spent on AI this year, and why.

50:35 - Why licenses are only 10% of the work, and launching a stablecoin through Brale.

54:54 - Founder advice: find people who cover your weaknesses, hire freelancers, and stay transparent.

1:01:19 - Closing.

Make sure to like, comment, and share, and I’ll see you in the next one.

AI Is Replacing Casino Dealers & Dating? BetHog & FanDuel Founder Nigel Eccles with / Boaz Sobrado

Ivan Patriki — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:28:22 GMT

Nigel and Boaz Sobrado explore how AI is set to transform gaming—and why virtual dealers could become one of the first AI experiences millions of people interact with every day.

Nigel explains why his company believes AI dealers can outperform human dealers, how crypto and stablecoins are reshaping the online casino industry, and why AI isn’t simply replacing jobs but evolving into a social layer that helps people learn, communicate, and build stronger relationships.

The conversation also dives into the future of AI-powered avatars, personalized digital companions, and a world where AI doesn’t replace human interaction—but enhances it by acting as a bridge between people.

In this episode:

Why AI dealers could outperform human dealers in online casinos
The $15 billion live dealer market and why it’s ripe for disruption
How AI delivers a more personalized gaming experience
Why new players often prefer AI dealers over real ones
The future of AI-powered casino hosts and personalized avatars
How stablecoins are transforming online gaming payments
Why crypto has become the preferred payment rail for gaming companies
Public AI tables and the next generation of social gaming
Can AI improve the way humans communicate?
AI agents interacting with other AI agents in dating and social apps
Why AI could become one of the most effective tools for conflict resolution
What the future of AI looks like across gaming, finance, and everyday life

If you enjoyed the conversation, subscribe to the channel and leave a comment with your biggest takeaway.

MORE OF NIGEL ECCLES:
X / Twitter: https://x.com/nigeleccles
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigeleccles/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nigeleccles/
Bethog: https://www.bethog.com

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Substack: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob/
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

00:00 - Cold open: Can AI improve human relationships?
00:35 - How AI is transforming the gaming industry
01:01 - Why live dealers are a $15B industry
01:52 - Replacing human dealers with AI avatars
03:22 - Why players still want a dealer
05:25 - Building an AI that knows every player
07:43 - Early results: Why AI dealers are winning
10:15 - The future of personalized AI dealers
11:23 - How stablecoins changed online casinos
13:49 - Why crypto users embrace AI faster
14:50 - What still needs to improve
16:14 - AI as a social host, not just a dealer
17:56 - Can AI help humans communicate better?
19:06 - AI agents talking to each other
20:19 - Why AI could become the perfect casino host
21:03 - Final thoughts on the future of AI

dont forget to subscribe

"How I Sold My $100K Painting" | Is Fine Art Money Laundering? | Koceila Chougar & Ivan Patriki

Ivan Patriki — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:11:31 GMT

Koceila Cougar and Ivan Patriki speak about some crazy secrets here...
Koceila is a Paris-based artist, musician, and cultural strategist who's sold paintings for $100,000, exhibited at Art Basel Miami, and moved through the same circles as billionaires, royalty, and people he won't name on camera. He describes himself as a "cultural spy" - someone who sees what others can't, moves between worlds most people never get access to, and uses art as a key to rooms that money alone won't open.
In this episode, Koceila pulls back the curtain on the art market most people never see - the scams, the speculation, the money laundering, the fake masterpieces sitting in museum collections, and why the richest people in the world buy art for reasons that have nothing to do with loving art. He also gets into the dark side of elite life: the drugs, the prostitution, the artists who destroy themselves after making it — and how he walked away from all of it.
Topics covered:

Why most expensive "pop art" is a scam — and how galleries know it
How art functions as a financial tool, tax vehicle, and money laundering mechanism
The $150M painting that might be a fake — and why no one can say it
What billionaires are actually buying when they buy art
The hidden art market vs. what the public sees
How self-made elites think differently than people born into money
Why charisma isn't what gets you into elite rooms — risk is
The Illuminati symbolism in his work and his journey through sacred plants and spirituality
The dark side of success: artists dying by suicide and OD, the "matrix" of Miami
How to use events like Cannes and Art Basel as leverage — not tourism
Salvador Dalí, surrealism, and the spiritual vs. chemical path to creativity

MORE OF KOCEILA CHOUGAR:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koceilachougar/
Spotify:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/koceila-chougar
Aersper: https://www.artsper.com/us/contemporary-artists/france/121239/koceila-chougar

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Substack: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob/
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

00:00 - Cold open: scams, money laundering, and the $100K painting
01:24 - Koceila introduces himself: artist, musician, cultural spy
03:29 - How to tell if art is a scam vs. a real investment
05:07 - Speculation in the art market
06:51 - Why art prices explode after an artist dies
07:24 - "Do your clients buy art for money laundering?"
10:32 - What makes billionaires different from average people
13:42 - Is charisma the key to getting in the room? No.
15:10 - The Illuminati symbolism, sacred plants, and spiritual awakening
22:26 - How collectors are drawn to his art's energy
24:51 - Art Basel Miami: what it's actually like inside
27:30 - The dark side of the ultra-wealthy
30:21 - Why tech/crypto elites buy less art than old money
33:15 - Billionaires warning him not to exhibit — and why
37:14 - Work ethic: the only thing that separates artists who make it
43:03 - How to use Cannes Film Festival as a creator
46:14 - What percentage of abstract artists are on drugs when they create?
48:09 - Salvador Dalí, surrealism, and the spiritual path to creativity
50:22 - Final advice: connect with your soul, become a magnet

Subscribe & leave a review if you made it this far

The $15M Military Grants to Build the Solution to Privacy - "You are the Product" | Quant Yoon Auh & Ivan Patriki

Ivan Patriki — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:30:13 GMT

Yoon Auh spent a decade building trading systems before landing on the program trading desk at Credit Suisse, becoming head trader, then VP at Goldman Sachs, then head trader at Magnetar Capital — where he accidentally invented what became an entire sub-industry on Wall Street. Then he walked away from institutional finance to solve a problem nobody else would touch: your data is Big Tech's product, and they'll never change that. He spent three years and his own money building the answer. Now he holds 14 patents.In this episode, Yoon breaks down the mechanics of quant trading that textbooks skip, the dirty truth about government grants and military contracts, and why Signal, ProtonMail, and every other privacy app is solving the wrong problem.We cover:
College grad → Credit Suisse → Goldman VP → Magnetar: the real path
Index arbitrage, basket trading, and what institutional execution actually looks like
Why quant models blow up in small caps (the bid-ask spread they never mention)
Soft dollars: the hidden Wall Street system that funds research analysts
Why the biggest money is never in trading — it's in building
Finfluencer scams then and now: the fax machine fraud that moved to the internet
"When I say I want to go to Florida — then I see an ad for flights to Florida"
Why Big Tech will never build real privacy tools (it's antithetical to their business model)
The Nut Capsule: encrypted data objects that stay protected outside the app
How BOLTS beats Signal at file sharing — and why Signal stops at messaging
US military grants: SBIR, AFWERX, In-Q-Tel, and how to actually get funded
Israeli and Canadian firms charging Americans to navigate US military grant applications
Only 25% of grant success is merit — a Navy acquisition officer said it on stage
Palantir, Google Earth, and why the CIA funded the biggest tech companies
Why you can't be the same politician you were when you started
Mentorship, relationships, and the Goldman Sachs backup that saved the department

GUEST:

Yoon Auh: Founder & CEO of NUTS Technologies and BOLTS Technologies. Former head trader at Credit Suisse, VP at Goldman Sachs, and head trader at Magnetar Capital. Holder of 14 cybersecurity patents. Building post-quantum, data-centric security infrastructure for the DoD and beyond.

RESOURCES & LINKS:
NUTS Technologies: https://www.nutstechnologies.com
BOLTS Technologies: https://www.boltstechnologies.xyz

MORE OF YOON AUH:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoonauh/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob/
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
01:09 Who Is Yoon Auh?
01:38 Columbia Grad to Coding Trading Systems for 10 Years
03:17 Landing on the Program Trading Desk at Credit Suisse
04:13 Becoming Head Trader: How He Made Them a Lot of Money
05:53 What Quants Get Wrong About Small Cap Stocks
08:13 The Difference Between Building a Model and Executing One
10:32 Is Yoon Still Trading? Life After Institutional Finance
12:35 The Gut Punch of Trading With Your Own Capital
14:59 Living With Volatility: Why Most People Can't Handle It
17:29 Why the Biggest Money Is Never in Trading
20:19 Soft Dollars: The Hidden Wall Street System Nobody Talks About
22:56 Magnetar Capital and Building the First Soft Dollar Distribution System
27:23 Should Aspiring Quants Buy Courses? The Fax Machine Scam Analogy
30:29 The Finfluencer Problem: Bugattis, Bad Advice & Survivorship Bias
36:30 Why Yoon Left Finance to Start a Company
38:00 "When I Said I Want to Go to Florida — Then I Saw an Ad for Flights"
42:00 Why Big Tech Will Never Build Real Privacy Tools
50:08 The NUTS Ecosystem: Data-Centric Security Explained
57:15 How It's Different From Signal, ProtonMail, and WhatsApp
01:02:00 The Nut Capsule: Encrypted Containers That Travel With Your Data
01:08:31 Will You Add a Government Backdoor? The Honest Answer
01:14:26 Dual Use Technology and the Ethics of Cybersecurity
01:22:00 How to Get US Military Grants as a Small Startup
01:35:40 The Dirty Secret of Government RFPs
01:43:00 Palantir, Google Earth, In-Q-Tel, and CIA-Funded Tech
01:47:00 Only 25% of Grant Success Is Merit (A Navy Officer Said It)
01:52:00 Should You Rise Through the System to Change It?
01:58:00 Power, Politics & Why Everyone Loses Something on the Way Up
02:01:02 The Best Career Advice Nobody Gives You
02:07:06 Closing Thoughts

'Your trades are public' - Ilies Larbi, Ouinex Owner Exposes Brokers - On the Margin w Ivan Patriki

Ivan Patriki — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:56:31 GMT

No way Ilies Larbi actually told me this.. the crypto industry has a dirty secret and guy behind a HUGE brokerage, Ivan Patriki learns the truth about it.

He said he's building a brokerage to fix it.. I'm interviewing about it and seeing if it's actually true. I sat down with the 20-year traditional finance veteran and founder of Ouinex, to pull back the curtain on what actually happens when you trade crypto. From how exchanges legally sell your order data to hedge funds trading against you, to the VC token scheme that's draining retail money on every major listing, to why he's heard the rug pull pitch more times than he can count - this conversation goes places most people in crypto won't touch. If you're putting money into any trading platform or token right now, watch this first.

Ouinex is a multi-asset trading platform built on traditional finance infrastructure - the same systems that have protected retail traders in regulated markets for 20 years. Instead of letting institutions see and trade against your orders, they've built a wall that forces market makers to compete blindly for your trades.

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:08 - Is Crypto a Scam?
00:03:02 - How Institutions Trade Against You
00:06:12 - The Chinese Wall That Protects Retail
00:08:49 - How Brokers Sell Your Data
00:10:21 - How Do We Know You're Telling the Truth?
00:12:03 - A-Book vs B-Book Explained
00:14:09 - How Ouinex Actually Makes Money
00:15:27 - Ouinex vs Hyperliquid
00:19:14 - How He Got Liquidity Providers
00:22:01 - Why He Started Ouinex
00:25:44 - What Are People Trading Right Now?
00:28:58 - Using Client Data as a Signal
00:33:17 - The Demographics of Profitable Traders
00:37:38 - Why Less Leverage Makes You More Money
00:44:48 - The Worst Part of Crypto
00:48:10 - The WIKS Token Launch
00:55:34 - No VCs — Funded Entirely by the Community
00:56:16 - How a Rug Pull Actually Works
00:58:01 - How the VC Pump and Dump Works
01:01:49 - What Stops You From Rugging?
01:06:27 - How Much Money Is Enough?
01:12:14 - Do Regulations Actually Mean Anything?
01:19:41 - Advice for New Traders
01:32:23 - How to Spot a Scam Signal Seller
01:38:23 - How to Start a Brokerage

Check out Ouinex:
https://ouinex.com/en
https://x.com/Ouinex
https://www.instagram.com/ouinexexchange/

Check out Ilies Larbi:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilieslarbi/en
https://x.com/ilies_larbi

More of On the Margin:

https://www.themargin.tv

Co-Founder of Tether: The Next Trillion-dollar move is STBL | Reeve Collins

Ivan Patriki — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:59:44 GMT

Reeve Collins co-founded Tether, the world's largest stablecoin powering a $180+ billion financial network. But he didn't start in crypto. He was there at the birth of the internet with a startup that went public for $6.6 billion in 1999. Then he did it again in blockchain. In this conversation, he breaks down why stablecoins are reshaping global finance, why the government won't kill Bitcoin, and what separates people who build billion-dollar companies from those who just talk about it.

We cover:

- How he went from the internet boom to riding blockchain's biggest wave
- Why Tether became the bridge between Wall Street and crypto (and keeps 1.4 billion unbanked people connected to dollars)
- The structural flaws in stablecoins (and how Stable 2.0 fixes them)
- What's backing USDC: US treasuries, yield protocols, and why that matters
- Can governments freeze your stablecoins? (Iran's $400M USDC freeze explained)
- Stablecoin 2.0: earning 5-6% yield while you spend—never possible before
- Why crypto "started on the dark web" is the wrong debate
- The real threat of CBDCs and why governments want surveillance money
- Bitcoin as insurance: why every country needs an alternative to government currencies
- How Wi-Fi (his decentralized on-chain bank) is giving the underbanked access to Wall Street tools
- The tech that actually drives adoption: porn, gambling, and then everything else
- Why young traders should stop day trading and start investing
- Conviction: the secret trait every billionaire has (and how you build it)
- The betrayals and business lessons nobody teaches you
- From college grad to running trillions: the specific life advice that works

GUEST:
Reeve Collins – Co-founder of Tether & STBL. Entrepreneur with a front-row seat to the internet boom (1997) and now building the financial infrastructure of blockchain. Handles $180B+ in daily transactions across the globe.

RESOURCES & LINKS:
Stable: https://www.stbl.com
WeFi: https://www.wefi.co
Smart Media Technologies: https://www.smartmediatech.io

MORE OF REEVE COLLINS:
Twitter: https://x.com/reeve_collins
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevecollins/
YouTube: @ReeveCollinsOfficial
Site: https://reevecollins.com/

MORE OF ON THE MARGIN:
Website: https://www.themargin.tv

Spotify:

Main Site: https://www.on-the-margin.com

MORE OF BOAZ SOBRADO:
Twitter: https://x.com/sobradob
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobradob/
Website: https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

MORE OF IVAN PATRIKI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
Substack: https://substack.com/@artizt
Twitter: https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artizt/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
Telegram: https://t.me/ivanpatriki

00:00 Intro
01:06 Who Is Reeve Collins? (Co-Founder of Tether)
02:25 The Ten-Year Gap Between Successes (And Why Timing Is Everything)
04:13 What Actually Backs USDC? (US Treasuries, Yield, & Philosophy)
05:08 The First Time Anyone Could Create Money (Not Governments)
06:18 Tether: The Bridge Between Traditional Finance & Blockchain
07:02 What's Coming Next in Crypto?
10:02 How Tether Makes Money on $180B in Transactions
13:04 Has Crypto Lost Its Original Mission?
14:18 What Really Drives Technology Innovation (It's Not What You Think)
17:47 Why Tether Dominated Every Other Stablecoin
19:04 Can You Build Another Tether in 2026?
21:14 Stable 2.0: The Next Evolution of Stablecoins
23:50 Meme Coins vs. Real Investment (The XRP Debate)
29:33 Is Crypto Just Fraud? The Honest Breakdown
32:14 CBDCs, Government Control & Frozen Funds
36:08 Small Town Kid to Silicon Valley: His Origin Story
38:06 Conviction: The One Trait Every Billionaire Has
42:31 Wi-Fi: Bringing Wall Street to the Underbanked
45:47 Betrayal in Business (And What It Taught Him)
48:40 Why Successful People Don't Hold Grudges
49:12 The Real Advice That Changes Lives (Skip the Platitudes)
50:39 The Three Paths to Getting Rich
52:20 Closing: What He's Building Next

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

✓ Stablecoins are the bridge from traditional finance to blockchain—not a replacement
✓ Conviction matters more than intelligence or hard work alone
✓ Bitcoin will never die because it's the only alternative to government currency
✓ CBDCs are surveillance money—decentralized options must exist alongside them
✓ Stable 2.0 changes the game: you can earn yield and spend at the same time
✓ Young people should learn AI deeply, not day trade
✓ Tether's dominance comes from first-mover advantage + constant innovation
✓ The future is AI agents routing your money to the most profitable ecosystem
✓ WeFi represents the next evolution: true financial access for billions

Is Crypto a Scam? Why BILLIONS Are Invested Into Bitcoin | GoMining CEO Mark Zalan & Ivan Patriki

Ivan Patriki — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 02:00:00 GMT

From Soviet Refugee into GoMining CEO: Mark Zalan on GoMining, Crypto Fraud & the FUTURE of Bitcoin.

GoMining is one of the top 10 Bitcoin miners in the world by hash power, and the CEO Mark Zalan sat down with me to share the unfiltered story behind his rise from Soviet Union refugee to leading a company with 5 million users.

We cover:

How his family fled the Soviet Union in 1989 with $360 and refugee documents - and what that shaped in him
Why he was late to Bitcoin (and what finally changed his mind)
How Go Mining lets anyone start mining Bitcoin for as little as $25
The difference between cloud mining scams and what Go Mining actually does
Is crypto mostly fraud? An honest breakdown
Bitcoin as financial freedom — Ukraine, Venezuela, and the Canada truckers protest
Why you need to know more than just money to succeed (the Andrew Tate debate)
Go Mining's upcoming instant Bitcoin payment protocol — Layer 1, zero user fees, 0.2% merchant fee (vs. 2.5–3.5% for card networks)
What visionary entrepreneurs actually look like up close
The imposter syndrome no one talks about at the top

Whether you're a crypto investor, entrepreneur, or just curious about how people go from nothing to building something massive - this one's worth your time.

Check out GoMining
https://gomining.com

More of Mark Zalan:
https://x.com/MarkZalan_
https://linkedin.com/in/mark-zalan
https://www.instagram.com/markzalan_gomining/

More of On the Margin:

https://www.themargin.tv

More of Boaz Sobrado:
https://x.com/sobradob
https://www.instagram.com/sobradob/
https://themargin.tv/boaz-sobrado

More of Ivan Patriki:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/artizt
https://substack.com/@artizt
https://t.me/ivanpatriki
https://www.instagram.com/artizt/
https://www.tiktok.com/@ascended
https://x.com/Ivan_patriki
https://www.facebook.com/ivanpatriki22/
https://themargin.tv/ivan-patriki
https://www.financemagnates.com/author/ivan-patriki/
https://financefeeds.com/author/ivan-patriki/

00:00 Intro
01:04 Soviet Refugee to Silicon Valley
02:53 Why He Bet Everything on Bitcoin
03:26 How Wall Street Killed Bitcoin Mining
05:27 The $25 Bitcoin Mine
06:26 How Go Mining Actually Makes Money
09:37 The Truth About Cloud Mining Scams
12:48 Building Trust in a Trustless Space
14:50 "We're Extremely Profitable"
17:04 $360 and a One-Way Ticket Out
21:45 Did Poverty Make Him Hungrier?
23:11 Why He Joined the Marines
24:39 How He Got Into GE Capital
28:29 The Moment He Knew He'd Made It
33:19 Does Winning Get Easier?
37:11 Luck, Charisma, or Skill?
39:06 Why History Majors Win
42:18 Destroying Andrew Tate's Money Advice
45:40 What Billionaires Are Really Like
55:15 Making Payroll From His Own Pocket
01:07:37 Is Crypto Mostly a Scam?
01:13:51 Was Bitcoin Built for Crime?
01:20:29 Why Crypto Is About Freedom
01:30:27 Can the Government Freeze Your Bitcoin?
01:43:57 🚨 Instant Bitcoin Payments Announced
01:47:13 Killing Visa's 3% Fee
02:07:47 On Power, Politics & Imposing Your Will
02:15:43 Why Every Revolution Ends in Executions
02:23:46 The Blueprint for Going From Nothing to Millions

Tanner Hackett Built Billion Dollar Companies, His Next Project, AI Powered $50M Insurance Company Powered by AI. What's the Secret? - Ivan Patriki On the Margin

Ivan Patriki — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:42:59 GMT

Backed by the same investors who funded SpaceX, I sat down with Tanner, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Counterpart, to get an honest look at what it actually takes to build something real fraom scratch.

From cold-calling 40 people about a job offer in Malaysia and only trusting the two who said yes, to raising $50M to fix an industry everyone hates, to why working 14-hour days is his version of good mental health.

This conversation goes places most founders won't touch. If you want to understand how normal people end up doing extraordinary things, watch this first. Counterpart is building the future of small business insurance using AI and data science. Instead of human underwriters trying to assess thousands of variables, their platform synthesizes data points to instantly quote, price, and place coverage for small businesses facing risks most of them don't even know exist, from wrongful termination to wage violations.

They're backed by top-tier venture and private equity firms, and are on a mission to flip insurance from a reactive payout machine into a proactive risk prevention partner.

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:02 - Best Day of His Life
00:02:04 - What Is Counterpart?
00:04:13 - The SpaceX Investor
00:06:36 - How Great Investors Help You
00:07:06 - Building Amazon for Southeast Asia
00:08:46 - 38 Out of 40 People Said No
00:10:21 - Insurance as Risk Prevention
00:11:21 - Small Businesses Getting Fined
00:13:52 - Is Insurance a Scam?
00:19:03 - US vs. Dubai: Where to Build?
00:20:44 - Stare Into the Abyss
00:24:34 - Sacrificing Your Social Life
00:26:40 - The Feedback Loop Philosophy
00:31:10 - What Is Good Mental Health?
00:33:58 - Building Counterpart for Life
00:39:32 - Why Entrepreneurs Study Philosophy
00:42:42 - Who Do You Look Up To?
00:59:30 - Advice for the Next Generation

Check out CounterPart:

https://yourcounterpart.com

More of Tanner Hackett:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannerhackett
https://x.com/tan_hack

More of On the Margin:

https://www.themargin.tv

US Ambassador: "How I Sold My Company to Microsoft" | Trevor Traina w/ Ivan Patriki | On The Margin

Ivan Patriki — Tue, 19 May 2026 22:52:48 GMT

How Trump appointed him as US ambassador, how to sell companies to Microsoft and Mastercard, and his biggest project yet: Kresus, a Web3 super app.

I sat down with Trevor, a serial entrepreneur turned U.S. Ambassador to Austria and now founder of Kresus, to get an honest look at what it actually takes to reach the top.

From raising your first $100k from friends and family, to closing a Microsoft acquisition the same morning Bill Gates announced it on stage, to navigating a government full of entrenched bureaucrats, this conversation goes places most successful people won't.

If you're serious about building something real, becoming the new elite, watch someone from the elite explain everything.

His magnum opus, Kresus, is building AI directly into its wallet app. It's as a tool that helps anyone use Web3. On the trading side, the app already offers smart insights like tracking what top traders are buying in real time, which is a precursor to the fuller AI feature set.

Expanding AI integrations is listed as one of their near-term priorities alongside growing their mini-app ecosystem.

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:09 - How Do You Even Get to This Level?
00:02:25 - Your First Company & the Entrepreneurial Mindset
00:05:31 - Did Going to Princeton, Oxford & Berkeley Actually Help?
00:09:04 - How Trevor Got Trump to Appoint Him Ambassador
00:10:54 - What Does an Ambassador Actually Do?
00:15:14 - Did He Make a Real Political Impact?
00:17:59 - Is the Deep State Real?
00:22:10 - Raising Millions From David Sacks, the Winklevoss Twins & Marc Benioff
00:23:17 - Why Blockchain Is the Revolution Everyone's Sleeping On
00:27:23 - What It's Really Like Selling Your Company to Microsoft
00:29:44 - What Makes the Ultra-Successful Think Differently
00:35:14 - The Opera Story: How the Universe Puts You in the Right Room
00:38:20 - Advice for Young People Who Want to Change the World

More of Trevor Traina:
https://kresus.com - Sign up to Kresus
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevortraina/

More of On the Margin:
https://www.themargin.tv