The Future of Trust with Mat Yarger

Demia
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The Future of Trust with Mat Yarger explores work at the intersection of technology, data, and sustainability. Each episode features a conversation with a guest driving change, such as academics, entrepreneurs, project developers, farmers, and community leaders. Guests share how technology is creating scalable solutions to sustainability challenges. The podcast is hosted by Mat Yarger, Founder of DEMIA, US Army Combat Veteran, and former Head of Sustainability at the IOTA Foundation. 🌐 Demia.net

  1. Sep 23

    S1 E28: The Trust is in the Details, with Oneza Zaim

    In this episode, we sit down with Oneza Zaim, a carbon markets analyst at Planet2050, a climate fintech company financing high-integrity CO2 removal projects and opening carbon assets up to retail investors for the first time. Born in Abu Dhabi and raised across three very different environments, Abu Dhabi, Pakistan, and now Berlin, Oneza traces her understanding of trust back to a childhood spent learning other people's languages just to make herself understood. The conversation moves from her training as an industrial auditor, through a site visit where she walked into an unmarked chemical vapor leak and had to call a halt on the spot, to her current work vetting carbon dioxide removal projects at Planet2050, where her team has screened more than 250 projects across different CDR technologies. Oneza and Mat dig into what actually makes a climate project bankable: not a checklist, but a matrix of who is carrying which risk, how dependent a project is on subsidies that could disappear, and whether the story on paper matches what you find on the ground. As Oneza puts it, "integrity does not mean that you do not have weaknesses, it means you know where they are and what you're doing about them." They also unpack why projects tied to an existing supply chain, like coffee waste turned into biochar, tend to earn investor trust faster than nature-based projects like mangroves, even when the latter matter just as much. If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEOneza ZaimLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oneza-zaim-6767a159/ Planet2050Website: https://planet2050.earth/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/planet-2050 Referenced in the conversationLucas Zaehringer, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet2050, who Mat references as a longtime collaborator going back to his time at Gold Standard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-zaehringer-65725145/Gold Standard, the carbon certification body where Mat previously worked with the Planet2050 team: https://www.goldstandard.org/Open Forest Protocol, the blockchain-based forest monitoring platform Oneza cites as an example of improved traceability for nature-based projects: https://www.openforestprotocol.org/

    S1 E28: The Trust is in the Details, with Oneza Zaim

  2. Sep 1

    S1 E27: You Already Own the Debt with Andrew Forson

    In this episode, we sit down with Andrew Forson, President of DeFi Technologies and a serial entrepreneur working across asset management, cryptocurrency, and blockchain infrastructure. Raised in a small blue-collar town outside Montreal by two Ghanaian immigrant physicians, Andrew traces his approach to trust in institutions, markets, and government back to a childhood built on self-reliance and hard work. The conversation moves from wrapping digital assets into regulated investment products, to QuickPick's blockchain-powered remittance platform for underbanked users, to the moment a trusted co-founder tried to sell stolen IP behind his back. Andrew and Mat dig into what he calls the real break in global trust: sovereign debt. With nearly all of the world's 195 countries carrying unsustainable debt loads and politicians facing zero accountability for it, Andrew argues "you are certainly a shareholder in the country's outstanding debt" — whether you realize it or not. They also unpack why small, disciplined economies like Switzerland, Singapore, and Rwanda earn outsized trust, and what it would take to give the world's poorest access to fair, inflation-proof investment. If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEAndrew ForsonWebsite: https://www.forson.com/X: https://x.com/ForsonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paforsonAndrew’s companies and projectsDeFi Technologies (Nasdaq: DEFT): https://defi.techValour: https://www.valour.com/en/aboutKwikpik: https://kwikpik.ioStillman Digital (DeFi Technologies subsidiary): https://www.stillmandigital.com/QXT Capital: https://www.qxtcapital.com/Scramble Academy, Torremolinos, Spain: https://scramblestuff.com/scramble-academy-worldwide/Referenced in the conversationThe Hashgraph Group, where Andrew previously led ventures andinvestments: https://www.hashgraph-group.com/M-Pesa, the Kenyan mobile money platform Andrew cites as the firstcredit-based e-money at scale: https://www.safaricom.co.ke/main-mpesa/about-m-pesa/m-pesa-journeyDell Technologies Solar Community Hubs, the shipping-containerconnectivity project Mat describes outside Manicore,Brazil: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/corporate/newsroom/announcements/detailpage.press-releases~usa~2022~05~02052022-dell-technologies-unveils-solar-community-hubs.htmFAS Amazonia, the Brazilian foundation running the Amazonhubs: https://fas-amazonia.org/solar-community-hub-da-dell-expande-conectividade-e-conservacao-na-amazonia/

  3. Aug 18

    S1 E26: One Key for Everything with Raido Saar

    From investigating forged documents on Estonia's post-Soviet border to founding ComplyOnce, Raido Saar has spent his career chasing the same question: how do you know who's really on the other side? Along the way, he helped shape Estonia's X-Road digital government infrastructure and built one of the first biometric passport identity solutions in Europe. In this episode, Raido sits down with Mat Yarger to unpack why the world spends $500 billion a year on anti-money-laundering efforts yet recovers just 0.02% of illicit funds, how outdated identity checks let one scammer open five fraudulent accounts using the same stolen face, and how Raido himself nearly got scammed on a fake podcast call. He also shares how LinkedIn and its verification vendor lost his identity data twice, and makes the case for a single encrypted identity key that could replace the passwords, selfies, and stolen accounts fueling today's fraud epidemic. It's a candid, wide-ranging conversation about why our systems for verifying trust are still built on 1990s architecture, and what it will actually take to fix them. If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

    S1 E26: One Key for Everything with Raido Saar

  4. Jul 14

    S1 E25: First to Market or Built to Last? with Jeff Mahony

    In this episode, we sit down with Jeff Mahony, Chief Architect at RYTchain, where he's building a Layer-1 blockchain designed to bring governments and citizens onto a shared, gas-free infrastructure. Jeff grew up poor in Southern California and was working manual labor jobs by age nine, an experience that shaped his belief that talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. That belief carried him from aerospace and defense, where he worked on high-stakes systems, into financial infrastructure, where he built SaveDaily, a no-minimum, no-fee investing platform for what he calls "the other 93 percent" of America. We talk about fatherhood at twenty-nine and the ego it forced him to confront, why he'd rather build for relevance than race to be first, and where he thinks the AI industry is heading without enough seasoning behind its talent. It's a conversation about opportunity, durability, and what it actually takes to build systems people can rely on. If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

    S1 E25: First to Market or Built to Last? with Jeff Mahony

  5. Jun 30

    S1 E24: Where Trust Breaks When the Law Gets Involved with Deanna Reitman

    In this episode, we sit down with Deanna Reitman, Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, where she works at the intersection of energy, commodities, and compliance. Her career has been built on a simple premise: trust has to survive scrutiny, not just sound good in a pitch deck. Deanna shares how an early grounding in rules and consequences shaped a career spent in the rooms where deals unwind, ownership gets disputed, and standards collide with the law that actually applies. As more markets lean on real-time data and digital platforms, she's blunt about where people get it wrong: "Data doesn't prove ownership. Leases do." We explore what it actually takes to protect a buyer from acquiring something they don't own, why self-reported compliance keeps creating the same failures, and what she needs to see before she'll stand behind any system, digital or otherwise. The conversation closes on what it would take for carbon markets and digital assets to hold up under real pressure, instead of unraveling the moment scrutiny arrives. If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

    S1 E24: Where Trust Breaks When the Law Gets Involved with Deanna Reitman

  6. Mar 31

    S1E23 - You Can't Trust What You Can't See, The Case for Federated AI with Tiffany Wang

    What happens when someone who spent years studying broken institutions decides to help build the next generation of them? Tiffany Wang trained as a corporate lawyer, moved into risk assurance and fraud investigation at PwC, and then made the jump to FLock.io — a federated AI company building the infrastructure for private, decentralized model training. Her whole career has been defined by one question: why do institutions say one thing on paper and operate completely differently underneath? In this episode, we get into her path from law firm to Big Four to AI startup, what federated learning actually means and why it matters for governments and sensitive sectors, and how FLock is working with UNDP to build climate resilience tools and micro-insurance platforms for unbanked communities in the Dominican Republic and Peru. We also dig into the Mauritius healthcare project, the work happening with the state of Sarawak in Malaysia on sovereign AI, and what trust actually looks like when you build it into the architecture instead of just promising it. Tiffany is also candid about what she learned about trust the hard way — from writing legal contracts designed to exploit ambiguity, to realizing words alone are never enough. Trust needs to be tested in difficult times, not comfortable ones. This one covers a lot of ground. If you work in government, healthcare, climate resilience, or you're just trying to understand where AI governance is actually heading — worth your time. Connect with Tiffany Wang:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-wang-91a3ab13a FLock.io: https://flock.ioX Twitter: @flock_io Subscribe & follow The Future of Trust:Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6zQ2p7k8q7OAuxqJElQjjh?si=35045c6c6b264f55 Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-trust-with-mat-yarger/id1792163372 Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@DemiaOfficial 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Meet Tiffany Wang — Lawyer, Risk Investigator, AI Builder 03:00 Why she became a lawyer (and why debates shaped her more than law school) 05:30 What was missing in corporate law — the gap between paper and impact 07:10 The PwC pivot — getting closer to business, finding the same problem 10:20 Joining FLock — why it took three weeks and a regret calculus to say yes 12:40 What startup culture actually looks like vs. Big Four 15:40 Trail running, sacrifice, and how Tiffany thinks about hard things 18:15 Growing up between a risk-averse mom and an open-minded dad 23:00 Dating across cultures and how Tiffany learned to negotiate disagreement 31:25 The recurring question: when was your trust broken or strengthened? 33:00 What legal work taught her about the weaponization of language 35:30 Why she no longer gives 100% trust based on words alone 39:30 The gradual pivot — why there was no single turning point 44:50 What does FLock actually do? Explaining it from the ground up 47:00 Federated learning vs. traditional machine learning — the key difference 51:20 Who FLock is actually for (and who it isn't) 55:00 Working with UNDP — micro-insurance for unbanked women in Latin America 01:01:30 Puerto Rico, climate disasters, and why speed of response matters 01:04:00 Where does trust actually live in a decentralized system? 01:05:00 The verification layer — on-chain, auditable, no black box 01:07:30 Open source, community accountability, and why no one person holds the keys 01:10:00 FLock's healthcare project with the Mauritius government 01:12:00 The 10-year vision — AI tools people can use without fear 01:13:30 Sovereign AI and the work in Sarawak, Malaysia 01:16:00 Why education has to come before adoption 01:18:30 Closing — being known well vs. being well-known 01:21:00 How to connect with Tiffany and follow FLock

    S1E23 - You Can't Trust What You Can't See, The Case for Federated AI with Tiffany Wang

  7. Mar 17

    S1E22 - The Moment Founders Find Out Who’s Real with Matt Ober

    What happens when the data looks right, but you still can't trust it? Matt Ober didn't walk through a polished front door into finance. He answered phones at Bloomberg, landed a hedge fund role through Craigslist, and built one of the world's most aggressive alternative data programs at WorldQuant, a quantitative hedge fund inside Millennium Partners that was testing thousands of new datasets a month and spending over $100 million to stay ahead of the signal. In this episode of The Future of Trust, host Mat Yarger sits down with Matt Ober, Managing Partner at Social Leverage and former data strategist at Third Point, for a candid conversation about what it really means to trust information, trust founders, and trust yourself when the stakes are high, and the answers aren't clean. Matt shares how he built trust frameworks not from theory, but from experience, watching convincing data collapse out-of-sample, witnessing activist investment battles at Third Point (Campbell Soup, Sony, Nestle), and being the investor founders call when things are going wrong. This is a must-listen for founders, investors, data professionals, and anyone navigating decisions where the signal is loud and certainty is low. IN THIS EPISODE: How growing up as the oldest of five shaped Matt's instinct for responsibility and trust Why answering phones at Bloomberg was the best preparation for working inside a hedge fund How Matt found his WorldQuant role on Craigslist, and what that says about unconventional paths The difference between data that looks convincing and data you can actually trade on What "trust but verify" really means when you're testing thousands of datasets a month Why activist investing is really about conviction, not confrontation The single most repeated trust problem Matt sees in early-stage founders How AI is changing the revenue-per-headcount benchmark, and what 3x-10x actually looks like What Social Leverage looks for when deciding to stay close to a founder long-term CONNECT WITH MATT OBER: Social Leverage: http://www.socialleverage.com Newsletter: https//www.mattober.co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/obermattj/ CONNECT WITH THE FUTURE OF TRUST: Subscribe so you never miss an episode Leave a review, it helps new listeners find us Tag someone who needs to hear this conversation Email us if you’d like to be a guest on the podcast - media@demia.net

    S1E22 - The Moment Founders Find Out Who’s Real with Matt Ober

  8. Mar 3

    S1 E21: When Your Name Is the Only Thing You Own with Oscar Hedaya

    Trust does not break all at once. For some people, it cracks early, quietly, and permanently reshapes how they move through the world. Oscar Hedaya learned that lesson young. He grew up in New Jersey in a community that looked stable from the outside. Inside his home, things changed fast. Money disappeared. Certainty disappeared. But what stayed, was responsibility. Oscar started working at twelve, fixing spreadsheets for adults. At fifteen, he took a business owner to court because he wasn’t paid, and there was no one else to fight that battle for him. That experience did not make him cynical. It made him precise. In our first conversation, Oscar said something that stuck with me. When you grow up without money, the only thing you really have is your word. Your name becomes your currency. Lose it, and there is nothing left to fall back on. That belief shows up everywhere in how he operates today. Oscar is the founder of The Safe Space, a smart safe designed around a simple idea. People should not have to blindly trust companies, platforms, or institutions to feel secure. Ownership should be clear. Access should be earned. And systems should be built to protect users even when pressure shows up. He refuses to build in backdoor access. He designs for misuse, not best-case behavior. And he treats reputation as something you defend over decades, not something you trade for short-term wins. This episode is not about hardware specs or features. It is about what happens when someone who learned trust the hard way decides to encode that worldview into a system that other people rely on. We talk about early environments, personal lines he will not cross, and what it actually takes to build something people can depend on when it matters. Chapters: 0:00 – Introduction 02:10 – Growing Up in a Stable World That Wasn’t 08:45 – The Moment Trust Broke 15:20 – When Your Name Is Your Only Currency 21:30 – Wired to Build, Not Just Get By 28:10 – “My Company Is Me” 34:40 – The Theft That Sparked the Idea 40:25 – No Backdoors, No Blind Faith 46:50 – The 100-Out-of-100 Rule 52:30 – Looking Ahead 56:30 – Being Known Well

    S1 E21: When Your Name Is the Only Thing You Own with Oscar Hedaya
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The Future of Trust with Mat Yarger explores work at the intersection of technology, data, and sustainability. Each episode features a conversation with a guest driving change, such as academics, entrepreneurs, project developers, farmers, and community leaders. Guests share how technology is creating scalable solutions to sustainability challenges. The podcast is hosted by Mat Yarger, Founder of DEMIA, US Army Combat Veteran, and former Head of Sustainability at the IOTA Foundation. 🌐 Demia.net

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