January 6, 2026
Cash hacks, comment smack
Calling All Hackers: How money works (2024)
Hacker CEO explains money; commenters cry genius, grift, and boredom
TLDR: Veteran hacker-CEO cts published a punchy guide to how money and startups really work, from crypto to stock markets. The community split between praise, yawns, and usury sermons, arguing whether it’s a needed wake-up call or VC cosplay — and why understanding money matters beyond code.
Move over finance bros: a Phrack-era hacker CEO just dropped a manifesto on how money really works, from "birth of a shitcoin" to why groceries cost more. The crowd? Divided. Some read it as a wake-up call to understand markets; others called it VC-flavored homework. One reader joked they thought the "shitcoin" section was a euphemism for IPO shares, only to discover there was a separate chapter, while another sighed "money bores me to tears" and blamed the "tax on a VC forum." The founder-angst line—"wasting your twenties"—sparked debate: a commenter argued that soul-drain hits big-company paycheck jobs more than scrappy startups.
Then came the spicy: a back-to-basics sermon on fractional-reserve banking, interest, and why religious texts condemn usury, turning the thread into Econ 101 meets theology. Meanwhile, the piece's flexes—gaming market microstructure, skirting DRM (digital locks), and the "infinite money glitch"—had skeptics rolling their eyes at finance cosplay. Meta drama erupted as mods linked the 253-comment thread from August, proving the topic is a perennial flame. Verdict: a hacker tries to decode Wall Street; the crowd counters with boredom, Bible quotes, and IPO jokes. Delicious chaos. Fans cheered the anti-DRM rebel vibe; critics saw chest-thumping and glossed-over risk too.
Key Points
- •The author defines hacking as a comprehensive, systems-level understanding of technology, processes, and people, extending beyond computers.
- •Examples span hardware, boot processes, side channels, DRM (Spotify, Widevine, AES, SGX), reverse engineering tools (IDA Pro), and practical verification workarounds (OBS virtual camera).
- •The preamble includes finance-related understanding such as market microstructure, asset behavior, compensation negotiation, valuations, and taxes.
- •Author background: 13 years of hacking, co-founded top-ranked CTF team perfect blue (Blue Water), competed in DEF CON CTF, and won GoogleCTF, PlaidCTF, and HITCON.
- •In 2021, the author and peers founded the security firm Zellic, working extensively with crypto clients; the table of contents outlines upcoming sections on money, crypto, startups, and takeaways.