UtopiainBeta

I'm Isabelle Castro — journalist, editorial strategist and producer covering AI, crypto and emerging tech, and the humans deciding what it's all for. The future ships unfinished. I cover the patch notes.

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Who I am

About

I translate complicated systems — buildings, blockchains, biotech — into stories people actually want to read.

Architecture at Central Saint Martins, a photography master's at Goldsmiths, exhibitions from the Venice Biennale to Trafalgar Square — then journalism. The detour is the point: I write about technology as someone who has built, sold and staged things, not from the press release.

Since 2022 I've covered fintech, crypto and AI for outlets in London and New York. My Bitcoin ETF reporting won Journalist of the Year at the 2024 State Street UK Financial Press Awards. Now I split my time between freelance reporting and Utopia in Beta — my newsletter and podcast on AI and the strange business of building the future.

Selected work · newest first · click to read

The Work

Exclusive

Binance Still Onboarding EU Users Seven Weeks After MiCA Deadline

Verification tests in six countries found the world's largest exchange still opening EU accounts past the bloc's flagship crypto deadline. Archived here after the original went offline.

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Feature

Steakhouse Financial Finds Its DeFi Playbook in 18th-Century Scotland

The onchain asset manager reads stablecoins through the era when private Scottish banks printed the nation's money. Archived here after the original went offline.

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Essay

Petri Dishes

Essay, Utopia in Beta — what medieval charter cities can tell us about innovation, from the Rhine's seventy-nine toll points to today's border queues.

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Essay

Classrooms in the Age of AI

Essay, Utopia in Beta — after decades of failed classroom tech reform, small-scale opt-in pilots may be how AI proves its worth.

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Essay

Conversations We'll Never Have (Because Our Agents Already Did)

Essay, Utopia in Beta — memory is becoming the defining feature of AI assistants. Whose memory is it, really?

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Gonzo

Fear and Loathing in the Time of Bitcoin

Gonzo dispatch, Utopia in Beta — Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, by way of Hunter S. Thompson. Is the mainstream worth the revolution?

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Podcast · documentary · live

Watch & Listen

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Audio documentary

Upgrading Humanity — Ep 1

Opening episode of the four-part documentary series I produced and reported for Digital Frontier.

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▸ Play
Utopia in Beta podcast

Ep 8 — Boosting Biotech

In conversation with Mac from Minicircle on gene therapy, longevity and biotech's frontier.

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Guest co-host

The Edge of Show

Co-hosting a conversation on AI at work, in government — and in our relationships.

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What I can do for you

Services

Editorial & newsletter strategy

Launching publications, finding their voice, and growing them — positioning, formats, and the weekly grind of shipping.

Launched Digital State Dispatch · founded Utopia in Beta

Long-form journalism

Deeply reported features, exclusives and essays on AI, fintech and crypto, with a source network across three continents.

Journalist of the Year 2024 — State Street UK Financial Press Awards

Podcast & documentary

End-to-end audio and video: concept, booking, interviewing, editing, promotion. Documentary-trained at Met Film School.

Upgrading Humanity · Utopia in Beta podcast · BBC-aired doc work

Moderation & live formats

Panel moderation and on-stage interviews at major industry events — bilingual, English and Spanish.

Panels for Fintech Nexus at major fintech events · EN / ES
Career, condensed

Experience

2025 — now

Founder & editor, Utopia in Beta · freelance reporter

Independent newsletter and podcast on AI and emerging tech; freelance features and exclusives on fintech and digital assets.

2023 — 2025

Features reporter & newsletter lead, Digital Frontier

Long-form features on finance, crypto and generative AI. Launched Digital State Dispatch; produced Upgrading Humanity.

2022 — 2023

Senior reporter, Fintech Nexus (New York)

Daily fintech news and newsletter, podcast production, and panel moderation at major industry events.

2016 — 2022

First act: art, architecture & production

Project-managed the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, produced BBC-aired documentary work, co-founded a bilingual marketing studio in Spain.

Education — MA Photography & Digital Art, Goldsmiths · BA Architecture, Central Saint Martins · Documentary, Met Film School · Investigative Data Journalism, CIJ