# Writing Canonical: https://zacharyr0th.com/writing Research and essays on AI agent safety, software systems, market structure, cryptocurrency, product development, and music theory. - 2026-08-12 — [Lithium market outlook for 2026](https://raintreeminerals.com/reports/lithium-2026) — Explains why growing battery demand can coexist with a well-supplied lithium market in 2026. - 2026-08-12 — [Nickel market outlook for 2026](https://raintreeminerals.com/reports/nickel-2026) — Explains how Indonesian supply growth pressured nickel prices despite rising battery demand. - 2026-08-10 — [Copper market outlook for 2026](https://raintreeminerals.com/reports/copper-2026) — Explains copper risk through concentrate scarcity, processing concentration, trade policy, and demand. - 2026-06-26 — [PolicyStrata: Test policy drift across LLM data-agent layers](https://raintree.technology/writing/policystrata) — Describes PolicyStrata tests for policy drift across agents, queries, databases, and release controls. - 2026-02-27 — [A universal CLI for perpetual decentralized exchanges](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2026-02-27-perps-cli) — Describes a CLI designed to standardize trading and risk controls across perpetual decentralized exchanges. - 2026-01-01 — [Classifying word reversal in cyclic scales](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/music-2026-ordered-reflection-systems) — Classifies how the ordered interval words of Messiaen's seven modes behave under exact reversal, with Lean-checked results, datasets, and a tool. - 2025-04-14 — [Building Crypto-Repos from open-source data](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2025-04-14-crypto-repos) — Explains how Crypto-Repos, a now-offline directory, turned Aptos, Sui, and Base repository data into searchable metrics, and where that data falls short. - 2025-01-06 — [Comparing Bitcoin with gold](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/finance-2025-01-06-digital-gold) — Compares Bitcoin and gold by scarcity, portability, divisibility, and verifiability, and asks how much of each asset's demand is mimetic. - 2024-08-04 — [Audit Windows kernel driver access](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2024-08-04-kernel-access) — Shows how to find Windows kernel drivers installed by anti-cheat, security, and other software, and decide whether each function justifies the risk. - 2024-07-24 — [What the CrowdStrike outage revealed about kernel risk](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2024-blue-screen-death) — Explains how a faulty CrowdStrike update crashed an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices in July 2024, and sketches a multi-tier kernel isolation design. - 2023-03-10 — [How generative AI disrupted search in 2023](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2023-03-10-search-engine-turbulence) — Examines how ChatGPT and Bing's answer interface changed search competition and user behavior in early 2023, with notes on what aged quickly. - 2023-01-08 — [Blockchain account access still depends on financial rails](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2023-01-08-fundamental-flaw) — Shows why onboarding, offboarding, and censorship risk still tie blockchain accounts to banks, card networks, exchanges, and payment providers. - 2022-11-05 — [How BIP-39 phrases produce wallet keys](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-11-05-mnemonic-phrases) — Explains how BIP-39 mnemonic phrases, checksums, and optional passphrases derive the seed, private keys, public keys, and addresses of HD wallets. - 2022-10-28 — [Can cryptocurrency serve people without reliable banking?](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-10-28-unbanked-bankless) — Tests whether cryptocurrency can serve people without reliable banking, weighing self-custody against on-ramp dependence, liquidity risk, and user safety. - 2022-10-19 — [Decentralized finance: Open access and remaining risks](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/finance-2022-10-19-birds-eye-view) — Makes an October 2022 case for open protocol access in DeFi, separated from the custody, market, and regulatory risks and control points that remain. - 2022-09-03 — [Web3: Ownership, tokens, and practical risk](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2022-09-03-web-3-0) — Examines Web3 ownership claims, token funding, interoperability, and risk, and separates holding portable assets from owning a company or network. - 2022-09-02 — [Web 2.0: User-generated content and advertising data](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2022-09-02-web-2-0) — Explains how user-generated content, network effects, and advertising data helped a few platforms gain strong positions in search, social media, and commerce. - 2022-09-01 — [Web 1.0: The read-mostly web](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/tech-2022-09-01-web-1-0) — Explains how the read-mostly web of roughly 1990–2004 established open publishing protocols, in the first essay of a three-part web history series. - 2022-05-22 — [Cryptocurrency adoption across African markets](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-05-22-blockchains-africa) — Tracks cryptocurrency adoption, remittances, currency pressures, and regulation across African markets through country-level notes rather than one thesis. - 2022-04-08 — [How easy money creates demand for scarce status goods](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/finance-2022-04-08-easy-money-veblen-goods) — Connects easy money, Veblen goods, and status signals to the 2021 cryptocurrency boom, and asks when scarcity and price themselves drive demand. - 2022-03-22 — [Self-custody, part 2: Recovery and inheritance](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-03-22-self-custody-02) — Compares custody models, physical backups, recovery methods, and inheritance planning, and the costs each adds, in part 2 of a self-custody series. - 2022-03-10 — [Self-custody, part 1: Wallet control and security](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-03-10-self-custody-01) — Explains how addresses, private keys, and recovery phrases give users direct wallet control, and the security duties that come with it, in part 1 of a series. - 2022-03-02 — [How derivatives and spot markets set prices](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/finance-2022-03-02-derivatives-spot) — Explains when hedging, liquidity, and leverage let derivatives positions feed back into spot prices, from the 1987 market crash to crypto derivatives. - 2022-01-14 — [How automated market maker liquidity pools work](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-01-14-liquidity-pools) — Explains how automated market maker pools price trades with the constant product formula, what liquidity providers earn, and the risks they take on. - 2022-01-09 — [Blockchain foundations: Accounts, consensus, and settlement](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2022-01-09-foundations) — Explains how blockchains order transactions and agree on state, covering consensus, accounts, smart contracts, privacy, and censorship resistance. - 2021-12-23 — [How Nansen turned blockchain data into market intelligence](https://web.archive.org/web/20240225011931/https://globalcoinresearch.com/2021/12/23/nansen-cryptos-most-powerful-forecaster/) — Explains how Nansen used wallet labels and blockchain data for market intelligence in 2021. - 2021-12-03 — [How NFT tickets can change event markets](https://www.moonpay.com/newsroom/nft-event-ticketing) — Examines how NFT tickets could change event access, resale, and artist relationships. - 2021-11-18 — [How noncustodial wallets transfer control and risk](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2021-11-18-non-custodial-wallets) — Explains how noncustodial wallets hand key control, security, and recovery to users, and the limits of that control, such as token issuer freezes. - 2021-10-27 — [How permissionless systems work and where access fails](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2021-10-27-permissionless-systems) — Explains how permissionless blockchains let developers deploy DeFi, NFT, and DAO applications, and where fees, law, and counterparty risk limit access. - 2021-10-02 — [Decentralized finance essentials](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2021-10-02-defi-essentials) — Explains the protocols, stablecoins, governance, and risks that defined DeFi in late 2021, and why DeFi changes trust rather than removing it. - 2021-08-31 — [How NounsDAO funded a community through daily auctions](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2021-08-31-nouns) — Explains how NounsDAO used daily NFT auctions to fund its treasury and proposals, with its on-chain design and governance tradeoffs as of August 2021. - 2021-08-21 — [How Boson Protocol designed tokenized commerce](https://zacharyr0th.com/writing/articles/crypto-2021-08-21-boson-protocol) — Explains Boson Protocol's 2021 design for tokenizing physical commerce with commitment tokens and NFTs, a historical snapshot of a since-redesigned protocol.