Gift cards and the fraud supply chain
For this week's holiday-inspired Complex Systems, Patrick reads his essay from Bits about Money on the gift card paradox: a legitimate payments rail, yet also a primary vector for fraud that leaves vi...
26 Des 202513min
Understanding perpetual futures
In this episode, Patrick McKenzie (patio11) walks through how perpetual futures work, from funding rates to liquidations to the surprise of automatic deleveraging. Perps are the dominant trading mecha...
11 Des 202524min
The economics of discovery, with Ben Reinhardt
In this episode, Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Ben Reinhardt, founder of Speculative Technologies, to examine how science gets funded in the United States and why the current system leaves m...
4 Des 202545min
Understanding equity at tech companies, with Billy Gallagher of Prospect
Why do billions of dollars of stock trade hands based on napkin math and vibes? Billy Gallagher, CEO of Prospect and former Rippling employee, joins Patrick McKenzie (patio11) to walk through the info...
20 Nov 20251h 17min
The $4,000 insurance policy designed to never pay out
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads his essay on title insurance, a service designed to never be performed with a "laughably low" 5% loss ratio compared to 50-80% for almost all types of insurance. The t...
13 Nov 202527min
How deposit insurance actually works
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads his Bits about Money essay on deposit insurance, explaining this critical financial infrastructure, with some thoughts on its performance during 2023. He covers what d...
6 Nov 202531min
Home improvement lending with fewer bankers and more computers
In this episode, Patrick McKenzie reads his essay about the financial infrastructure that makes buying windows painless. When a window installer can originate, underwrite, and fund a $25,000 loan in 1...
30 Okt 202528min
Talking to the Bank of England about systemic risk and systems engineering
Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) shares his remarks to the Bank of England on critical vulnerabilities in financial infrastructure. Drawing from the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage which brought down teller s...
23 Okt 20251h 31min
