Running a Modern Hash Function on a 20-Year-Old Chip Design
A lab notebook on implementing BLAKE2b in pure JavaCard bytecode—and the 144-millisecond price of taking a 64-bit hash function off-menu.
- Reading time
- 16 min read
- Topics
- 5
Blog
3 dispatches · newest firstLong-form dispatches about secure hardware, digital money, software systems, and the constraints that make them interesting.
The Card Was The Money
A history of Mondex, bearer hardware money, privacy-preserving ledgers, and the unresolved challenge of building digital cash ordinary people can actually use.
- Reading time
- 17 min read
- Topics
- 5
Programming Like It's 1999: JavaCard Development in 2026
The platform guarding your SIM card, bank card, and passport runs a dialect of Java frozen around the turn of the millennium—and many of its constraints look like 2026 best practice.
- Reading time
- 18 min read
- Topics
- 5