Field Notes with Ryan Johnson-Hunt
What this is
This is a weekly field guide documenting how our financial systems, technologies, and daily lives are converging.
Not as hype.
Not as prediction.
But as lived observation.
I write from inside the work, building and advising in digital assets and frontier technology, while paying close attention to how these systems actually land in the real world. What sticks. What fails quietly. What reshapes behaviour long before the headlines catch up.
Think of this as field notes from the transition.
Where it came from
This newsletter began in late 2022, at a moment when parts of the digital asset world were visibly breaking. That timing was deliberate.
Periods of stress strip away narrative and expose structure. They reveal which systems were built for speculation and which were built to last. That instinct to observe through turbulence has shaped everything since.
Over time, the scope widened. Not away from digital assets, but outward into the systems around them. Identity. Regulation. Interfaces. Culture. Work. Money. Trust.
The word “metaverse” once described much of this future. It no longer does the work it used to. The underlying transition, however, continues.
This field guide exists to document that transition clearly, without chasing labels.
What I write about
Most weeks touch some combination of:
Digital assets and digital finance: Infrastructure, stablecoins, tokenisation, regulation, incentives, and market design.
Frontier technology: AI, spatial computing, identity, new interfaces, and how software reshapes behaviour.
Digital life: How people actually live with these tools. Work, travel, creativity, parenting, culture.
I am less interested in trends and more interested in patterns.
The long view
I have committed to 520 weeks of writing. Ten years.
This is a form of digital anthropology. A long-horizon record of how people, institutions, and technologies co-evolve as the digital and physical worlds collapse into one another.
Some weeks are analytical. Some are observational. Some raise more questions than answers. All of them are part of the same notebook.
Why become a paid subscriber?
First and foremost, becoming a paid subscriber is a way to show your support. I’m hoping you feel the value provided outweighs the modest price - the equivalent of buying me a coffee once a month.
All weekly field notes are free.
The paid edition is for readers who want to support the work and stand a little closer to it.
Paid subscribers get:
The ability to comment and participate in discussions
The option to submit questions and themes for future posts
Priority access to any future experiments, events, or formats
There is no gated content and no obligation.
