Kenneth Bok

The True Size of Singapore 🇸🇬

"so you staked your ETH on the Ethereum blockchain to earn yield?" "yes, Dave" "except you didn't want your capital to be locked up so you actually staked it with a liquid staking protocol called Lido?" "that's correct, Dave" "and Lido gave you a liquid staking receipt token called stETH in return?" "yes, Dave" "and then you didn't think that was enough, so you juiced the yield even further by depositing your stETH receipt tokens into a restaking protocol called Eigenlayer?" "you are correct, Dave" "and now you didn't want to lock up your capital, so you actually restaked with a liquid restaking protocol called KelpDAO who provided you with a liquid restaking receipt token called rsETH?" "you got it, Dave" "and then that was surely not enough juice, so you then deposited your rsETH tokens into a lending protocol called AAVE so that you could open a leveraged looping position that borrows ETH against the rsETH collateral and restakes the ETH into rsETH which is then deposited as collateral, except it turns out rsETH used a cross-chain bridge called LayerZero whose security is held together by a 1/1 toothpick, which was obviously hacked by north koreans causing rsETH to become undercollateralized and now these looping positions are stuck and unprofitable, and everyone is pointing fingers at each other, and also DeFi is a very serious industry" "you are 100% correct, dave" jfc.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister on why he cannot accept negotiating with Iran for safe passage of ships. Definitely worth listening to:

Momentum in RWAs is not slowing down. This investment reflects our focus on meeting growing institutional demand for tokenised markets, particularly where liquidity and distribution remain fragmented. We believe Libeara is well positioned to lead here. Onwards.

The launch of Mox Bank's regulated crypto trading service marks an important step in how digital assets are entering mainstream banking, within a licensed, secure environment. This reflects the role we play in supporting partners as innovation moves forward responsibly. It’s about balancing regulatory clarity, customer confidence, and long-term readiness as new capabilities take shape. Launched in Hong Kong in September 2020, Mox is a digital bank backed by Standard Chartered, in partnership with HKT, PCCW and Trip.com. #DigitalAssets #Innovation #Partnership

I've finally built a dedicated site for anyone fascinated by the history of Chinese characters! - Most up-to-date scientific research - Real character forms from real texts - Constantly updating panatesu.github.io/glyph-origins/ Huge thanks to @spectraldani for making this possible!

We estimate that Claude Opus 4.6 has a 50%-time-horizon of around 14.5 hours (95% CI of 6 hrs to 98 hrs) on software tasks. While this is the highest point estimate we’ve reported, this measurement is extremely noisy because our current task suite is nearly saturated.

Fun feature in the History of Bitcoin about the time I bagged 30,000 of the black market BTC at auction. The night before the auction, I decided that I would actually bid over the market price. The market was $618 and I bid $632. My thinking was this: either Bitcoin would be extraordinary and transform the world economy, or it wouldn’t. If it did, the market for Bitcoin against fiat would be infinite, as Bitcoin rose and the dollar fell. If it didn’t, I would lose my investment. It didn’t really matter much if I bid $617 or $632. I was surprised that I won all nine lots, and I ended up buying more than was prudent for me, so I tried to get my old partnership at DFJ to share the purchase, but they didn’t want it, so I ended up owning the whole thing. I had to wait about an hour for the six verifications to go through as the blockchain was so slow back then. I made the US Marshall’s office stay on the phone for the entire verification. I had to pay them the money upfront, and they needed to deliver the bitcoin. historyofbitcoin.io/timeline/cheap…

That is because printing a lot of currency and devaluing debt is the most expedient way of reducing or wiping out debt burdens. When debt burdens are sufficiently reduced or eliminated, the credit/ debt expansion cycles can begin again. #principleoftheday

After analyzing 20 years of data, McKinsey discovered their hiring process favored “perfect” resumes over what really predicts success: resilience, real-world experience, and the ability to learn. Listen to the full IdeaCast episode here: s.hbr.org/4bJGVO0

I'm thrilled to announce that YC will be visiting Europe's no. 1 university - Imperial College London - on Jan 28th Get your ticket here: events.ycombinator.com/yc-imperial-20… (although it pains me to say that as an Oxford alum 😭)

Once again, I am pounding the table on using Gemini to analyze your genes. Get a basic Ancestry DNA test, opt into their privacy options, and once you get your results login and download your "raw DNA file" Ask Gemini to give you the identifiers to search for high impact genes and then use it to understand your own data and suggest interventions for the ones with a detrimental impact It's legitimately life changing

Stablecoins have the potential to reshape cross-border payments and capital flows. They offer opportunities, but also bring new risks—financial integrity, regulatory oversight, consumer protection, capital flow management, monetary sovereignty, and more. Learn more: imf.org/en/publication…

Paul Graham’s recipe for doing great work:

Last night we wrapped up our fourth BRN Alpha Series event: "From Pilot to Production: How are Fortune 500s Powering Blockchain Networks?" The big takeaway? It all comes down to business fundamentals. Teams that successfully demonstrate meaningful use cases win corporate buy-in.

The American values of economic liberty, private property rights, and innovation are in the DNA of the DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, movement.

@okx #OKToken2049

🎨 TAG THE WALL. WIN THE DROP. 🧥💥 We’re live at the @binance Clubhouse Dubai & it’s time to show off your creative side. Tag the wall. Take a pic. Quote the tweet. Best sketches, wildest styles, boldest vibes win our exclusive merch drop.