Welcome to Beyond the Code, the podcast where we dive into the legal, regulatory, and ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies. Each week, we bring you in-depth conversations with industry experts, discussing the latest advancements in technology and their implications on society and the legal system. From artificial intelligence to blockchain, we’ll be exploring all the hot topics in the field. Your host, Yitzy Hammer, a lawyer and tech enthusiast, is joined by a diverse group of experts, providing valuable insight into the complex and ever-evolving world of technology.
Mark Karpelès bought a half-price Ledger Nano X, opened it, and found a mass-produced spy implant. The former Mt. Gox CEO explains what he found, and how to check your own wallet.
Mark, now CEO of Karpelès Labs in Japan, spotted the implant before the CryptoBillis story broke. He walks through how it uses an LTE antenna to send data back to the attacker, why he’s now sharing his findings with Ledger, and the detector he’s building to tell you “clean” or “not clean.” He also explains how to open a Nano X yourself.
Then we go back to 2010: accepting Bitcoin for web hosting, taking over Mt. Gox from Jed McCaleb, growing from about 6,000 customers to 1 million in two years, the Silk Road fallout and the $5M US seizure, years under public suspicion, and how he’d build a secure exchange today with all-cold storage and FROST. We finish with AI and CatCard, his custom firmware for the Coldcard.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome, Mark Karpelès
04:11 Karpelès Labs: “specialized in doing the impossible”
06:14 The CryptoBillis Ledger implant story
08:03 Finding a mass-produced implant in a half-price Nano X
12:22 Ledger’s response, and cooperating now
14:40 The risk of a broad reseller network
15:50 Mark’s implant detector
19:22 How to check a Nano X yourself, and the warranty catch-22
21:17 A cat-and-mouse game with implant makers
23:40 Mark’s story: from France to Japan
30:49 Taking over Mt. Gox from Jed McCaleb
34:10 From 6,000 to 1 million customers
35:39 Silk Road, banks and the $5M US seizure
41:11 BIP32/BIP39: what could have saved Mt. Gox
42:24 Living under suspicion
45:42 How he’d build an exchange today
48:44 Bankruptcy and creditor recoveries
51:31 A few months in Israel
55:30 Crypto, AI and 20–30 agents at once
1:00:49 CatCard: custom Coldcard firmware
1:04:00 Where to follow Mark, and a parting warning
Guest: Mark Karpelès – X: https://x.com/MagicalTux
Host: Yitzy Hammer – X: https://x.com/ijhammer · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ijhammer · DLT Law: https://www.dltlaw.io
Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/MeG8kFkCPQQ
More episodes: https://www.beyondthecode.fm/
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