Patrick McKenzie Explains Digital Money’s Hidden Paths

If you have a burning question about how money works, Patrick McKenzie probably has the answer. The software engineer/blogger/vaccine database founder’s widely read newsletter, Bits About Money, is dedicated to thinking about the often-misunderstood concepts at the intersection of tech and finance—or, as he puts it, “the modern financial infrastructure that the world sits atop of.”

McKenzie started his career as a “salaryman” in Japan, working 19-hour days before quitting to work for himself; now he advises payment processor Stripe Inc. in addition to software and writing work. His real passion, though, seems to be making sense of what ...