Episode Details

Zach Herbert has been building Bitcoin hardware since 2020, and Foundation no longer calls its device a hardware wallet. Cam Stromme sits down with the Foundation CEO on open source, why self-custody is still early, and why your most important keys belong off your phone in an age of AI agents.

Guest: Zach Herbert, CEO and co-founder of Foundation, maker of Passport Prime.

X: https://x.com/zherbert

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Zach Herbert has been a Bitcoiner since 2013, from air-gapped laptops running Armory to selling hardware wallets on OpenBazaar, and he started Foundation on the first day of the 2020 lockdowns. He tells Cam why open source matters more for Bitcoin than for any other kind of money, why he sees it as free market capitalism rather than charity, and what the big custodians are actually running behind the curtain. Zach argues the industry has been judging self-custody devices on the wrong things, explains how the KeyOS microkernel gives every app its own sandbox and its own key, and walks through the design choices behind Passport Prime. He makes the case that self-custody has not even crossed the chasm yet, why Foundation now calls Passport Prime human authority hardware, and why everyone needs a root of trust outside the reach of their phone and their AI agents. They close on simple steps to lock down your email and accounts, documenting your setup, and planning for inheritance.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Foundation, Asimov and Zach Herbert

02:56 - Why Zach started Foundation in 2020

06:50 - Why Bitcoin demands open source

18:26 - What custodians run behind the curtain

25:01 - The state of self-custody

25:51 - Judging hardware on the wrong things

30:59 - Moving beyond a single block of code

35:23 - How a microkernel protects your keys

43:19 - Designing a device you want to pick up

49:36 - Why ease of use matters for security

52:17 - Dice rolls and complex setups

55:42 - Self-custody has not crossed the chasm

57:32 - Not a hardware wallet anymore

1:01:30 - A root of trust for your digital life

1:07:50 - When your AI agent sees your 2FA codes

1:09:54 - One step to improve your security

1:13:33 - Document your self-custody setup

1:19:00 - Why two hot keys is a dealbreaker

ABOUT THE SHOW

First Principles is Onramp Media's show on building and protecting Bitcoin wealth for the long term, hosted by Cam Stromme, Head of Private Wealth at Onramp. Join Cam's conversations with the people building Bitcoin's financial services on how they manage their own Bitcoin, how they weigh risk and tradeoffs, and what they see coming next.

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