Knowledge

Analyses and essays

Longer pieces on risk, security and trust. They appear irregularly, and when a thought is finished.

1. EssaySeptember 202617 minutes read

   Who carries the risk?

   Nexus Mutual, Part 1: The shared till and the people who assess the risk

   Nexus Mutual is often described as crypto insurance. That misses the thing. Put simply there are two layers: a shared till from which accepted claims are paid, and above it people who decide which risk is let in at all - and who put their own capital on the line for it.

   The first in a series, without formulas and without prior knowledge. Followed through on one example from beginning to end: 100,000 USDC in a lending protocol, 50,000 of it covered. What does that cost, who earns from it, and what happens if the contract really is exploited?

   0xthaner × Assecura

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2. EssaySeptember 202675 minutes read

   Why you’re a target now

   Identity, Security and the Economics of Trust

   This piece does not begin by asking how secure an account is in technical terms, but when attacking it becomes worthwhile. From that it develops a security-economic model of targeted identity attacks: how risk changes when parts of the preparation become cheaper through AI and automation, which routes actually lead into an account, how a step that has already succeeded can make the next one cheaper, and how far your own security depends on other systems, providers and relationships of trust.

   In the end it comes down to the decisive question: what follows from this for risk and defence - and how could the model be refuted?

   0xthaner × Assecura

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