In Episode 11 of The Quantum Podcast, Christopher Smith and Joe Mattia sit down in Dubai with polymath builder, investor, and biohacker Tom Howard, joined by returning co-host Jangle, for a wild ride from TSA bomb scares to bank balance sheets to quantum-era Bitcoin risk.

Tom opens with a hilarious (and slightly terrifying) story about getting the TSA bomb squad called on him over a homemade electrolyte mix — then unpacks what "biohacking" actually means, from saunas and mitochondria to fertility, longevity, and why most people should start with sleep, movement, and blood panels before chasing exotic stacks.

From there, the crew dives deep into how banks really work: reserve ratios, the quiet removal of reserve requirements, FDIC backstops, duration risk, and why regional banks fear stablecoins far more than JPMorgan ever will. They break down the Genius Act, ring-fenced stablecoin collateral, how interest on stablecoin reserves flows straight into US treasuries, and why the small-bank lobby is suddenly panicking.

Tom also walks through the legal trench warfare around ICOs, securities law, and the SEC — from the Gensler era's "sue first, lose in court later" strategy to new leadership that actually cares about law, facts, and workable rules. The conversation then zooms out to AML theater, sanctions, and privacy, arguing that most anti-money-laundering regulation hurts normal people far more than it stops criminals, while sanctions function as "secret violence" against entire populations.

In the final act, they turn to quantum computing and Bitcoin: Scott Aaronson's surprise timeline shift from "30–50 years" to "3–5 years," the narrow but devastating power of Shor's algorithm, and why web2 can probably patch to post-quantum quickly — but Bitcoin and older chains are uniquely exposed because their on-chain state is the canonical source of truth. They explore what a quantum-secure, reversible future might look like, and why now is the time to build it.

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⏱ Chapters
00:00 TSA bomb scare: homemade electrolytes & the bomb squad
04:00 What "biohacking" really is: sleep, saunas, labs & longevity
08:00 Saunas, sperm counts, "icing the boys" & mitochondrial health
15:00 Libertarian roots, discovering Bitcoin & the ICO rabbit hole
20:00 How banks actually work: reserves, FDIC & money from a spreadsheet
26:00 Stablecoins, the Genius Act & why small banks are freaking out
32:00 SEC chaos, Gensler's legacy & the new wave of crypto rulemaking
38:00 AML theater, sanctions, surveillance & the cost of "compliance"
46:00 Quantum timelines, Scott Aaronson's U-turn & shorelines for ECC
52:00 Why Bitcoin is most exposed & what a quantum-safe future needs