Beyond the Code

Jonathan Benton spent 25 years at London's Metropolitan Police - running undercover operations straight out of "The Wire," investigating homicide and counterterrorism, and ultimately leading international corruption cases that took down politicians laundering hundreds of millions through London.
In one of his biggest cases, his Nigerian counterpart was taken to a basement and offered $18 million in cash to shut the investigation down.
After leaving the Met, Jonathan advised George Clooney and Brad Pitt's NGO The Sentry on war crimes investigations in South Sudan and the DRC.
He now runs iSanctuary, a company pioneering a remarkable legal-tech innovation: serving court orders directly onto the blockchain to freeze and recover stolen crypto.
We talk Met Police war stories, the reality of fraud in modern London, how on-chain investigations actually work, and what victims of crypto scams can do today.
Learn more: isanctuary.io

This episode is sponsored by FirstRead — the AI-powered legal assistant that reads, marks up, and chats through contracts right inside your Word document. If you're a founder, builder, or anyone dealing with legal agreements, FirstRead is a game-changer.🔗 https://first-read.com/signup?ref=BEY... and use code BYNDTHECODE10 at signup for 10% off.

Recorded live at Consensus Miami 2026, I sat down with Karen Knox, digital assets insurance specialist at Howden, for one of the most unexpected origin stories I've heard on this show. From Andy Griffith's hometown in North Carolina, to converting to Judaism, raising her daughter in Tel Aviv, and becoming one of the go-to names in crypto insurance — Karen's path is anything but straight.
This episode is sponsored by FirstRead — the AI-powered legal assistant that reads, marks up, and chats through contracts right inside your Word document. If you're a founder, builder, or anyone dealing with legal agreements, FirstRead is a game-changer.🔗 Try FirstRead here and use code BYNDTHECODE10 at signup for 10% off.

I sat down with Delphine Forma — Head of Policy Europe at Solidus Labs, founder of the largest crypto compliance Telegram group in existence, and one of the most well-traveled compliance professionals in the space. From Sciences Po in France, to finding loopholes in French tax law, to moving to Tokyo for a guy who dumped her three months later — this one is a ride.
This episode is sponsored by FirstRead — the AI-powered legal assistant that reads, marks up, and chats through contracts right inside your Word document. If you're a founder, builder, or anyone dealing with legal agreements, FirstRead is a game-changer.🔗 Try FirstRead here and use code BYNDTHECODE10 at signup for 10% off.

Recorded live at Consensus Miami 2025, I sat down with Ari Redbord — Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs and former federal prosecutor at the DOJ — to talk about following illicit money through the blockchain, the Beacon Network, AI in law, and why human connection matters more than ever in the age of automation. Plus: shoes.
This episode is sponsored by FirstRead — the AI-powered legal assistant that reads, marks up, and chats through contracts right inside your Word document. If you're a founder, builder, or anyone dealing with legal agreements, FirstRead is a game-changer.
🔗 Try FirstRead here and use code BYNDTHECODE10 at signup for 10% off.

In this episode, Yitzy sits down with Itai Kanot, CGO and Co-Founder of BeeHero, the company using IoT sensors, AI, and machine learning to monitor beehives and deliver precision pollination at global scale. 
Itai grew up in southern Israel as the son of the country’s largest beekeeper. What started as a childhood surrounded by hives, honey, and long days on the farm eventually became BeeHero: an agtech company tackling one of the least appreciated but most important systems in the global food supply.
They discuss why bees are far more than honey producers, how pollination underpins a huge share of modern agriculture, and what most people still do not understand about the “superorganism” inside a hive. Itai also shares the origin story of BeeHero, how the company evolved from precision beekeeping to pollination-as-a-service, and why selling into agriculture requires much more than good software.
They also get into colony collapse, varroa mites, why beekeeping is under real pressure, and what BeeHero is building next.
Topics covered:
Why bees are one of nature’s most extraordinary creatures
The role of pollination in global food production
Itai’s upbringing in a commercial beekeeping family;
How BeeHero was born at Reichman University;
The shift from serving beekeepers to serving growers;
What “precision pollination” actually means;
Why agtech is a trust business, not just a software business;
The challenges facing bees, including varroa mites and rising colony losses;
Building a global company while raising a family far from home;