Beyond the Code

Live from Consensus 2026 in Miami, we're joined by Russ Davis - "In Russ We Trust" - one of the co-founders of Shiba Inu, the meme coin that changed everything.

Russ tells the full story: from passing on Doge in 2016 (a decision that would've been worth $15 million), to taking over Shiba's marketing in February 2021 when it was stuck at a $2M market cap, to watching it explode to $40 billion in eight months.

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.
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In this episode, we cover:
- The exact post that started it all and why $100 turned into $2M
- Why most of his friends sold at $5,000 and kicked themselves in October
- Shiba Physicals — NFC-chipped collectibles and the post-NFT pivot
- The DeLorean partnership and what's dropping in Q2
- How meme coin communities actually work (and how Shiba avoided becoming a dumpster fire)
- Hopium: the Clarity Act, TradFi adoption, and the path back up

Live from Consensus 2026 in Miami, we're joined by Jacqueline Cooper , also known as CryptoMom2 (we already had CryptoMom No. 1 on this show) ,— partner at Cogent Law Group, co-founder of the Blockchain Legal Institute, and a 10-year veteran of the blockchain space.
Jacqueline shares her unexpected origin story (a chance encounter in Scotland), what it felt like to lose two years of Bitcoin mining rewards to a company collapse, and why she built a centralized library of legal resources for the decentralized world.
We also get into something most crypto holders ignore: what happens to your digital assets when you die? If your wallet access is biometric-only — and you're gone — your family may never touch that generational wealth.

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.

In this episode, we covered:
- The difference between knowing enough and knowing too much as a client
- Why the Blockchain Legal Institute exists and who it's actually for
- How blockchain is being used by FedEx, McCormick, and global supply chains
- The TradFi/crypto convergence and payment rail risks
- Not your keys, not your crypto — a firsthand story
- Digital estate planning: wills, cold wallets, and backup access

Find the Blockchain Legal Institute at: https://bli.tools/

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.