iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Tomaž Fleischman @t-fleischman.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Presenting at WFEClear 2026 in Toronto on April 22 with @buchmanster.bsky.social — the WFE's annual conference on clearing and derivatives. wfeclear2026.wfe-events.com

wfeclear2026.wfe-events.com

WFEClear: The WFE’s Clearing and Derivatives Conference 2026

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

This is probably true everywhere

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

If you're into 15th century Florentine bankers, pivot to 13th century Sienese

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Liv Mariah Yarrow (pronounced "leave") @profyarrow.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

24. I feel modern scholars discount the importance of the stars in ancient lives because we cannot see them through our own light pollution.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

what if the Melle mines hadn't run out and they had as much silver as the Merovingians?

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

There was plenty of innovation in the Middle Ages, we just don’t notice many of it and a lot of it was societal and economic and not purely technological.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

but were they "pretty cool and often very capable"?

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

So many interesting questions about the monetary revolutions of the 12th-13th c!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Silver declared at toll stations on the way? Other letters or evidence? I've read Spufford and know about Roman provisini but I'm wondering if these were brought to Rome by pilgrims or if they were brought everywhere and just reminted in Genoa etc.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

If you've seen any evidence for Italians at the fairs pre 1180s or for them carting silver home from the fairs would appreciate you sharing! #medievalsky #history #econsky

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

My thesis is the Italians were drawn to the fairs for silver, and they carted it back to Italy (at least until ~1250s). Possibly this only makes sense once the Freiberg silver mines opened in ~1160s and started flooding into Champagne. Looking for more clues!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Best I can tell the Italians start frequenting the fairs by like ~1180s. What brought them there? Any relation with the Templars? Any evidence for Italians in Champagne pre 1180?

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

It seems by mid 12th century they were running long-distance credit/transfer operations. Could they have been responsible for popularizing the fairs more broadly, and ultimately attracting the Italians?

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

They got their legitimacy at the Council of Troyes in 1129 (just after the fair there?). A few years earlier the Count of Champagne pledged himself to the Templars. They were granted tolls for Troyes/Provins. They were responsible for guarding and maintaining the weights used at the fairs

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Were the Knights Templar responsible for the international growth of the Champagne Fairs? They seem to have been involved in Champagne and to have played some key roles before the fairs grew to intl importance and the Italians started coming in the late 12th c 👇

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Chasing a lead that 15th c Italian bankers quoted rates to englishmen differently from everyone else Possibly relevant to rise of London as financial centre and sterling as a dominant money

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Join us this Sunday at 1pm ET to discuss Dollinger's The German Hansa Subscribe to @themimbresschool.bsky.social to attend or watch the recording after

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Reminds of the this homie from the back of "English Fairs and Markets"

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

And thou mayest aske thyself, 'How do Ich werke thys?' And thou mayest aske thyself, 'Wher ys that large destrier?' And thou mayest telle thyself, 'Thys nys not my beautiful castle!' And thou mayest telle thyself, 'Thys nys not my swift goshawk!'

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

lol obviously the one englishman to have ever been pope issues a bull granting Ireland to the English en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laudabi...

en.wikipedia.org

Laudabiliter - Wikipedia

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

From: Farrell, The Irish and the economy of plantation Ulster

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

So the English stole a bunch of Irish land and gave it to English landowners. Plan was for them to recruit English tenants to farm. But the new owners realized they could charge much higher rents to the Irish who wanted to stay on their land than to new English recruits. King James was pissed.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

not to mention it was almost immediately annulled and followed by civil war ...

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

tfw you're trying to understand the origin of british capitalism and so now you're reading a book about oats

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

For the #IdesofMarch, here's one of the most famous coins to ever be minted: the silver denarius of M. Junius Brutus commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar. It depicts two daggers, a slave's cap of freedom (pileus), and the inscription EID MAR. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 43-42 CE. #MetMuseum 📸 me

The Ides of March denarius, issued by Marcus Junius Brutus, is one of the most famous and historic coins ever minted. It commemorates the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BCE, an event that later inspired many works of art, literature, opera, and film. Caesar had declared himself "perpetual dictator" at the beginning of that year, thereby directly prompting the assassination plot by Brutus and a group of other senators who feared for the survival of the Republic under his tyrannical rule. The reverse of the coin shown here not only bears the inscription naming the day of the murder but also depicts two daggers representing the weapons used to stab Caesar to death, as well as a cap usually worn by slaves who had earned their freedom, symbolizing here the liberation of Rome.

Inscription: BRVT IMP L PLAET CEST (Brutus, Imperator, Lucius Plaetorius Cestianus), head of Brutus, EID MAR (Ides of March), pilleus (felt cap), and two daggers.

Rome, 43-42 BCE.

Met Museum (L.2012.74, (ANS 1001.1.24742 Private collection, on loan to the American Numismatic Society)

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Working on a theory that the origin of British capitalism simply boils down to the propensity for growing oats. > The Irish grew lots of oats > The British colonized the Irish > The oats fed the horses > The horses plowed the fields > Boom: Agricultural Capitalism

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

And a more dense one with many of the Hansa towns. cc @hotgpod.bsky.social

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Map of Hansa geography. Hansa regions in red, neighbours in green, rivers in blue, mountains in brown. Hansa territory basically defined by the rivers Rhine, Weser, Elbe, Oder, Vistula and southern Baltic coast. Bordered in south by the Main and the Ore/Giant/Carpathian mountains #medievalsky

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

From Kerridge's Trade and Banking in Early Modern England

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Why yes, I would like to see a calculation of how much more credit there is than coin in early modern England based on analysis of probate inventories

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

> be me > oh its 10pm I'll go to bed early > proceed to read for 4 hrs about oat production, horse markets, and land markets in medieval england 🫠

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

This book is 100 years old. First edition Gustav Cassel

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Mills were super competitive, constantly raising their dams to the detriment of mills upstream. Bazacle was sued by rival mill Daurade for raising the dam so high Daurade's mill halted. Lawsuit went on for 50 yrs and bled Daurade dry. Result was a hostile takeover of Daurade by Bazacle. In 1408!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Just learned about the Bazacle Milling Company. First recorded European joint stock company, from 12th c. Shares traded freely. Lasted until it was nationalized in the 20th c! Water mills were very profitable and serious business in medieval times

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

love to but unfortunately dont think ill be able to make it this year!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

So is Bill Withers just the greatest song writer of all time or what

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Aroy @fusiona.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

So I re-read most of the Cycles white paper again from @buchmanster.bsky.social @t-fleischman.bsky.social and team. If nothing else, anyone even remotely involved in payments, monetary theory, Econ, Fintech should at least read pages 3 to 5 and the Abstract. total tour deforce! cycles.money

cycles.money

Cycles: Respect the Graph

The Open Clearing Protocol.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I got a 100 tweet long thread going on the other site about the German Hansa, an informal club of formal clubs that dominated north euro trade for 300 years No king, no army, no treasury, just cooperative decentralized network of merchants & towns w/ common interest in trade x.com/buchmanster/...

x.com

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Sometime back I made a (wildly incomplete) map of economists and their influence (green), mentorship (blue), and disputes (red). Focus is on the heterodox schools and the relations between them. Impact of the Austrian line is astounding.

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

made this cool map of economists some time back that showed this too. i should update it

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

spot on to what we're working toward!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

totally, i always loved this secret austrian influence on the post keynesians, though shumpeter effectively defected to the historical school and was arguably much more broadly influential as a result than his contemporary and other bohm bawerk student mises

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

What is the best reference for understanding the geography of european rivers while reading medieval history? somewhat frustrated by not being able to easily keep track of where the elbe/trave/oder/etc. are and their relation to the cities

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Applying to join the Society of Merchants Who Frequently Travel to Gotland. Wish me luck!

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

wrote abit about my disapointment in zach carter's keynes biography on this point x.com/buchmanster/...

x.com

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Ethan Buchman @buchmanster.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

thanks for the thread! indeed our goal is to succeed where keynes failed by going bottom up where he went top down. the only viable intl monetary system long term is some kind of clearing union. also somewhat of a travesty in my view that schumacher got so little credit for the keynes plan

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Reposted by Ethan Buchman

Aroy @fusiona.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

cycles.money/blog/cycles-... After digging into the fantastic Cycles white paper by @buchmanster.bsky.social @t-fleischman.bsky.social and the crew I want to start sharing the first of many reflections. First, I consider this paper a spiritual successor to the legendary EF Schumacher paper on

cycles.money

Cycles: Respect the Graph

The Open Clearing Protocol.

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