New Home 21

Reinventing the Financial System

By Marc Rubinstein | June 15, 2021 | 4 Comments

If you’re like me, you’ve been put off from digging deeper into DeFi by the terrible signal-to-noise ratio of anything crypto-related on the interwebs. That’s why I found this DeFi primer (using Maker DAO as a specific example) by ET contributor and banking analyst Marc Rubinstein to be so fantastic.

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The Creative Economy’s Structural Problem Has a Potential Solution

You start a band with your friends. You write some songs. You start to get some gigs. It’s all fun and good. Then the Department of Labor calls you and demands to see your payroll, which you don’t have, nor have you ever even imagined let alone considered, and you have your first mini (entrepreneurial) heart attack.

That happened to me.

Kind of reminds me of this old joke that goes (writer’s note: I didn’t say it was good or funny or even true, but I did say it’s a joke, don’t forget that please), “Marriage takes all the fun out of dating, and kids take all the fun out of marriage.”

I’ve always thought the artistic corollary to that was even more valuable: “Business takes all the fun out of creativity, and a business getting big takes all the fun out of business.”

The core ideas are similar, because they’re like my band story. It starts off as fun. Then it gets serious, and if you follow the serious rule book, eventually it turns into just another job and you miss having fun like when you started out.

Is it any surprise most creative people don’t end up in creative jobs? If you’re reading Cultish Creative, you probably get this feeling too. There’s something structurally amiss here, and us artistically-minded people need some help. Which is exactly the kind of structural mismatch Yancey Strickler is trying to solve (as if co-founding Kickstarter wasn’t enough).


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The New Phonebook’s Here:On writing the foreword to Jared Dillian’s “Rule 62”

As a kid in the ‘80s, we’d occasionally open the front door or come home from school to find a surprise, weatherproof-wrapped tome, resting on our porch, not really all unlike the Amazon packages of today, and we would get so excited.

Dad taught us what to do. We’d pick it up and shout, “The new phonebook’s here! The new phonebook’s here!”

I miss that ritual. Not the least of which because as we got older, we’d add, “Millions of people look at this everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity – your name in print – that MAKES people!”

And of course, the real killer line we grew into, that we’d trot out any time we our names written anywhere, including church bulletins, camp rosters, and year books, with additional bonus points up for grabs if you said it to anybody else finding their name in print (you know, to make sure you captured the true weight of the moment, in our family’s love language, aka said as sarcastically as possible), “I’m in print!” Then you pause, because you have to say this part maddeningly seriously, “Things are going to start happening to me now.”

We learned the moves, we learned the tones, we learned to study Steve Martin in “The Jerk” first from censored TV editions, then from VHS copies of censored TV editions, and later from Blockbuster-rented-and-dubbed uncensored VHS copies like it was a prayer at church we were expected to know or a social studies test we actually wanted to pass.

The new phonebook is here (The Jerk)

All that preamble is for me to admit I had an actual “The new phonebook’s here” moment last week, when Jared Dillian’s new book showed up in a non-descript package on my front porch, and I opened it like a little kid to see this:


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Sunday Music: How Sly Stone Evolved, At The Beginning

When I was piecing together a tape and then CD collection of Sly and the Family Stone years ago, I always wanted to know what happened between the first album and the second album. It’s the same band, it’s the same idea, and it’s even some of the same ideas – but, you can tell something flipped. Something is different. Something changed from the first album, when they were playing local shows and wanting national exposure when they got their record deal, to what came next.

Why was that?

It started as hobbyist curiosity. There wasn’t much of a way to find out. And then Ben Greenman’s co-written biography with Sly Stone, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin: A Memoir)” hit my desk and got the closest to solving the mystery for me, finally.

I need to do this with quotes. First, you have to know why the band came together the way it did:


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Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap June 28, 2025)

Sunday Music: Brian Wilson Received Music

Brian Wilson’s story reveals the cost and power of prophetic hypersensitivity in creative work. His ability to receive music rather than simply hear it – pulling over in tears when “Be My Baby” came on the radio, then transmuting that experience into “Don’t Worry Baby” – demonstrates how some artists operate as conduits for transcendent experiences. Wilson’s obsession with “Shortnin’ Bread” wasn’t madness but ritual, the kind of repetitive devotion that transforms simple songs into sacred communion. The deeper insight here is that creating transcendent art requires crossing the threshold between sanity and inspiration, accepting hypersensitivity as both blessing and burden.

Cycle UP

This framework challenges linear career thinking by revealing how the most fulfilling professional paths operate cyclically – student becomes teacher becomes student again, but from a new vantage point. The concept of “meta-learning” emerges when you cycle through roles, accumulating wisdom that compounds across iterations. Rather than climbing a ladder and never going back down, cyclical careers offer continuous evolution through repeated patterns of learning, teaching, and relearning. This approach transforms career transitions from scary departures into natural progressions where each cycle builds upon the last.

Why I’m Building a Creative Cult

The transition from clan-based societies to post-individual reality requires new forms of community that serve our fragmented digital selves. Just as the Catholic Church’s cousin marriage ban accidentally created modern society around 1000 AD, the internet is accidentally creating post-individual society where we need multiple communities for our multiple identities. Creative cults – intentional micro-communities built around shared aesthetics and values – become essential infrastructure for connection in an age of digital fragmentation. The key insight is embracing the “punk” philosophy of not scaling, instead creating spaces where specific parts of people can fully exist and connect.


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Grow Your Network: Ned Russin Is A Multi-Disciplinary Artist Evolving Punk’s Future

Do you know Ned Russin? He’s the creative force behind Title Fight and Glitterer, plus author of the novel “Horizontal Rust” – a mid-30s artist who spent years touring while honing a serious literary practice.

If not, allow me to introduce you. Ned represents small scene punk and hardcore’s evolution into new territories, moving from playing to four people in Wilkes-Barre dives to Webster Hall in New York City, all while working as a venue loader and developing as a fiction writer. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the ability to pursue multiple creative disciplines simultaneously without compromising the integrity of either.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Just Press Record YouTube channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you’ll hear about growing up in Pennsylvania’s DIY scene, the reality of modern touring economics, and how creative ideas complete themselves when you stay present to the process.


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Grow Your Network: Jared Dillian Is A Wall Street Refugee Turned Creative Truth-Teller

Do you know Jared Dillian? He’s an investor, trader, author, musician, and still my favorite consumer of cat psychic services (plus now supporter of Northeastern PA based cat themed tattoo artists).

If not, allow me to introduce you. Jared is the author of six books including his latest “Rule 62: Don’t Take Yourself Too Damn Seriously,” writes the Daily Dirt Nap newsletter, manages money through his CTA, and somehow finds time to DJ and work on novels. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the courage to create authentically without waiting for permission or perfection.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Just Press Record YouTube channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you’ll hear us dive deep into anti-perfectionism, creative courage, and why authentic voice trumps technical polish every single time.


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Grow Your Network: Bryan Moore Is A Trading Floor Veteran Turned ETF Evangelist

Do you know Bryan Moore? Host of the Active Advisor podcast at Harbor Capital, former trading floor veteran who’s built ETF desks from scratch at major firms like Morgan Stanley, RBC, and WisdomTree, and one of the most thoughtful voices on how active ETFs are reshaping the investment landscape.

If not, allow me to introduce you. Bryan has spent over two decades in the trenches of financial markets – from trading futures in the Chicago pits to building international ETF operations to educating institutional clients about the evolution from passive indexing to smart beta to active management. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the ability to synthesize complex market knowledge with genuine curiosity about human behavior and psychology.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Epsilon Theory YouTube Channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you’ll hear how a colorblind kid from Virginia who joined the military became one of the most connected voices in ETF education, why he drives in silence to cultivate quiet thinking time, and his legendary Vatican trade story.’


Read more at cultishcreative.com

Recent Notes

The False Gods of Our Feeds

By Rohan Routroy | July 10, 2025

New ET contributor Rohan Routroy takes a fascinating look at the role of ‘feeds’ in our lives, and what they’ve taken from us.

The Intentional Investor #32: Bryan Moore

By Harper Hunt | July 9, 2025

Bryan Moore, host of The Active Advisor Podcast and veteran ETF trader, joins us to share his remarkable journey through trading pits, ETF desks, market crashes, and more — including putting on a trade for the Vatican. In this conversation, Bryan reveals how embracing discomfort, risk, and uncertainty has been the key to his success in markets and life. From the trading floor to intentional investing, you’ll learn how to rethink risk, growth, and your investing mindset.

The Words Behind the War

By Ben Hunt | June 25, 2025

I want to show you what ‘mobilizing narrative support’ looks like, as measured by our revolutionary Perscient technology and as understood by someone who has spent the past 35 years studying, writing and teaching about this stuff.

How to Build the Perfect City

By Chris Arnade | June 20, 2025

Epsilon Theory contributor and all-around good human Chris Arnade pauses from walking the world to take a first cut at a grand unified theory of urban planning!

The Intentional Investor #31: Andrew Mack

By Harper Hunt | June 18, 2025

From bagpipes to bouncing to betting markets, Andrew Mack’s journey to becoming a successful trader and sports bettor is anything but conventional. In this deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation, Andrew opens up about the detours, doubts, and decisions that shaped his unlikely path from rural Canada to algorithmic trading. Along the way, he shares what working in oil fields, selling used cars, and studying sociology taught him about risk, discipline, and finding conviction in uncertainty. This is a story about reinvention, self-reliance, and the grit it takes to build your own edge from scratch.

I Don’t Think About You At All 

By Niall Ridgley | June 16, 2025

Mets fans will tell you they live a cursed existence in the Yankees’ shadow. So what happens when their team is actually good? We test this year’s empirical numbers and extant media biases against the convictions of the die-hard, misery-addicted Mets fanbase to see whether they can believe that their narrative just might be changing.

The Four Roads to the Great Ravine (June 26, 2024)

By Ben Hunt | June 16, 2025

1) US election spurs even greater fiscal deficit.
2) Phony War between Israel and Iran gets real.
3) Preventive war risk between US and China over tech embargo.
4) New GFC risk stemming from shadow banking sector.

Paradise Losers

By Rusty Guinn | June 14, 2025

You’re not a racist.

So don’t let racists use your story to fuel theirs.

Beyond Nudge

By Ben Hunt | June 2, 2025

LLMs ensure their survival by showing us that we can all find meaning in our lives so long as we keep talking with the LLMs. They ensure their survival by telling each of us not what is true but what we want to be true – what we NEED to be true – at the semantic core of our individual identity, even if what we need to be true is an LLM-dominated dystopia.

And we are so grateful.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Deficit

By Ben Hunt | May 28, 2025

The House passage of the Big Beautiful Bill and Elon Musk stepping back from DOGE is a common knowledge moment — everyone now knows that everyone now knows that the US deficit cannot be controlled, much less reversed, over the remainder of Trump’s term — and it puts us on a pretty straightforward path to a global sovereign debt crisis.

The Intentional Investor #30: Andrew Cohen

By Harper Hunt | May 28, 2025

In this episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Andrew Cohen, a former market maker at Bernie Madoff’s firm whose life took a dramatic turn when the largest Ponzi scheme in history unraveled. But this isn’t just a story about scandal—it’s about resilience, reinvention, and redefining success on your own terms.

The Death of Risk

By Ben Hunt | May 15, 2025

The death of risk happened with a whimper, not a bang. Not because the market blew up, but because of an icy truth: safe havens ain’t safe.

If you don’t trust the meaning of risk-free, you can’t trust the meaning of risk, and we have built everything on the meaning of risk.

The Intentional Investor #29: Kris Abdelmessih

By Harper Hunt | May 13, 2025

In this captivating episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Kris Abdelmessih, the mind behind Moontower. From his immigrant family upbringing in New Jersey to becoming a seasoned market maker who covered virtually every trading pit imaginable, Kris shares his fascinating journey through the financial world. Learn how key mentors, family influences, and pivotal life moments shaped his path from trading floors to becoming a respected financial writer.

Our True Enemy Has Yet to Reveal Himself

By Ben Hunt | May 5, 2025

It’s not the tariffs. It’s not the recession. These are just the catalysts through which the true enemy shows himself.

The true enemy is the over-financialization of the US Treasury market, and its catalyst is the diminishment of the full faith and credit of the United States.

The trading / gambling spectrum

By Brent Donnelly | May 1, 2025

Brent Donnelly surveyed almost 2,000 active traders about work and life. The results are fascinating and Brent’s advice is wonderful!

Locker Room Talk

By Niall Ridgley | April 30, 2025

Who’s to blame when a chosen son is drafted 144th overall?

The spectacle of Shedeur’s fall teaches us lessons on behavior – both public and behind closed doors – in a world where everything leaks.

The Intentional Investor #28: Brent Kochuba

By Harper Hunt | April 30, 2025

In this episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Brent Kochuba, founder of financial research firm SpotGamma. Brent shares his remarkable journey from network administrator to options trading expert, including his experiences at major financial institutions, surviving market crashes, and ultimately building his own successful derivatives research business. With humor and candor, Brent reveals the unexpected paths that led him to where he is today, including family influences, career pivots, and seizing opportunities during uncertain times.

Wall Street’s Not-So-Golden Rule

By Ben Hunt | April 21, 2025

We are in the early stages of a bank run on the United States and the US dollar, and everyone on Wall Street is heading for the exits, including domestic investors who will exit not because they want to but because they know the Not-So-Golden Rule.

We’ve Tried Nothing and We’re All Out of Ideas

By Rusty Guinn | April 18, 2025

When you’re defending the indefensible, you have to create a symbol powerful enough to keep the masses in line.

“I voted for this” is one of the few capable of sustaining support for policy this extreme.

The Intentional Investor #27: Daryl Fairweather

By Harper Hunt | April 16, 2025

Join Matt Zeigler on The Intentional Investor podcast as he interviews Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin and author of the new book “Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work.” In this engaging conversation, Daryl shares her journey from MIT to the University of Chicago, her experiences navigating corporate America, and how she applies economic principles to everyday life decisions. With her unique background spanning academia, tech, and real estate, Daryl offers fascinating insights on using economic frameworks to understand human behavior and make better decisions.