In Episode 249 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nathaniel Whittemore, host of “The Breakdown” a podcast distributed by CoinDesk, which focuses on the big picture power shifts in the economy and society, seen through the lens of crypto. It’s also the largest daily analysis podcast in the bitcoin and crypto space and one that Demetri has relied on to sort through the daily noise and to get a sense of its community’s cultural attitudes and narratives for years. Demetri asked Nathaniel...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep 249•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 248 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with professors of international relations John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Professor Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and the author of multiple books including “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics,” “Why Leaders Lie,” and “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities.” Professor Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of Inte...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 248•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 247 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jeff Currie, global head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs and an expert on commodity markets, commodity dynamics related to corporate risk management & geopolitics, and how to invest strategically in what Jeff Currie believes is a “commodity supercycle.” Currie is a fountain of knowledge and uniquely good at breaking down the market dynamics and material importance of an industry that incorporates every single aspect of the gl...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 247•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 246 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Michael Anderson and Vance Spencer. Michael and Vance are the founders of Framework Ventures, a crypto-native venture capital firm with a team of technologists, researchers, and investors that actively build alongside the companies and protocols in which they invest. They were on the podcast two years ago to discuss their thesis on the opportunities in decentralized finance and they are back on today to talk about blockchain gaming an...
May 02, 2022•42 min•Ep 246•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 245 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Grant Williams. Grant is the host of the Grant Williams Podcast and the author of the “Things that Make You Go Hmmm…” newsletter, which you can find at Grant-Williams.com . We are grappling with what will turn out to be the greatest socio-economic and political changes in one hundred years. What these changes will mean for the future of democracy, civil society, and the viability of capitalism are what today’s conversation is all abou...
Apr 25, 2022•54 min•Ep 245•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 244 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with the always congenial, yet uncompromisingly opinionated chicken, Doomberg. Doomberg’s expertise in heavy industry makes him the perfect guest to discuss what’s happening in energy and commodity markets. So, it’s no surprise that he and Demetri talked about this, as well as the investment opportunities in uranium, which Doomberg has written about extensively in his most recent post on substack titled “ Sitting Down With Sprott .” The tw...
Apr 18, 2022•46 min•Ep 244•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 243 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with investor and financial historian Russell Napier. Russel was on the podcast a year ago for a conversation about his book on the Asian Financial Crisis and “The Birth of the Age of Debt.” Today’s episode picks up where that conversation left off, building on the foundations of the post-Bretton Woods system of flexible exchange rates and dollar hegemony to speculate on what comes next—on what the new order that is now being born will loo...
Apr 11, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 242 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas shares an appearance he made on “ The Realignment ” podcast a week before the invasion of Ukraine. Demetri spoke to the seriousness with which he views the information problem and the information war that we’re all combatants in today, the move from unipolarity to a world of disorder, as well as the spiritual deadening that he feels we’ve all been living through. He also discusses the need for both a national purpose and a sense of self that is i...
Apr 04, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep 242•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 241 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Chris Painter, a globally recognized leader and expert on cyber security who has been at the vanguard of U.S. and international cyber issues for over thirty years—first as a prosecutor of some of the most high-profile cybercrime cases in the country and then as a senior official at the Department of Justice, FBI, the National Security Council, and the State Department. He’s responsible for having established the Office of the Coordina...
Mar 28, 2022•41 min•Ep 241•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 240 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jon Wolfsthal, a veteran of the national security establishment who has served as both special assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs and senior director at the National Security Council for arms control and nonproliferation. He’s been involved in almost every aspect of U.S. nuclear weapons, arms control, nonproliferation and security policy during his 30-years of working on issues of national se...
Mar 24, 2022•43 min•Ep 240•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 239 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Peter Zeihan geopolitical strategist and author of the soon-to-be-released book “The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization.” Demetri asked Zeihan back on the podcast in order to get his perspective on the very serious situation that is unfolding in Ukraine and Eastern Europe at the moment. We discuss the European security theatre, US-Russia relations, the risks of military confrontation with NAT...
Mar 21, 2022•50 min•Ep 239•Transcript available on Metacast I'm hosting an event at Ideal Glass Studios in New York City’s Greenwich Village on Thursday, March 31st. The event includes a panel featuring the founders of Nillion, a decentralized public network based on an exciting new cryptographic primitive called Nil Message Compute (NMC) that I recently covered in Episode 234 with Miguel De Vega . Attendees will have a chance to learn more about the project, ask questions of the panelists, and socialize with fellow Hidden Forces listeners and past guest...
Mar 20, 2022•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 238 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Hari Krishnan (Head of Volatility Strategies at SCT Capital) and Ash Bennington (Senior & Crypto Editor at Real Vision) about their book “Market Tremors: Quantifying Structural Risks in Modern Financial Markets.” Since the Global Financial Crisis, market structure has undergone a dramatic shift. A combination of Central Bank policy, disintermediation of commercial banks through regulation, and the growth of passive products such as ET...
Mar 17, 2022•52 min•Ep 238•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 237 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with journalist, historian, and author Sebastian Mallaby about his latest book, “The Power Law,” which delves into the history of the venture capital industry and early-stage investing. This conversation is meant to provide you with a framework for thinking about how to invest in businesses, initiatives, and projects, which not only lack cash flows, but whose values are often fundamentally intangible, difficult to measure, and often imposs...
Mar 14, 2022•46 min•Ep 237•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 236 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Julia Friedlander, the C. Boyden Gray senior fellow & director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. Ms. Friedlander served as senior policy advisor for Europe in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, where she collaborated with EU partners on global sanctions policy and combatting illicit finance and as director for the European Union, Southern Eu...
Mar 10, 2022•44 min•Ep 236•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 235 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with the fmr. CTO and co-founder of CrowdStrike Dmitri Alperovitch about the latest developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine, including the risks of escalation between Russia & NATO, implications for US-Sino relations, cyberattacks against Western countries, political warfare, and much more. Dmitri Alperovitch was on this podcast late last year for an episode titled “ Why Putin Plans to Invade Ukraine ,” in which he explained why...
Mar 07, 2022•52 min•Ep 235•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 234 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Dr. Miguel de Vega, the creator of Nillion’s new cryptographic primitive, Nil Message Compute (NMC). Nillion allows a decentralized network of nodes to work together using a non-blockchain technology known as Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) to store and process information at essentially centralized server speed, all while remaining information-theoretic secure (ITS). This unique feature represents a significant breakthrough in ...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep 234•Transcript available on Metacast The war in Ukraine has broken out while I've been away on vacation. This is an update for listeners so that you know what to expect from the show in the next couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, you can follow me on Twitter at @kofinas , where I have been sharing my thoughts on the geopolitical situation, as well as retweeting those of the people I follow in order to stay abreast of events as they evolve. This is a dangerous time for the world, but especially for the people of Ukraine who have sho...
Feb 26, 2022•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 233 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with award-winning author and recurring Hidden Forces guest Jimmy Soni about his newst book on the PayPal Mafia and the founders who shaped Silicon Valley and transformed the Fintech and online payments industry. The history of the so-called “PayPal Mafia” does not simply constitute the individual histories of star-studded founders like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reed Hoffman, and others. The history of PayPal is in many ways the history of t...
Feb 21, 2022•48 min•Ep 233•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 232 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Mohamed El-Erian, President of Queens' College Cambridge and chief economic adviser at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO where Mohamed was CEO and co-chief investment officer from 2007 to 2014. El-Erian is one of the most gifted communicators in finance who is intimately connected with the global policymaking community. He has a unique perspective on one of the most important forces driving financial markets and his insights into...
Feb 14, 2022•52 min•Ep 232•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 231 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with renowned philosopher and author of “Reality+” David Chalmers about the metaverse, the nature of reality, and the problems of philosophy in a virtual world. David’s central thesis is that the metaverse and virtual reality are genuine realities and that we may be living in such virtual worlds already. Along the way, Demetri and David conduct a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science, using virtual reality technology to explore...
Feb 07, 2022•54 min•Ep 231•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 230 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Spencer Jakab, an award-winning financial journalist who edits the Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street” column and who is out with a new book chronicling one of the craziest news stories of the last few years. The story centers on a motley crew of retail traders on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets forum who almost broke the Internet by using social media, the Robinhood trading app, and a sophisticated understanding of options contract...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 230•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 229 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Peter Pomerantsev, a Soviet-born British journalist, former TV producer, and author about the break-down in belief systems and shared mythologies that we are experiencing in the West and why this has left so many people feeling increasingly cynical about the world and indifferent towards the future. Peter was early in his diagnosis, having first experienced this phenomenon during his time living and working in Russia. It was not long ...
Jan 24, 2022•57 min•Ep 229•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 228 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kazakhstan-based journalist Joanna Lillis, author of “Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan,” about the recent protests and unrest that unfolded in Kazakhstan over the past two weeks and how this ties into the larger geopolitical chess match currently underway in Eastern Europe. This is the multi-polar world in action. It’s no longer some theoretical thing that we’ve read about or that we’re moving towards—we are in it. ...
Jan 17, 2022•40 min•Ep 228•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 227 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Saagar Enjeti and Marshall Kosloff, the co-hosts of “The Realignment,” an absolutely phenomenal podcast that consistently produces some of the best conversations at the intersection of politics and society that you will find anywhere. They are both successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders in their own rights—Saagar Enjeti interviewed former president Donald Trump four separate times in his capacity as Chief Whitehouse Corresponden...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 227•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 226 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Dmitri Alperovitch, the former CTO and co-founder of CrowdStrike, the world’s largest cybersecurity company, which has been involved in investigations of several high-profile cyberattacks including the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, the 2015–2016 cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the 2016 email leak involving the DNC. Alperovitch currently serves as Chairman of the non-profit Silverado Policy Accelerator, where h...
Jan 03, 2022•44 min•Ep 226•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 225 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ryan Holiday, a popular author whose books have made philosophy and the writings of the ancients interesting and accessible to millions of people. He’s done this with bestselling books like “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy” and he continues to do this with his latest book “Courage is Calling.” Demetri and Ryan discuss what courage is, why it matters, and if we can learn to live and act courageously. We are living in a t...
Dec 27, 2021•5 min•Ep 225•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 224 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas appears as a guest on the Mining Stock Daily, a podcast by Trevor Hall which focuses on the junior mining and mineral exploration sector. Their conversation centers on the macro, big-picture themes of society, polity, economy, and culture that preoccupy most of Demetri’s attention, as well as on his own approach to investing. You can find more information about Trevor’s podcast at miningstockdaily.com where you can listen to the entire, original ...
Dec 20, 2021•50 min•Ep 224•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 223 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Doomberg, an anonymous publisher and the proprietor of a bespoke consulting firm that provides advisory services to family offices and c-suite executives. The firm’s principals apply their decades of experience across heavy industry, private equity, and finance to deliver innovative thinking and clarity to complex problems. In the first hour of today’s conversation, Demetri and Doomberg discuss how to build a successful publishing com...
Dec 13, 2021•51 min•Ep 223•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 222 of Hidden Forces , Demetri Kofinas speaks with Gregg Easterbrook. Gregg was a staff writer, national correspondent, and contributing editor at The Atlantic and has authored thirteen books about a variety of subjects including climate change, globalization, philosophy, and American football. Demetri and Gregg explore the subject of Easterbrook’s latest book, “The Blue Age.” They discuss the extraordinary transformation of the international trading order that we’ve been living throu...
Dec 06, 2021•50 min•Ep 222•Transcript available on Metacast 
