The archive
Every edition, newest first. The Device Layer publishes weekly; edition numbers are the publication history, topics are the durable way in.
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Nothing is secure anymore. Good.
Ledger’s CTO argues AI is rewriting the economics of security. I agree with the diagnosis — but before building a more expensive castle: what exactly are we trying to defend?
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A Decline in User Demand for Privacy?
A longitudinal study found a drop in on-chain privacy activities from 2016 to 2025. Is there really less demand for privacy, or did the hunter get outfoxed?
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Is There Such a Thing as “The Perfect Wallet?”
No. But try, fail, and try again. Building a hypothetical wallet from known components: open silicon, open secure element, open software, open company.
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The Architecture of Agentic Commerce
The first generation of wallets protected assets. The next generation may spend them.
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The Psychological Signature
Why the path to clear signing isn't as clear as it seems.
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The Wallet Was Secure. The Customer Wasn't.
Privacy is not the same thing as security — and crypto companies need to stop treating customer data like ordinary retail exhaust.
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Stress Test: Self-Custody for Users, Institutions, and Wallet Developers
Paper exposure is not weakening self-custody habits so much as revealing who was never practicing them in the first place.
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Self-Custody Is Not Just a “Vibe”
The CLARITY Act is turning a crypto slogan into a legal boundary.
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The Interface Became the Attack Surface
This study didn't test a single hardware wallet — and that's exactly the point.
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$431M and the Map Nobody Is Reading Right
North America still owns the hardware-wallet market on paper. The real growth is happening somewhere else.
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