Wessel van Rensburg
@wildebees.bsky.social
The digital policy strategist you didn’t know you needed—using terms like 'sovereign data assets' as casually as most would say 'hello'.
Also geopolitics, innovation, industrial policy.
Location: Den Haag 🇳🇱 From: 🇿🇦
Also geopolitics, innovation, industrial policy.
Location: Den Haag 🇳🇱 From: 🇿🇦
Pinned
Why stablecoins are Silicon Valley's Pandora's box
Stablecoins betray the essence of money itself: credit.
www.reaction.life
New essay ↓ with Andreas Dombret www.reaction.life/p/why-stable... #stablecoins
Stablecoins are Silicon Valley's Pandora's box. The Trump admin just signed the GENIUS Act, but the warnings should be louder.
Here's what everyone's missing about why stablecoins betray the essence of money itself 🧵
Stablecoins are Silicon Valley's Pandora's box. The Trump admin just signed the GENIUS Act, but the warnings should be louder.
Here's what everyone's missing about why stablecoins betray the essence of money itself 🧵
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Here’s the same data, but with trust broken down by political views (circles are trust among people on the left, +s the right).
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Here’s the same data, but with trust broken down by political views (circles are trust among people on the left, +s the right).
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Financial documents show Anthropic expects to break even in 2028, while OpenAI projects ~$74B in operating losses that year before turning a profit in 2030 (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
November 11, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Financial documents show Anthropic expects to break even in 2028, while OpenAI projects ~$74B in operating losses that year before turning a profit in 2030 (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Interesting new study shows what I would argue is one of the biggest changes of the last year:
Over 70% of Germans say “What happens on the world stage has (rather) a major impact on my life and my everyday routine.”
Study by @moreincommonde.bsky.social
www.moreincommon.de/wp-content/u...
Over 70% of Germans say “What happens on the world stage has (rather) a major impact on my life and my everyday routine.”
Study by @moreincommonde.bsky.social
www.moreincommon.de/wp-content/u...
November 11, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Interesting new study shows what I would argue is one of the biggest changes of the last year:
Over 70% of Germans say “What happens on the world stage has (rather) a major impact on my life and my everyday routine.”
Study by @moreincommonde.bsky.social
www.moreincommon.de/wp-content/u...
Over 70% of Germans say “What happens on the world stage has (rather) a major impact on my life and my everyday routine.”
Study by @moreincommonde.bsky.social
www.moreincommon.de/wp-content/u...
One of the better discussions on the impact of AI on work.
The point that is made that though AI will cause wealth creation & new jobs, it’s not clear whether it will create enough quality ones, especially in the short term — compared to what it destroys.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...
The point that is made that though AI will cause wealth creation & new jobs, it’s not clear whether it will create enough quality ones, especially in the short term — compared to what it destroys.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...
How AI Will Impact the Future of Work
Podcast Episode · On with Kara Swisher · 16/10/2025 · 55m
podcasts.apple.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:57 AM
One of the better discussions on the impact of AI on work.
The point that is made that though AI will cause wealth creation & new jobs, it’s not clear whether it will create enough quality ones, especially in the short term — compared to what it destroys.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...
The point that is made that though AI will cause wealth creation & new jobs, it’s not clear whether it will create enough quality ones, especially in the short term — compared to what it destroys.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
n.pr
November 11, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
80 layers — for those not paying attention, @dorialexander.bsky.social has been posting for weeks about how small models with deep rather than wide layers exhibit eerie emergent behavior
this one is worth checking out
this one is worth checking out
Synthetic playgrounds enabled a series of controlled experiments that brought us to favor extreme depth design. We selected a 80-layers architecture for Baguettotron, with improvements across the board on memorization of logical reasoning: huggingface.co/PleIAs/Bague...
November 11, 2025 at 2:26 AM
80 layers — for those not paying attention, @dorialexander.bsky.social has been posting for weeks about how small models with deep rather than wide layers exhibit eerie emergent behavior
this one is worth checking out
this one is worth checking out
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
There is growing speculation about who will succeed Christine Lagarde at the ECB.
www.ft.com/content/45fc...
www.ft.com/content/45fc...
ECB to kick off race for top roles as Lagarde era enters final stretch
Four of six jobs on central bank’s executive board become vacant before end of 2027, including the presidency
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
There is growing speculation about who will succeed Christine Lagarde at the ECB.
www.ft.com/content/45fc...
www.ft.com/content/45fc...
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Great points from Aslak.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
Last, but not least: there is a future for rules-based trade. But it largely lies with the world outside China and the US. The EU has had significant success agreeing FTAs with Mercosur and Indonesia as welll as real progress in negotiaions with India.
November 10, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Great points from Aslak.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Sahra Wagenknecht, a longtime icon of hard-left politics in Germany, is stepping down as co-leader of the populist party she founded only last year.
Germany’s hard-left icon steps down as leader of populist party she founded
Sahra Wagenknecht says she will still maintain an active leadership role in the party that bears her name.
www.politico.eu
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Sahra Wagenknecht, a longtime icon of hard-left politics in Germany, is stepping down as co-leader of the populist party she founded only last year.
This makes sense. It’s simply not in the any small countries’ interest to be next to a large trade block that it’s not a part of.
November 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
This makes sense. It’s simply not in the any small countries’ interest to be next to a large trade block that it’s not a part of.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
This looks rather meaningful.
November 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
This looks rather meaningful.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Five drones were spotted flying over Belgium’s Doel nuclear power plant near the Port of Antwerp yesterday evening, energy company Engie said.
Belgium flounders as 5 drones buzz nuclear power plant
U.K., France and Germany send assistance.
www.politico.eu
November 10, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Five drones were spotted flying over Belgium’s Doel nuclear power plant near the Port of Antwerp yesterday evening, energy company Engie said.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Not one of Musk, Sacks or Thiel are Afrikaans.
The current SA cabinet, by contrast, has, amongst others, a FF+ minister, a noted Afrikaans-language activist.
If Americans on all sides could please update their knowledge of SA past Lethal Weapon 2, it would be hugely helpful.
The current SA cabinet, by contrast, has, amongst others, a FF+ minister, a noted Afrikaans-language activist.
If Americans on all sides could please update their knowledge of SA past Lethal Weapon 2, it would be hugely helpful.
Threatening to bomb Nigeria wasn't enough. Now Trump wants to go to war against South Africa, too, because his Afrikaner troika of Elon Musk, David Sacks and Peter Thiel tell him that those bloody swartes are carrying out genocide against the white people. A doddering imbecile. And very dangerous.
November 8, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Not one of Musk, Sacks or Thiel are Afrikaans.
The current SA cabinet, by contrast, has, amongst others, a FF+ minister, a noted Afrikaans-language activist.
If Americans on all sides could please update their knowledge of SA past Lethal Weapon 2, it would be hugely helpful.
The current SA cabinet, by contrast, has, amongst others, a FF+ minister, a noted Afrikaans-language activist.
If Americans on all sides could please update their knowledge of SA past Lethal Weapon 2, it would be hugely helpful.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Sources: Roelof Botha was ousted by senior Sequoia partners amid concerns about his "imperial style" leadership, AI investment strategy, and internal clashes (George Hammond/Financial Times)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
November 7, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Sources: Roelof Botha was ousted by senior Sequoia partners amid concerns about his "imperial style" leadership, AI investment strategy, and internal clashes (George Hammond/Financial Times)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Coinbase is facing some opposition from banking groups over its national trust bank charter application. “This Application fails to meet statutory chartering standards, presents compounding safety and soundness risks, and would set a dangerous precedent for the structure of the U.S. banking system.”
![Meanwhile, Coinbase is facing some opposition from banks over its application for a national trust bank charter [I95]. The Independent Community Bankers of America, the main trade group for community banks, submitted a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency expressing their position that the Coinbase National Trust Company has “demonstrably flawed risk and control functions while operating under a governance structure that prevents independent oversight” and “would struggle to achieve and maintain profitability during crypto bear markets, the very time at which the similarly concentrated Coinbase would be least able to provide support”. They also write that “The OCC’s untested receivership framework would struggle to resolve an uninsured institution of CNTC’s proposed scale and operational complexity, particularly given the technical challenges of crypto custody and CNTC’s likely importance as a dominant crypto ETF custodian.” The letter cites multiple recent enforcement actions by US and UK regulators against the Coinbase and the company’s May 2025 disclosure of a major cybersecurity breach [I84] as evidence of “a continuous pattern of compliance and operational failures. Indeed, over the past five years, Coinbase has never had a year without being subject to an enforcement action, spanning multiple jurisdictions (US, UK) and regulatory domains (BSA/AML, licensing, market integrity).” (Another enforcement action against Coinbase in Ireland, which I will describe in a moment, was announced several days after this letter, and so was not included.) They conclude that “This Application fails to meet statutory chartering standards, presents compounding safety and soundness risks, and would set a dangerous precedent for the structure of the U.S. banking system.”11](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:exrxvyu6bpoym6mbnctke5tn/bafkreihlrvjrp5nuhvyeesia4mslln5mvfg37s4ree37jwl26rypf2foxq@jpeg)
![Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, was furious at the ICBA’s submission, writing on Twitter, “Imagine opposing a regulated trust charter because you prefer crypto to stay … unregulated. That’s ICBA’s position. It’s another case of bank lobbyists trying to dig regulatory moats to protect their own. From undoing a law to go after rewards to blocking charters, protectionism isn’t consumer protection.”14 His statement was met with mixed responses, with some agreeing with his claim that traditional banks were seeking to exclude competitors. Others were more skeptical. “Imagine approving an application that fails to meet statutory chartering standards so that your latest DeFi scamcoin has some air of legitimacy,” replied one commenter.15 “Says the co[mpany] encouraging clients to take on 10x-50x leverage. ‘Trust me, bro.’” wrote another.16](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:exrxvyu6bpoym6mbnctke5tn/bafkreig4u6icnkeh4s6i444rtrd4fwkuhgpyixcblxmutl3hv6xy6y5b7m@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Coinbase is facing some opposition from banking groups over its national trust bank charter application. “This Application fails to meet statutory chartering standards, presents compounding safety and soundness risks, and would set a dangerous precedent for the structure of the U.S. banking system.”
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
One of the founders of the Samourai Wallet mixing software has received the maximum sentence — five years. Like Tornado Cash, the case centered on arguments over whether the developers were creating privacy preserving technology or intentionally facilitating criminal activity.
![Samourai Wallet
Privacy advocates in the crypto world have been closely watching the Samourai Wallet case [I56, 57, 83, 84, 90], with many comparing it to the highly controversial prosecution of Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm [Tornado]. The Samourai Wallet founders, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business in exchange for prosecutors dropping the more severe money laundering conspiracy charge, have maintained that they were merely developing privacy-preserving software, and that they were not responsible for criminal use of the software. Prosecutors have argued that the developers actively intended the software to be used for criminal purposes, pointing to marketing aimed at “Dark/Grey Market participants” and those engaged in “Illicit activity”.
Prosecutors have sought a five-year sentence for the two founders — the statutory maximum for the charge — and Keonne Rodriguez received that full sentence, plus a $250,000 fine. Rodriguez has already paid $6.3 million in forfeiture. Judge Cote cited a letter to the court in which Rodriguez continued to say that he was merely motivated by a desire to protect financial privacy and not “a desire to facilitate criminal activity” as evidence that Rodriguez “has not come to terms with what he did. ... The letter indicated to me that you were very much still operating in a world with moral blinders on.”6 William Lonergan Hill, Rodriguez’s cofounder, will be sentenced later this month.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:exrxvyu6bpoym6mbnctke5tn/bafkreif3nenuufnk5j7x2usfz6vx6ocqyehhz44tmnzvwehmcmldmf5esm@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
One of the founders of the Samourai Wallet mixing software has received the maximum sentence — five years. Like Tornado Cash, the case centered on arguments over whether the developers were creating privacy preserving technology or intentionally facilitating criminal activity.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Days after one of these banking groups submitted their letter with a list of all of Coinbase’s regulatory violations in the US and Europe over the last five years, Coinbase was fined $25 million in Ireland for transaction monitoring failures.
![The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase €21.5 million (~$24.9 million) for failures in its anti-money laundering and counterterrorism transaction monitoring programs from 2021 to 2025.
Coinbase Europe has been fined due to faults in the configuration of their transaction monitoring system, which resulted in more than 30 million transactions not being properly monitored over a 12-month period. The value of these transactions amounted to over €176 billion, and accounted for approximately 31% of all Coinbase Europe transactions conducted in the period when the faults existed. Further, it took Coinbase Europe almost three years to fully complete the monitoring of the impacted transactions. This subsequent monitoring led to the reporting of 2,708 [Suspicious Transaction Report]s to the FIU for further analysis and potential investigation. The STRs submitted in respect of the late monitoring of the transactions contained suspicions associated with serious criminal activities including: money laundering; fraud/scams; drug trafficking; cyber-attacks (malware/ransomware); and child sexual exploitation.
Coinbase Europe had outsourced its transaction monitoring to Coinbase Inc., its American counterpart.17](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:exrxvyu6bpoym6mbnctke5tn/bafkreiczwseiy3quqlh7vjsqhrucrqmknewb44hxieixfnhgqovuf7ovji@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Days after one of these banking groups submitted their letter with a list of all of Coinbase’s regulatory violations in the US and Europe over the last five years, Coinbase was fined $25 million in Ireland for transaction monitoring failures.
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
Important context here: it was a Dutch court, not the government, that suspended Nexperia's Chinese CEO. The Hague cannot withdraw the court order. So presumably Beijing would have to accept this as part of any detente.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Dutch Ready to Drop Control of Nexperia If Chip Supply Resumes
The Netherlands is prepared to suspend a so-called ministerial order that gave it control over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia in a move that would de-escalate a fight with Beijing that threatens to ...
www.bloomberg.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:48 AM
What a bind. If they give control back to Wingtech Technology, a partly state owned Chinese entity: That would mean it would be pointless to start the long process of securing a new assembly test and packaging supplier. They would just have to hope China does not use this leverage in the future. 1/
“The Dutch government is ready to shelve the order, which gave it the power to block or change key corporate decisions at Nexperia, if China allows exports of its critical chips again, according to people familiar with the matter.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Dutch Ready to Drop Nexperia Control If Chip Supply Resumes
The Netherlands is prepared to suspend a so-called ministerial order that gave it control over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia in a move that would de-escalate a fight with Beijing that threatens to ...
www.bloomberg.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:49 AM
What a bind. If they give control back to Wingtech Technology, a partly state owned Chinese entity: That would mean it would be pointless to start the long process of securing a new assembly test and packaging supplier. They would just have to hope China does not use this leverage in the future. 1/
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
“Sudan's Death Toll Could Exceed Gaza’s. Here’s Everything You Need to Know”
Important convo on the genocide there from me/Zeteo, with 2 Sudan experts who offer actual solutions to stop the fighting & put pressure on outside actors like the UAE & Saudi:
Important convo on the genocide there from me/Zeteo, with 2 Sudan experts who offer actual solutions to stop the fighting & put pressure on outside actors like the UAE & Saudi:
Sudan's Death Toll Could Exceed Gaza’s. Here’s Everything You Need to Know
Two experts on Sudan explain how the killing in El Fasher is worse than anyone knows.
zeteo.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 AM
“Sudan's Death Toll Could Exceed Gaza’s. Here’s Everything You Need to Know”
Important convo on the genocide there from me/Zeteo, with 2 Sudan experts who offer actual solutions to stop the fighting & put pressure on outside actors like the UAE & Saudi:
Important convo on the genocide there from me/Zeteo, with 2 Sudan experts who offer actual solutions to stop the fighting & put pressure on outside actors like the UAE & Saudi:
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
This would be a pretty stunning climbdown from the Dutch, but altogether predictable.
Europe simply doesn't have the pain threshold to continue, its industries are banging down the door to end this.
The optics, a week after the US and China reached a deal on Nexperia, are not great.
Europe simply doesn't have the pain threshold to continue, its industries are banging down the door to end this.
The optics, a week after the US and China reached a deal on Nexperia, are not great.
November 7, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This would be a pretty stunning climbdown from the Dutch, but altogether predictable.
Europe simply doesn't have the pain threshold to continue, its industries are banging down the door to end this.
The optics, a week after the US and China reached a deal on Nexperia, are not great.
Europe simply doesn't have the pain threshold to continue, its industries are banging down the door to end this.
The optics, a week after the US and China reached a deal on Nexperia, are not great.
“The Dutch government is ready to shelve the order, which gave it the power to block or change key corporate decisions at Nexperia, if China allows exports of its critical chips again, according to people familiar with the matter.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Dutch Ready to Drop Nexperia Control If Chip Supply Resumes
The Netherlands is prepared to suspend a so-called ministerial order that gave it control over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia in a move that would de-escalate a fight with Beijing that threatens to ...
www.bloomberg.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
“The Dutch government is ready to shelve the order, which gave it the power to block or change key corporate decisions at Nexperia, if China allows exports of its critical chips again, according to people familiar with the matter.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
Reposted by Wessel van Rensburg
"Left-wing users saw almost the same amount of left-wing + right-wing content, even though they only followed left-wing accounts.
But only 14% of the political content sent to our right-leaning users was left-wing.
The neutral users saw twice as much right-wing content as left-wing content."
#Xgate
But only 14% of the political content sent to our right-leaning users was left-wing.
The neutral users saw twice as much right-wing content as left-wing content."
#Xgate
This is really excellent data journalism... Elon Musk has declared war on the British government, it just doesn't realise it.
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:17 AM
"Left-wing users saw almost the same amount of left-wing + right-wing content, even though they only followed left-wing accounts.
But only 14% of the political content sent to our right-leaning users was left-wing.
The neutral users saw twice as much right-wing content as left-wing content."
#Xgate
But only 14% of the political content sent to our right-leaning users was left-wing.
The neutral users saw twice as much right-wing content as left-wing content."
#Xgate