[V.O.] A tributary
of the Tigris-Euphrates River system
in modern-day Iraq.
Known in ancient times
as Mesopotamia,
this is where one of the first
human civilizations emerged
thousands of years ago.
It's also where one of the earliest
versions of money was invented.
The story of money
is one of the oldest
and most powerful stories ever told.
One that's still being
written as we speak.
- But what is money?
In short, money is trust.
A shared belief of common value.
But trust is a fragile thing.
It can be shattered in an instant.
For example, this is not Mesopotamia.
It's West Texas, just a few
hours from where I grew up.
This is a film about a
thing called cryptocurrency.
It's pretty stupid.
- Did we get it?
- Yeah.
Great.
[V.O.] To understand my journey
into the wilds of cryptocurrency,
we have to go way back to
my humble beginnings
when I was a budding young actor.
- All right, my next guest stars on
the hit Fox series, The O.C.
Please welcome Ben McKenzie.
[V.O.] At the age of 24, my career
started off with a bang
when I was cast as Ryan Atwood,
the brooding bad boy on The O.C.
- Who are you?
- Whoever you want me to be.
[V.O.] I was tough as nails
and soft as butter,
a real teenage heartthrob.
- You are the It guy.
You're, like, all over the place
on the cover of TV Guide and YM,
or is it pronounced you y-m?
[V.O.] When it finished, I moved on
to the gritty cop drama Southland.
- Southland is a terrific show.
But I'm curious, do you
still get fans of the O.C.
that come up to you?
- You were a teen
heartthrob on the O.C.
- We gotta talk about
the O.C. a little bit.
- Okay.
[V.O.] Alright, so I was still
sort of that guy from the O.C.
But then, everything changed
when I joined the Batman universe.
- Many of us remember Ben
McKenzie from the O.C.
- Good morning, guys.
How are you?
- I just have to wait one second and
say I loved you in the O.C.
- And looking back
at the O.C., and then...
[V.O.] While the rest of the world
was stuck in 2003, I was moving on.
Well, sort of.
Smashing bad guys
was f*cking awesome.
And I even met the
love of my life on the show.
But still, I was itching
for something new.
And then, right on cue,
COVID hit.
- You've got to be
putting that disinfectant
on these groceries, making
sure that you're scrubbing them.
[V.O.] Holed up
without work or direction,
I went a little stir-crazy.
So when my buddy Dave
asked to catch up via Zoom,
it was a welcome reprieve.
As fate would have it, it turned
out to be just the thing I needed.
Why are you in your kid's bedroom?
- It's the only safe place, Ben.
It's the only place I can go.
[V.O.] Dave is a good
friend from college.
He has also given me the worst
financial advice of my life.
When I was in my 20s and
flush with cash from TV,
Dave encouraged me to buy stock in an
obscure medical technology company.
They were going to make a
fortune, Dave told me.
He had been at a wedding, and
some random guy assured him so.
I was young and dumb and
excited by his excitement.
So, I put $10,000 into it.
In less than a year the stock tanked,
and I lost almost all my money.
So when Dave brought up Bitcoin,
my skepticism was high.
- You know what's
taken off is Bitcoin.
Have you looked at that?
I don't even know
what the f*ck it is.
- I guess a digital currency.
A cryptocurrency.
- It's money.
- It's money.
It's a cryptocurrency.
Stop saying f*cking cryptocurrency.
I don't know what
the f*ck that means.
- What is this like?
What is this, like, look?
What are you like--
- I don't know if you
know this about me.
- Oh, enlighten me.
I was great at Economics.
- Have we vetted that, by the way?
Do you actually have a degree?
Yes!
- Alright. Well, I mean,
I don't know.
You're a pretty good actor.
How do I know?
Whoa! Go back to that.
[V.O.] If Dave's prior advice
had taught me anything,
it was that you should never invest
in something you don't understand.
Plus, I have a degree in economics.
Surely I can figure out
this crypto stuff.
No problem.
- Bitcoin. It's a new
form of electronic money.
You know how email
changed old fashioned mail forever?
- Yes.
- Well, Bitcoin is changing money
forever.
- So that is essentially
what a hard fork is,
but there is also something
called a soft fork.
- No banks, no fees, no inflation.
These are the potential perks of
this thing called Bitcoin.
- What is a blockchain
system where you
have this kind of one virtual
computer created by...
- Bitcoin is brilliant.
[V.O.] The Bitcoin gospel is that it
will revolutionize the world.
- Electronic gold.
[V.O.] Because it is the answer to
our broken financial system.
- Intricately thought out,
cunning and multifaceted.
- If you love Freedom, buy Bitcoin.
Are you serious?
- Are you serious?
The Bitcoin story
is really powerful,
because we all agree on its premise.
Our current system sucks.
Remember back in 2008 when
the banks and mortgage lenders
got greedy and crashed
the housing market?
After all was said and done,
the banks got a slap on the wrist.
Some even got bailouts.
- Wall Street applauded the
biggest government bailout ever.
- Up to $700 billion
taxpayer dollars on the line
to purchase troubled assets that
are clogging the financial system.
[V.O.] Meanwhile, everyday
Americans received no bailout,
and far too many lost their homes.
People felt betrayed,
and for good reason.
Their trust in the
mainstream financial system
had been shattered.
- Corporate greed is everywhere.
- Wall Street got bailed out,
and we all got sold out.
Let's tell the truth!
[V.O.] And it was out of
this breakdown that Bitcoin was born.
Someone, or some people,
calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto
created the code for Bitcoin.
There could only be 21 million
Bitcoin ever made,
and no one had control over it.
- The Bitcoin phenomenon is
trying to take control of money
away from the state
and return it to individuals.
- You have an option to trust code,
so we don't have to trust
centralized intermediaries.
- And so when
I specifically buy Bitcoin,
I'm using my own personal capital
to prop up and support
the emergence of something that
would rip apart the
existing financial system.
And if it does, God bless it.
[V.O.] In theory,
Bitcoin sounded like a promising
solution to the status quo.
But I had a few questions.
How could Bitcoin work as a currency
if its price was ping-ponging wildly
up and down day to day?
- It's pretty incredible.
I mean, Friday, Bitcoin was trading
at, what, almost $42,000,
and now we're down to about
$31,000 and change right now,
why the tumults over the weekend?
[V.O.] And why did i feel like
I was being herded into a quasi-cult?
- You have the saying
that there's no free money,
there's no free lunch.
Well, in crypto,
there's a lot of free lunch.
- Question ask yourself is which side
of history do you want to be on?
- I mean, I'm eating
free lunch here everyday.
[V.O.] Just because there's a
finite amount of something
doesn't mean
it's inherently valuable.
That's my econ degree talking.
But when i really boiled it down,
I just didn't trust it.
It had the feeling of a
generational hallucination.
- Take all your money, buy Bitcoin.
Go mortgage your house
and buy Bitcoin.
Nothing else matters.
And that's when I saw it.
The crypto commercial
that would haunt my dreams.
- History is filled with "almosts."
With those who almost adventured,
who almost achieved,
but ultimately,
for them it proved to be too much.
And in these moments of truth,
these mere mortals,
they calm their minds
and steel their nerves
with four simple words,
Fortune favors the brave.
- I mean, what the f*ck?
What the f*ck does Matt Damon
know about cryptocurrency?
Nothing!
Are you mad at him for this,
or because he's more
famous than you are?
He might be taller, too.
He's not taller than me.
Alright, so it says
he's 5 '10", but...
Mmm, not sure.
I also say I'm 5 '10".
[V.O.] It wasn't just Damon.
A bunch of other yahoos
got in on the act.
- I'm all in. Are you?
- You know what?
- I'm in.
- Oh, I'm in, bro.
[V.O.] Now, here's the thing.
Celebrities have always
shilled products,
ever since there
have been celebrities.
Even my wife has done it.
There's nothing wrong with that.
But this isn't a sandwich
or skin cream.
This was a financial product.
- Crypto will really be the future.
[V.O.] If you aren't a licensed
financial advisor,
you're not supposed to offer
people financial advice.
It's literally ill*gal.
- It's the new wave.
It's what everybody's doing.
[V.O.] As an actor, I'm a
professional bullshitter.
- Eh, I don't think so.
[V.O.] And my gut told me,
the guys selling people on crypto
were full of it.
- It's a cryptocurrency you can trade
for conventional money.
- Oh, so it's a hustle.
- Yeah, it's a hustle.
- Why didn't you say that, man?
- To the moon!
[V.O.] Up against a
multi-trillion dollar industry
shilled by every
celebrity on the planet,
I did what any other actor
would do in my position.
I hired a film crew.
- This is Giorgio,
he's gonna be filming me.
Is he-- Is he gonna film?
He's gonna film, yeah.
He's gonna make a movie.
You wanna be in a movie?
- Yes.
- Ok.
- Go!
What's this thing?
It's a lens.
I have my ball.
Ooh, that's a nice ball.
It feels like...
Strawberry.
Oh, it's a checker.
Whoa-h*-h*!
Yeah! Yeah!
I think they're coming downstairs.
Let's go say hi to Mama and Juju.
No.
Yeah, we're gonna go tell them
that we're making a movie.
We're excited to watch a movie here.
This is Giorgio.
- Hello.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
I'm sorry, what's going on?
We're just gonna film it.
Okay.
He'll be quiet, we promise.
Georgio is very nice.
Heads up, did you talk
to my agent yet?
Alright Arthur, I'm putting
cheese on your pasta, okay?
Do you want cheese on your pasta?
Do you want to put it on?
Guys, Georgio is gonna be with us
for like the next...
undetermined one to twelve months.
Is everyone clear on what I'm doing?
- Do you guys know what I'm doing?
- Oh yeah!
I'm making... What?
What am I doing?
You're trying to make fun of
everybody that uses cryptocurrency.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
So, I was sneaking Cheetos in class,
but then I got Cheeto-fingers
and I rubbed my eyes,
and my eyes were burning
hot all throughout class.
To me.
[V.O.] To develop
a deeper understanding
of crypto's true believers,
I needed to observe them in the wild.
Fittingly enough,
they were gathered in Miami.
- Tens of thousands of
people are heading
to Miami this weekend for
what's being called
the largest cryptocurrency
conference in history.
I'm getting a nice
shot at no ba*ls, right?
[V.O.] The Bitcoin
Conference in Miami
claimed to be
the largest in the world.
50,000 people
were expected to attend.
I wanted to see Bitcoin in action,
and this seemed like
the perfect place to do it.
- Matt Damon?
Matt Damon?
Sorry, have you seen Matt Damon?
[V.O.] But first, this Austin boy
wanted to have some fun.
- Don't worry, folks, I'm from Texas.
I know what I'm doing.
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Oh-oh!
Hey, we can edit that, right?
That's fine.
It's fine.
Oh, Starry Night.
The original.
Ah, there we go. American beer.
And I can pay in Bitcoin?
Right now, sir, we're
using only the credit card.
We used to have the Bitcoin,
but it's not working at this time.
It's not working?
- Oh, is this your art?
- Yes, sir.
Oh, hey, man. How are you?
Bitcoin f*cking money.
Bitcoin sh1tting money.
Bitcoin f*cking money.
Bitcoin sh1tting money.
Okay, got it.
- Yeah, I'm really sorry for that.
- That's alright. That's alright.
I think I can use regular real money.
- Yes.
- Alright.
I'm starting my own coin.
It's called BenCoin.
What if I paid you in BenCoin?
So I can cash it out.
There we go, right?
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you got to
get in early with the future.
- Exactly.
- Otherwise, it'll pass you by.
Does it ever feel like a
little bit like a cult to you?
Just like flaming eyeball sh*t?
- It's like Game of Thrones sh*t.
- It's like Game of Thrones sh*t!
I tried to buy my beer in Bitcoin,
and it didn't really work.
- That's true.
- No, it didn't over there.
They were having some problem.
- Gotcha. Gotcha,
- Does it take time?
Like 20 minutes.
- To go- to process a transaction?
- Yeah.
[V.O.] I was having a hard time
seeing the advantages of Bitcoin.
But then I met an unlikely fan.
His name was Alex,
and he worked for
the Human Rights Foundation.
There's like tens
of millions of people
in emerging market
countries that use this thing,
because it's the best
option they have.
Money, finance, economics,
was hardly ever a part
of the human rights discourse.
But when you actually ask
human rights activists from
different countries about money,
they always have crazy stories.
Demonetization, devaluation,
hyperinflation, frozen bank accounts.
So this is a way
for them to break free.
All these people are getting into
this thing because the numbers go up,
it's like this Trojan horse,
but in reality, like inside,
is freedom go up.
[V.O.] Alex made a compelling point.
Maybe Bitcoin could be
a tool for good.
But then I thought about its
wildly fluctuating price.
What if all these people
in developing countries
bought in and Bitcoin's price...
crashed?
Bitcoin's what, $44,000?
Wasn't it $48,000 like yesterday?
Was that the day before?
How much was it?
Well, five years ago,
it was... it was...
But like yesterday, it was $47,000
and now it's forty--
What is it today? $43,000?
I don't know. I think it's $44,000.
The important thing is...
Uh...
Two years ago, it was $4,000.
So, the important thing to remember
is that over time this thing gets--
- $43,000 today.
- Right.
So in 2020, in April,
it was $4,000.
So, the important thing is that--
it over time-- it gets more valuable.
[V.O.] It just didn't make
sense to me.
But Alex assured me the
argument was bigger than price.
This is about separation
of money and state.
It's making a huge difference
around the world.
I think every country should have
Bitcoin as legal tender
to transact, earn income,
pay taxes, whatever.
[V.O.] Could the crypto utopia
that Alex described
exist in real life?
After some intense
research, I found an answer.
- El Salvador.
This look represents El
Salvador's history of currency.
For a long time, coco was
used, and then the cologne,
until it was replaced
by the U.S. dollar.
In 2021, El Salvador became
the first country in the world.
to use bitcoin as legal tender.
You don't need a dash to walk around
dressed in cash like El Salvador.
If I bought that for you,
would you wear it?
So, why do you need to go there?
Because... they're trying to
use Bitcoin as money.
Well, is it safe?
It's totally safe. Hold on a second.
It says it has one of the highest
m*rder rates in the world.
No, it used to have the highest
m*rder rate in the world.
Now...
now it has the highest
incarceration rate.
So it's totally safe,
plus, you know,
I speak excellent Spanish.
[Spanish] This gringo
is going to get f*cking k*lled.
Oh, my God.
[Spanish] This gringo
is going to get f*ck...
Why am I laughing?
- Glad you think it's funny.
- Oh my god!
- Gangs turned
El Salvador's m*rder rate
into one of the highest in the world.
- Some 75,000 people
have been arrested.
- People can also face
15 years in prison,
and this applies to journalists, too.
[Spanish] Thank you for flying with
Avianca, the sky belongs to everyone.
You're saying hello to El
Salvador another time, we promise.
- They seem to be
giving Ben a hard time.
- This dude just called
for his supervisor.
Oh.
They just want his picture.
God bless the OC.
What's up, dude?
sh*t, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.
Ah, guess where I am?
- Um, something tells me
you're not in Wisconsin.
I'm not in Wisconsin.
I'm in El Salvador.
Can you guess why?
- What the hell? Yes, why?
I want to hear you say it.
Bitcoin, baby, Bitcoin.
Dude, you can't make this sh*t up.
- What are you doing?
What are you doing with your life?
I don't know.
It's the honest to God answer.
[V.O.] In 2019,
a former advertising executive named
Nayib Bukele shocked
the political establishment
when he was elected
president of El Salvador.
The crypto bro Prez
changed his Twitter handle to
The Coolest Dictator in The World
and bragged about
casually buying Bitcoin
using the state treasury
while sitting on the toilet.
Bukele sold a bold
vision of the country,
as a revolutionary
Bitcoin Switzerland
that would attract
worldwide attention.
- Mr. President,
thanks for joining us.
- Thank you, Tucker, for inviting me.
- We're not condoning
every single thing
the El Salvadoran
government has ever done.
I just think that them adopting
Bitcoin is one of the best things
that you could possibly
do for the nation.
[V.O.] I wanted to see
how much Bitcoin
had changed life in El Salvador.
It was time to go shopping.
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoin?
[Spanish] Bitcoin? Do you take it?
No. No.
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoins?
- [Spanish] No.
- [Spanish] Bitcoin? No.
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoin?
[Spanish] Bitcoin? No.
Ah, Ok. I thought for a second... Ok.
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoin?
- [Spanish] No.
- [Spanish] No Bitcoin.
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoin?
[Spanish] Do you take Bitcoin?
[Spanish] No.
[V.O.] The marketplace was a bust,
but there was another prong in
Bukele's Bitcoin revolution.
He claimed Bitcoin would save his
citizens millions in remittance fees
when sending or
receiving money from overseas.
It was a common
argument for pro-Bitcoiners.
- I think what a lot of people don't
understand in the United States
is that a lot of people live in
countries and work in countries
and they have to send money home.
A lot of it's cross-border, and that
transaction fee in and of itself,
transferring money, can run you 10%.
[V.O.] Nice idea, but reality
painted a different picture.
According to the
government's own figures,
just 1.6% of remittances
were paid using Bitcoin.
But Bukele, ever the salesman,
refused to concede defeat.
Instead,
he went bigger.
- So we were thinking of building...
Bitcoin City.
[V.O.] In November 2021,
Bukele announced
what he called Bitcoin City,
a tax-free paradise for
coiners in eastern El Salvador.
The showpiece city would be built
in the shadows of Conchagua Volcano.
- This is a fully, fully ecological
city and it's energized
by a volcano.
[V.O.] Bukele loved the volcano.
- The volcano.
[V.O.] Since I was already in the
country, I figured, what the hell,
might as well check it out.
We drove more than
100 miles to La Union,
on the eastern edge of the country.
What we found was a
sleepy fishing village,
and almost no evidence
of any actual development
of this supposed City of Gold.
We did, however,
meet a guy named Corbin.
- This is the perfect location for
that dream and vision,
and this is where I want
to be for that reason of
being the first
resident citizen of Bitcoin City.
I'm an industrial designer.
I've had hundreds of jobs
and a few careers in there.
In all that time, I'm asking the
question of what is money?
Where is it coming from?
Who's in control of it?
Bitcoin isn't just a
vehicle for me to make money.
It's freedom.
One man,
casa cita,
or chiquita citadel.
Chiquita Citadel, uh,
built it out of cinder block,
poured a concrete slab myself,
and built it on it.
All myself.
But this is just the earliest first
stage, like I build up from here,
as Bitcoin goes up, my casa goes up.
Outside over here is my bathroom.
At first I was met with, like, uh,
like, disbelief, like,
wait, why would you,
an American gringo,
want to come and live here?
I don't know how
to explain, you know,
well, things are
going to change here,
there's going to be
a Bitcoin city over there,
a new airport, mucho turismo.
I want to be here,
because I like it as is
and I like the potential
of what's coming.
[V.O.] There was only one problem
with this grand vision
of Bitcoin City.
The people who were living
there were in the way.
Wilfredo Claros
is a fisherman by trade.
He and his family have
lived in La Union for generations,
but now the community is being
threatened with displacement
so that the airport
to service Bitcoin City
can be built on their land.
In exchange for leaving,
the government has offered Wilfredo
a fraction of what
his property is worth.
He has been told the
offer is take it or leave it.
So you don't use Bitcoin?
Your sister is...
[V.O.] It was clear to me
that Bukele's sales pitch
of a Bitcoin-embracing
nation was full of holes.
It felt like a pumped-up
marketing scheme
with little substance behind it.
Was it designed to put
El Salvador on the map?
Or just Bukele?
- Never before I could have
done something that would impact
10 million lives.
Why would I do this if it wasn't for
the legacy to change this country?
Got a visitor.
Hi. Good morning.
Good morning.
[V.O.] After leaving El Salvador,
I made my way to London where
Moreno was sh**ting a new film.
The whole family had
come along for the ride
and my crypto journey
was put on hold.
To be honest, I was fine with it.
I needed a break
from Bitcoin sleuthing.
It was time to get back
to something real.
Showbiz.
Hello.
Hi.
Is it alright if I come in?
So, how does it work?
Alright. Yeah, I'm gonna hit you.
This whole Hollywood thing.
Is this nice? Is this yours?
Like, is this the one that you go to?
Yes, this is mine.
Jerry is next door.
Jerry Poppers.
- Yeah.
- The Jerry Poppers.
Yes.
- This is Sparta!
Don't annoy him.
Don't talk to him about crypto.
What do you think Jerry Butler
thinks about cryptocurrency?
I haven't asked.
I made a ton of money on it.
Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, really?
- I've done really well.
Really, really, really well.
Out of it, yeah.
- Wow.
- So far, yeah.
But I don't actually
know anything about it.
Well, it doesn't matter, right?
- So, what... How you doing?
- Yeah, I'm alright.
It's great to tell you
what I'm doing these days.
- A little bit.
- Yeah, yeah.
- And I'm doing like a documentary...
- Oh, yeah.
- ...you know,
trying to get the word out.
I mean, it's hard because
it's so successful
and so many people made
so much money on it.
So, it's kind of hard to get
that story out because...
Hey, are you still--
Are you still acting?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
No, I did a pilot.
Oh, nice.
I didn't go.
No.
- Docter.
- Yeah.
Anyway, listen, I...
- ...I gotta go.
- No, no, I understand. Thank you.
No, no, nice to see you, Ben.
[V.O.] Maybe Gerard Butler was right.
As long as everyone was getting
rich on this Bitcoin stuff,
why bother to understand
how it actually works.
Uh, uh...
Yeah.
It makes me feel old.
What's your name?
Scott?
Scott Ben.
Nice to meet you, man.
Ah, this, I'm filming a documentary.
Yeah.
It's about cryptocurrency.
It's the future of money.
We just need the
real stuff right now.
[V.O.] Gerard Butler was honest.
He had just gotten
lucky with Bitcoin.
But I had to believe there were more
Scott the Scaffolders out there.
Regular people trying to make an
extra buck and getting scammed.
I had to keep going.
But where to begin?
It felt like crypto was everywhere,
the virus spreading in
infinite directions.
- There are now over
1,500 cryptocurrencies.
- There's PP coin, there's BBQ coin,
there's Litecoin,
there's Feathercoin,
Primecoin is a very interesting one.
- We can just make as many
tokens as your heart desires.
[V.O.] There were so many
promising crypto coins out there,
with names like Internet Computer,
Bonk, and c*m Rocket.
In the crypto community,
they were known as sh*t coins.
And with the frenzy in full effect,
trying to figure out
where to go next was daunting.
- Very interesting what's
happening with Doge.
We do know that Elon Musk if
a huge proponent of Doge Coin.
And since that it could become
the world's leading currency.
- And we need someone to help
us with our financial life.
and normally we just people that--
- we think are acting
in our best interest.
But what if these people are
not acting in our best interest?
What if their interest is
exactly the opposite of ours?
Should we continue giving
them our money--
- or should we take the money and
put it somewhere else?
Celsius Network, we decided to create
a replacement for the banking system.
We have 1.2 million customers,
and we're adding
about 100,000 a month.
We've paid a billion dollars
back to the community in interest.
That's probably more than some of the
largest banks in the world.
It just shows you how
banks are not your friends.
But Alex is your friend?
- Yes.
[V.O.] Celsius sought to
upend the banking system,
led by its founder, Alex Mashinsky.
Rather than keep the profits for
themselves, like most banks,
Alex wanted to give that
money back to the users.
But this new model for
a bank had a fatal flaw.
Celsius was not a bank.
It even said so on its website.
You know, in the very small
print at the bottom of the page.
Not shady at all.
If something happened to Celsius,
your money might be gone forever.
A real licensed U.S. bank
is just the opposite.
If the bank goes under,
our government steps in
to cover the loss.
The system works
because people trust it,
and they trust it because it works.
Moshensky claimed to
have built a better bank,
but I suspected he had created
something far more dangerous.
It was time to take my film
crew to meet Alex Moshensky.
- As luck would have it,
he happened to be in my hometown.
The clothing brand Poopy and Pooper?
That guy's definitely
into groups like that.
[V.O.] South By featured the
bleeding edge of technology.
Things like virtual reality,
pickleball,
- I got you, baby.
[V.O.] and the CIA.
- What you're going to do is
press and hold that A button.
Or B button, sorry.
- Hold this button?
- Yeah, uh, yes.
Whoa.
I don't know if you guys are aware,
the CIA has a podcast.
The CIA podcast?
Yeah, we do. You should check it out.
[V.O.] As I made my way
to the Celsius booth,
I decided I would play the
role of a gullible actor
stumbling onto crypto.
Should be easy enough.
- Like, where have I seen you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was on the OC,
and then I did
a show called Southland,
which was a late cop show.
Um, what are you guys doing here?
We're crypto. We're, uh, Celsius.
Oh, right, right, right.
That's us.
- That's you guys?
- Yeah.
That's our... That's the logo.
- Oh.
- Alex is the CEO,
CTO.
Oh, my God.
You're in the right place.
Yeah.
So what does it do?
What does Celsius do?
We-- we basically do the
opposite of what banks do.
Anything a bank does,
we do the opposite.
- Okay.
- Okay?
They charge you fee,
we don't charge you fees.
- How do you make money, then?
- We pay you interest.
Oh, okay.
How do you make money, then?
Banks make a lot of money.
They don't want to give it to you.
They give it to their shareholders.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
We treat it like a community.
So we take all the profits and
give it to our community.
It's like a community bank.
[V.O.] Except it's not a bank.
- So has Celsius experienced
any legal trouble?
We don't-- I don't know what you
mean by legal trouble.
Well, legal proceedings.
Has anybody, like, sued you guys?
Have you had any fines or anything?
But there's no financial institution
that is not getting
inspected by all these agencies.
- Every day.
- I'm not hearing a no. I'm hearing,
uh, I'm just asking, I'm just asking
you an honest question.
The answer is no.
- The answer is no.
- Oh, oh.
The answer is no.
[V.O.] The answer was, in fact, yes.
Celsius was facing legal action in
multiple states, New Jersey, Alabama,
and even Texas.
- So what do you say to the people
who have been scammed in crypto,
obviously to half the people,
like we can all acknowledge that.
So what do you say to those,
like, what's the solution to that?
- How do we fix that?
- The guy on Twitter asked me, what?
Alex, how come all the
scammers are coming to crypto?
I'm like, you left the door open,
you left the window open.
Of course they're going to
come and steal from you.
So it's maybe sort of their fault.
- Like they sort of...
- It's not, it's not just that.
If you left money on the street,
do you expect it to be
there in the morning?
It's not just that. I think a lot
of this has to do with easy money
and fraud. They go hand in hand,
because as soon as you,
as soon as you say like,
- I want to park my currency with you
- Yeah.
[V.O] Toward the end
of our conversation,
with the video off,
but the audio still rolling.
I asked him how much real money he
thought was in the crypto system.
- Say maybe 10 or 15 percent is real
money that went into the system.
And everything else is just bubble.
[V.O.] It was a jaw-droppingly
low number,
and mildly concerning as the crypto
market had been booming for years.
- Cryptocurrency is going mainstream
with a total market cap
of nearly three trillion dollars.
- Mastercard says now
any bank or merchant on
its network will soon be
able to offer crypto services.
- Bitcoin investors feelin'
good as hell today!
The crypto coin reaching
an all-time high of 68,000.
- We do see Bitcoin going up and up
and up. It's amazing. It's amazing.
Where is it going?
It's probably going to 100,
then 150, then 200,000.
[V.O.] It made zero sense.
Maybe it was time to
meet my mysterious friend.
Hey, this is Dave.
I can't come to the phone right now.
But leave your name and number
and I'll get back to you
as soon as I can. Thanks.
Dave, it's your boy.
I'm down in Florida
meeting with some random guy
I met from the internet who says
all of cryptocurrency is a scam.
If I don't come back alive,
I love you.
Really nice to meet you.
- Yeah.
- Thank you for doing this.
Yeah. No problem.
Okay, so let's start with
how you got started.
how did you fall into this
crypto rabbit hole?
My background is I used to do video
game hacking and reverse engineering.
I was basically printing my
own money from video games.
So you started off as
someone, a professional cheater?
Yeah, I was basically, yeah, I was
cheating in video games, yes.
Inevitably, I got caught, and I
got banned for 30 years.
But what I learned is that it's the
same bullshit, you know, as crypto.
Right.
You've been exposing
crypto fraud since 2016?
I would say, when I first started,
it's going to be March of 2017.
I had some suspicions early,
and once I started digging
a little bit deeper,
I'm like, okay, this is bad.
This is fraud.
Why do you think that is?
I personally believe
the entire market is really
controlled by fewer than 20 people.
You know, and they can make the
price go to whatever they want.
How?
Let's say you have two accounts, and
you want the price to go up.
So all you do is trade
between your two accounts
and you can basically
just walk the price up.
So they control both
sides of the trade?
Right and then someone else
that's on the outside doesn't realize
and they see the prices going up.
It's got up 15 %
in the past 15 minutes,
you know, and they
go ahead and they buy it.
Those are the suckers
basically coming in
not realizing that
it was just one guy
with two accounts
making the price go up
- Right
- Between 90 and 95%
of all the cr*pple trading
That's all it is
Now the other 5% is only in there
because they think that the
other 90 to 95% is real
which it's not.
[V.O.] So now the people pumping
up the price can sell their tokens.
And everybody else gets screwed.
- Yes, that's it.
So if 90 to 95%
of the trading is fake,
does that mean the social media
activity is that also fake or?
It's paid for.
A lot of it is paid for.
A lot of it are actually
bots that just spam Twitter,
you know, 24/7.
But the thing is,
a lot of these crypto influencers
are actually paid by
the scammers themselves.
What are they paid in?
Dollars.
Not crypto.
But basically everybody
inside of crypto
is winning except for the regular
people that put their money on it.
Yeah, the regular people that don't
realize that it's all a facade.
Right. They're the ones
holding the bag.
Yeah.
[V.O.] Celsius had
a coin called Cell.
Its price had exploded, growing by a
factor of 10 in less than a year.
If Bitfinext was right,
then once the insiders
took their money off the table,
a crash was inevitable.
- Crypto obviously right
now getting crushed.
- Tonight, a massive
sell-off of cryptocurrency.
The price of Bitcoin plunging to
its lowest level in 16 months.
The numbers sending
some investors spiraling,
fearing they could lose it all.
[V.O.] The market's collapse
was shockingly swift.
And rumors were circulating
about Celsius going under.
- You don't need
to find something better
because there isn't anything better.
We allow people to
withdraw hundreds of
millions of dollars every week.
Anyone who wants to
withdraw has no problem.
- So breaking news, the
cryptocurrency platform Celsius,
they are stopping withdrawals.
- CEO Alex Mashinsky now
saying in a statement,
this is the right decision for
our community and company.
This whole idea of banks are evil and
then becoming a worse bank
is kind of the headline
story with Celsius.
[V.O.] And the price pumping tricks
that Bitfinex laid out were spot on.
- You're saying
that management was manipulating
the price of the Celsius token.
- They were absolutely trading the
token to manipulate the price.
[V.O.] As more details emerged,
it was clear that Celsius
was never profitable.
It merely took money from the new
customers to pay the old ones.
Maszynski and his crew
reportedly withdrew millions
before filing for bankruptcy.
To make matters worse,
Maszynski's wife started
selling a new take
on the classic Celsius t-shirt.
It read, Unbankrupt Yourself.
The people who
were scammed were pissed.
I set up a few Zoom calls.
Uh. How are you?
- Can you hear me?
- You cut out.
- I cut out. Just--
- I can hear you.
We're out in the desert.
Would you mind tilting
your camera up just a little bit.
I'm having trouble seeing your face.
Ah, I can hear you.
Here we go. I think it was connected
to my X-Box for some reason.
Did you say you were in Texas?
Yeah, yeah. I'm in Fort Worth.
Oh, cool. I grew up in Austin.
Yeah, I love Austin, man.
I like your shirt. What does it say?
In Crypto...
Oh. In Crypto We Trust.
Nice. In Crypto We Trust.
Yeah, just not
so much Alex Mashinsky.
What initially attracted you to it?
You said your friends...
were investing in Celsius
or encouraging you to invest.
Do you remember
why you first invested?
I mean the idea wasn't just to
like get rich and get big.
I think I just wanted to have
good investments for my future
and be able to build.
- So I was just trying to get
myself set up for retirement.
- I saw Celsius as an opportunity
to make a lot of interest.
- Maybe even find a way to where
I'm not having to work
as many hours a week or something
just so I could spend more
time with my daughter.
- My M.O. is I just want
to do something that's simple
and this seems like
an easy way to sort of like
have, you know, get passive income.
- I thought that I was going
to get to a point
where I would be able
to live off the interest, you know,
and none of it was
ever even there.
Do you remember when you
heard Celsius collapse?
I was crying, my wife was upset,
my kid was too young to know
what's going on, but we lost
a lot of money that day.
- The amount that he hosed
everybody is just, sheesh.
Yeah, but whenever
all of that had happened,
nobody knew what was going on.
And the way that Celsius
was being painted to us was that,
you know, it was safer than a bank.
- How could this possibly be an
obvious scam, given that, you know,
there's all these people behind it?
- I thought there was
no risk with Celcius,
because they said they
were keeping our funds safe.
- You know, we're U.S.-approved,
we're SEC-whatever-approved.
- Trust us. We, you know,
have risk mitigation in place.
Everything is fine.
- It gave the impression of security.
- I just never crossed paths
with such a criminal, you know.
Just a criminal. Through and through.
- I will take the hit. If I ever meet
that dude I will pull my pants down.
With Alex, the difference between
what he was saying
and what he was actually doing
is just is vast.
It was Bernie Madoff level,
you know, fraud.
- When you meet him in person,
he just gave off
Carnival Barker vibes to me.
- I wonder if you were
able to see a side of him in person
that I wasn't seeing on the videos.
- Given that Mashinsky was
running this fraud,
do you think that the Celsius
community was a real thing?
- No. No, never.
- For me personally, Celsius
doesn't really have a community.
It's just got a
very long list of victims.
I have a question for you.
Have you seen the creditor list?
Not in any great detail. Why?
Let me see if I can
share my screen for this.
So, this is the list of people
that are owed money by Celsius.
And if you just, I don't know,
go into A, for example,
- It just goes on and on and on.
- Oh my god.
- I'm on page 588,
so I think the 1,388 pages
are just the people
with names starting with A.
The number of people who put money
into Celsius is astronomical.
It's huge.
- One question we're
asking everyone is,
how did losing the money
affect you, if at all?
I mean, it seems silly,
but I was more focused
on just like the embarrassment
then the actual
financial implications.
Yeah, I just kind of
remember thinking,
well, this is going to push
my retirement back a few years.
- It was mostly, mostly just a
shot at freedom, you know,
a shot at a little bit more claiming
of my time back and that
time I can't get
with my daughter back.
I just had so many plans, you know.
- I'm sorry.
- I feel like I let it down big time.
- Yeah.
I'm sorry, man.
- Nah. No. It's okay.
- I'm totally at peace with it,
you know.
- It just sucks that that one thing
had to kick my plan in the shin.
- Yeah, yeah.
Life has a way of doing that,
doesn't it, sometimes?
- Yeah.
[V.O.] The false story
of Celsius was predicated
on a fundamental truth
that our system is flawed.
But Celsius didn't
offer a better solution,
merely a way to tap
into people's anger
and funnel their money
into a Ponzi scheme.
Our current financial
system is far from perfect,
but at the very least
it's built on centuries of trust,
because the economy is
something we all contribute to.
So in the end,
for our economy to work,
we are essentially
trusting ourselves,
and each other.
- Lying for Money:
How Legendary Frauds
Reveal the Workings of the World.
Written and read by me, Dan Davis.
From the beginnings
of modern capitalism,
there have been people engaged in the
business of stealing by lying.
Seeing the forest for the trees
is a difficult thing to do,
because there will always be trust,
and therefore,
there will always be scams.
[V.O.] After Celsius blew up, dozens
of other companies also went down.
It was dubbed the Crypto Winter.
The industry appeared on the
verge of collapse.
Only one man could save it.
- The crypto world is now
going to get a bailout,
and it's coming
from one of their own.
- Sam Bankman-Fried
is really becoming
the industry's lifeline
during a crisis lately.
- The CEO of FTX is behind
hundreds of millions of dollars
in emergency loans.
[V.O.] He was everywhere.
- Joining me now
is Sam Bankman-Fried.
- He's the 29-year-old gazillionaire,
FTX founder and CEO, Sam--
- Bankman-Fried, amassing
an astonishing $22.5 billion fortune.
- I mean, it is, to me, amazing
that, like, three years ago,
nobody knew who you were,
and now your business is, like,
one of the fastest-growing businesses
in the history of the planet.
[V.O.] Sam was
the unlikeliest of billionaires.
Tussled hair, T-shirt,
and cargo shorts.
He made his billions trading crypto.
But Sam's motivation was a complete
180 from someone like Mashinsky.
Sam was a proponent
of a philosophical craze
sweeping through Silicon Valley
called Effective Altruism.
Conceptually EA is straightforward.
If you want to do the
most good for the most people,
you should strive to make
the most money possible
in order to give it all away.
- I wanted to get rich not
because I like money,
but because I wanted
to give that money to charity.
[V.O.] And Sam saw crypto
as the vehicle to make that happen.
So keeping the industry
afloat was key.
- A high-profile crypto failure
would be devastating,
could also spark retail investors to
leave the industry altogether,
which FTX really relies on.
[V.O.] FDX was Sam's crypto exchange,
where you could buy
all sorts of cryptocurrencies.
- When we think about,
you know, where crypto is today,
it still is touching
a pretty small fraction of the world.
And so I think a lot of what
we've been thinking is like,
what are ways that we can take what
we see as an exciting, growing
set of products and industry,
and sort of introduce them to
tens of millions of people.
[V.O.] He did this by using
his ballooning wealth
to pay for sponsorships and
celebrity endorsements.
- FTX is the safest and easiest
way to buy and sell crypto.
- It's the best way
to get in the game.
- With FTX, I have everything I need
to buy, sell,
and trade crypto safely.
[V.O.] He even signed deals
with paid spokespeople
in the financial industry,
like Kevin O'Leary, who had
been a fellow crypto critic.
- I'm not going to take real
money and put it into this thing.
It's never going to happen.
It's such a scam.
[V.O.] This was before he signed
a $10 million deal with FTX.
- I am a paid spokesperson for FTX.
I did a lot of due diligence
before I accepted that position.
[V.O.] Sam wanted to make
crypto easier, friendlier, and safer.
And he knew that in order to do
that, you need to build trust.
- Mr. Bankman-Fried,
you are now recognized
for five minutes
to present your oral testimony.
- Thank you, Chair Waters,
Ranking Member McHenry.
It's an honor to be here.
I think that the
industry has the potential
to improve a lot of people's lives.
And I think it is important
and I think that it's healthy
that the industry will be regulated.
- Crypto executives poured
more than $30 million
into political campaigns
since the 2020 election cycle.
- There is a new
and exciting industry
in the United States
of cryptocurrency,
whether Bitcoin or otherwise.
- I buy Bitcoin and I hold Bitcoin.
- You buy Bitcoin?
- Oh yeah.
- You have Bitcoin?
- I do.
[V.O.] Sam was playing
the Washington game to perfection
and buying the trust he needed
to take crypto even
further into the mainstream.
- What does this
technology FTX uses
to protect from fraud
and manipulation look like?
- We have surveillance for
unusual trading activity.
We have manual inspections of
anything that you know gets flagged
either by the automated surveillance
or by manual inspection.
- Sounds like you're doing a lot to,
uh, make sure there is no fraud
or other manipulation.
I thank you,
Mr. Bankman-Fried.
[V.O.] I had to talk to him.
So I did the only thing
I knew how to do.
I DM'd him on Twitter.
It was a long shot.
Look at this.
Finally freeing up a bit.
Had a crazy week.
Just got back
from testifying in D.C.
I'm at FTX .com if you
want to reach out there.
agreed.
It's Limoncello.
What is Limoncello, actually?
It's like the, you know,
the Italian liqueur.
There's alcohol in it.
But they flavored it that way.
I don't know.
It's actually kind of interesting.
- Don't mind it.
- Yeah, okay.
It was the only one
I had at the house.
- I was like, mm, we'll try it.
- No, it works.
All right, you guys ready?
- You're good.
- All right.
Sam Bankman-Fried.
Thank you for taking the
time to speak with me.
Of course.
So, I had a conversation
with Alex Mashinsky.
From Celsius.
- Yeah.
- Yep.
I asked him how much
real money is in crypto and he said
and he said 10% to 15%.
He said the rest is speculation.
Thanks. So as of today
I think the number
of dollars in crypto have not changed
massively between then and now.
One when
perhaps they've lessened.
They certainly have not increased.
I don't think they've decreased
massively though which
I think lines up with
some of your thought that
like a lot of this was
leveraged leaving the system.
Well, part of the problem
if they haven't left is
that people can't
get their money out.
Imagine this is a regulated bank.
- Oh, yeah.
- This would be a big problem.
- That would be a big problem.
This does not seem
like the decentralized,
democratized future of
money that we were promised.
I think we've seen
all the major carnage
in the crypto industry already.
I think that things are on a
bit of a recovery path from here.
But to be honest, Sam,
it doesn't feel like it's creating
a lot of good for people.
It feels like it's a net negative.
- Yeah, I think I disagree--
- Why?
- but I understand
where you're coming from.
I think the bigger piece of this,
and probably the thing that is
ultimately driving your belief,
is around ultimate use case.
Give me one use case.
Give me one company that's
providing a good
or a service utility.
First of all, it's just payments.
And I know this is a thing
that gets talked about a lot,
but I do think that there is real
potential there to
make payments a lot cleaner.
Remittances are, you know,
really, really expensive.
Well, I just want to, sorry,
I just want to be really quick,
because we went to El Salvador.
- Yep.
- It's not being used.
It's less than 2%.
- Yep.
- So how does that work as
payments or as remittances?
It's not working.
I agree it's not working today.
I think it could get
there in the next five years.
Inshallah.
But, you know, I think
it's not there today.
I think there are real
reasons it's not there today.
But people are buying it
as an investment.
They think it's going
to make them money.
Isn't that what you're seeing?
I mean, you run a big exchange.
You have a big trading firm.
Isn't that what people are doing?
Are they doing it to pay for things,
or are they using it to gamble?
The majority of people today are
not using it as a payment field.
The majority of people today are
using it just as a financial asset.
But my belief is that over
the next five to 10 years,
we are going to see
blockchain grow in a few different
use cases and start
to provide more and more
actual utility to people.
If I didn't think that was true,
that would significantly
change my belief
about the crypto ecosystem overall.
Your belief system
seems to be driven somewhat
by the fact that you've
made so much money.
You want to do the most
good for the most people.
But when I look
at the crypto industry,
it feels like it's driven by getting
retail customers, regular people,
into the crypto casinos to gamble.
Some of them make money.
Most of them don't.
What do you say to the
people that have lost money?
Millions of people
have lost money now.
Some of them can't'
access their money.
Like, what do you say
to those people?
So, I mean, that was really bad.
I'm, you know, like, it sucks.
Maybe one question you can ask is,
is the system set up today such that
the regular person can
get enough information
and transparency and comfort?
And I think that, like, the
answer is basically no.
There needs to be more oversight.
There needs to be more transparency.
Speaking of regulation,
I think something like $30 million
has been spent over the last
six months or a year
towards influencing regulators
and politicians.
I think that this is a very dangerous
thing that we're playing with here.
So most of what I'm doing for crypto
regulation is not contributions.
It's going and talking
to people in D.C.
and having meetings,
trying to explain as much as I can,
trying to point out the parts
that I think most need oversight.
When you look at the
contributions that I've made,
most of those have to do
with pandemic preparedness.
Totally unrelated to my day job.
How much money have you
donated to things like that?
I want to say ballpark, um,
50 to a 100 million.
Wow.
- 50 to a 100 million to pandemic.
- Yeah, that's right.
- How much have
you donated to politicians?
So, I...
I...
um...
I don't remember,
I can get back to you on that,
I don't remember the latest
figure off the top of my head.
I'll just give you like
a round number.
Ballpark.
I think...
um...
I think that... you know,
in the tens of millions is--
is where total political
contributions have been so far.
- Sam, you really need to.
- Okay, got it, yeah.
- Thanks for taking the time.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate it. Can we do a picture?
- Is that possible?
- Yeah, let me just check where...
- Oh, sure, sure, sure.
- Yes, but I have to do it quickly.
No, no, that's fine.
We don't need to do anything.
Let's see, where is it?
Yep.
Ah, there you go.
Alright, um...
Awesome, thank you, sorry.
- The nature of fraud is
that it's a magic trick.
It's the creation of facades
that look utterly convincing,
but only when viewed
from the right angle.
The fraudster needs to know where the
audience is going to be looking
to make sure the nefarious action is
taking place somewhere else.
You wrote a book on fraud.
Yeah.
- I'm not crazy, am I?
- Let me put it this way.
If you were going to set up
something entirely fake as a scam,
what would you do different?
- Right.
- There's only a few ways
to do a fraud.
You can borrow money or
take cash on the promise
of delivering something in the
future and not deliver it.
- Ponzi scheme.
- Exactly.
And you can bring people into
something that looks like
a normal web of trust but, in fact,
is completely controlled by you.
One of the things that is so
fascinating to me about crypto
is that... the real con is just
getting them to give you the
real money in the first place.
Once they give you the real money,
then the computer screens
can say whatever the computer
screen wants to say.
Absolutely. You know,
when you've got, like,
$100 in your bank account at
JP Morgan or wherever,
that's just a number.
But those are magic numbers
that have a particular system
that we've all grown up with
since the 18th century.
But these crypto guys have
come up with their own magic numbers.
And you still need to have
that trust that at some point,
someone's going to exchange your
imaginary money for dollar bills.
And they say trust the code, but
code doesn't fall from the sky.
- People write code.
- Exactly.
Fraud is a weird crime in
that it has a time dimension.
There is a period
of time during which
the thief knows that
he's stolen the money,
but the victim doesn't
know that he's lost it.
Is there something about...
fraudsters that makes
them different from other criminals?
Yeah.
They've got something
psychologically in them,
which the criminologists
call a rationalization.
They don't see themselves as
deviant members of society.
And so that means that they have to
come up with a story
that they can tell themselves,
which reconciles what they're doing
with their self-image as a
normal member of society.
I do love my country and my people,
and I want them
to thrive and to succeed.
- We put the community first, right?
So we do everything for our
community, and they know it.
In the end, my goal is to do as
much good as I can for the world.
The biggest lie is the
lie you tell yourself.
Absolutely.
Well, as an actor,
I can relate to that.
But I mean, all of crypto
can't be a scam, right?
I don't like that what counts.
[V.O.] I'd listened to the false
stories of crypto for long enough.
It was time for me to speak up.
So I embarked upon
a campaign of my own.
- Hey, Ben. Good morning.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We have about 2 minutes
until we're live.
- Ok, great.
- We hear you loud and clear,
so we should be all set.
- Great.
- Thank you.
Hey guys, guys can you
keep it down, please?
Thank you.
Sure, that's my favorite question.
It's very simple.
They were paid in real money
to convince you
to take your real money
and turn it into something else.
[V.O.] I hit every outlet
that would have me.
What troubled me about crypto
and the reason I felt like
I had to speak out was
- it's exploited an
understandable mistrust
or lack of trust with
our regulated system.
The winners are
far fewer than the losers.
It's being sold to
the average American
as the way to make money, but--
you know, what's really
going on here?
How much of this is real,
and how much of this
has been artificially inflated?
[V.O.] The crypto trolls
were big mad.
- He's becoming this new advocate
against crypto and I'm like,
what is going on with this guy?
- First red flag was
actually the word currency.
Ben McKenzie.
If you guys don't know
who Ben McKenzie is,
he's now a financial guru.
Just kidding.
- One of the most important
things for people
to understand about cryptocurrency
is that most of the volume
that you see on
the exchanges is fake.
It doesn't exist.
- Just say you don't understand
crypto and move on.
- Is it possible that your
hostility to crypto
- If you say I haven't
done enough research,
my response to you is f you.
I've interviewed the head of
your entire industry.
- Did you see how upset he got?
- Who am I supposed to believe?
The CEO of the largest asset
manager on planet Earth?
Or this actor that plays a cop on TV?
- But it really
is only useful for gambling
and for criminal activity.
- Well, this is what I gotta
say about Ben McKenzie.
Ben McKenzie, put your
money where your mouth is.
- Ben gets no raisins.
None. Not raisin worthy.
- And a lot of shady dudes end up
making most of the money.
- It seems like someone is just hurt.
And I feel bad for Ben McKenzie,
because he's saying
all of these things.
And then people are
gonna look back and say,
why did Ben McKenzie
lead me in the wrong direction?
What are you doing?
I thought you were coming to bed.
Yeah, I am
- Can you let yourself out?
- Yeah, sure
Dude, dude. Come here.
Come here, come on.
Wait, what are we, I
need to mic you up man.
- But I-- You know what?
I've been reporting for 35 years
and even though
Henry Silverman said--
- Oh.
- Bro.
- Holy sh*t.
- The exchange FTX filed for
bankruptcy protection today.
- has fallen crypto king, Sam
Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO.
- This is not a good investment.
My account has a zero in it and
there are no accounting records.
Where did the money go?
[V.O.] At 4:30 a.m. on November 11th,
under pressure from lawyers,
creditors, and colleagues,
Sam signed over control of FTX.
Millions of investors were left
searching for answers.
- Let's go with the opposite.
Let's talk about all the people
who really were drawn
to this as moths to flame.
[V.O.] Despite the collapse,
the crypto community was quick
to turn the blame
back on the victims.
- If you are still keeping
your crypto on an exchange
and you're not trading it,
you're doing something wrong.
- It's a dumb idea.
You don't do that.
It's stupid. You bring it home
where it's safe.
[V.O.] And no matter what
happened at the market,
the booster's belief in
crypto would remain unscathed.
- Just like the collapse of
Lehman Brothers or Enron
didn't stop the stock markets,
FTX will not stop crypto.
- Cryptocurrency, the blockchain,
it's all still here.
Let me just remind you,
it's all still here.
It's not going anywhere.
Not at all.
Please make sure
to like, subscribe, share this...
[V.O.] But no matter how hard
boosters push the story of crypto,
they can't make that story true.
Because it isn't.
The collapse of FTX
was a clear warning sign
that mixing crypto with
our regulated financial system
could only end terribly.
It only takes one big bank to
fall for the others to follow suit.
It nearly happened
with the subprime crisis,
and it could easily happen again.
When trust breaks, everything
can fall apart shockingly fast.
And crypto, which has never
proven itself trustworthy,
has the ability to
wreak havoc on us all.
- Raina?
- Yeah?
Wolf?
- I'm upstairs.
Yeah?
Hey.
Look.
Wait, what is this?
Oh my god. Wow.
Wait, how did this happen?
You know.
Wow.
Frankie, come check this out.
Hey, look.
Look, see what that says?
Dear Mr. Shankin,
I invite you to appear
before the commentee?
Committee?
Committee on Baking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
I get to testify at a hearing.
I get to go to
the United States Senate.
Do you know what the United States?
- What's that?
- It's like the government,
where the government is.
And I get to talk to
the people in charge
and tell them to fix this mess.
What's going to happen here?
What are you going to do about this?
Which way, America?
- Ooh, sorry.
- Which way, America?
- Daddy, what's up?
- Which way, America?
- How do I look?
- Better?
- Did you say no?
- Yes, I did.
Ow!
- What? Oh. That was not nice.
That was not nice.
Which way America is going to go.
There is many a road to travel
many a hill to climb
I'm going to find
the straightest road
and walk it to the end of time!
Which way, America?
Which way, America?
Which way, America?
Which was to go?
This is my country land
I want to know
which way America
is going to go.
You f*cking kidding me?
The Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs will come to order.
Thank you for the
witnesses joining us today.
In this story, Bankman-Fried
was the shiny object.
Now he's the villain, possibly worse.
But this story is bigger
than one person or one firm,
and that's the point of this hearing.
In our discussion of FTX today,
I hope we're able to separate the
likely ill*gal actions
from perfectly lawful and
innovative cryptocurrencies.
There is the risk
of investing in crypto,
and then there's also the risk
of not investing in it,
and letting others accrue
it's benefits first.
So, we need to get to the bottom
of what happened to FTX,
but we can't let is collapse
cause us to abandon
the great promise
and potential
of crypto.
[V.O.] I was up against
the usual talking points.
But this wasn't YouTube.
It was Congress,
and that pissed me off.
- Chairman Brown, Ranking Member
Toomey, members of the committee.
The demise of FTX and Alameda
represent the most spectacular
corporate downfall
since Bernie Madoff's
Ponzi scheme imploded
in the wake of
the great financial crisis.
It has captured
the nation's attention.
FTX owe enormous sums to
supposedly sophisticated investors.
They also owe a lot of
money to regular people.
I believe they, and the estimated
40 million other Americans,
who have invested in cryptocurrency
have been lied to
by a once seemingly
mighty crypto industry
whose entire existence,
in fact, depends
on misinformation, hype,
and yes, fraud.
In my opinion,
the cryptocurrency industry
represents the largest
Ponzi scheme in history.
The fact that it has roped in
tens of millions of Americans
from all walks of life,
as well as hundreds
of millions of people
worldwide should be
of concern to us all.
Thank you for your time.
I look forward to your question.
Thank you.
And is it Mr. Schenkkan,
McKenzie Schenkkan?
Yes, sir. You can also call me
Ryan Atwood from The O.C.
All right. All right.
Well, in that case, listen,
what is this backed
by, if I could ask you?
What is this backed by
at the end of the day?
Nothing.
It's a story.
The story has understandable appeal.
I think if crypto
serves any function,
it's to highlight the myriad
failures of our regulated system
and our American economic system,
to provide people with a fair
shot at the American dream.
That does not make the story true,
however, the story of cryptocurrency.
What it does is lend
it enormous power,
and these stories
spread like viruses.
People get very excited,
these bubbles build up very big,
but then they collapse very swiftly,
and I think that's what
we're seeing now today.
[V.O.] I'd said my piece, but it was
too late to convince some.
They were in too deep.
- Uh, digital assets
are not on trial.
Fraud...
and organizations...
are on trial.
- I want to ask the rest of you,
if we don't ban it,
how do we regulate it,
isolate it from the banking system,
and then define it as a security?
Does anybody disagree with
that or have any other ideas
about how it would be regulated?
Mr. O 'Leary.
- The concept of passing legislation
that would ban banks from
integrating cryptocurrencies
and crypto technology would make it
the most uncompetitive financial
services sector in the world.
- So, let me just stop you there.
I only have so much time.
So, you do not agree with isolating
it from the banking system?
- I-- That's insanity.
- If we allow cryptocurrency
to infect our banking system,
we will be back here.
- Thank you.
- We will be back here,
not in a good way.
[V.O.] On the morning of March 12th,
as depositors raced
to withdraw their money,
Signature Bank was shut down by the
government before it could implode.
It was the third bank to go
bust in just five days.
Want to guess what all
three had in common?
- In the course of five days,
three banks have
failed in the United States
and those lenders were
critical counterparties
for a huge part of the crypto
industry in the country.
[V.O.] Panic set in,
as no one knew just how
many more banks might fall.
In the end, the government,
that super untrustworthy
establishment that crypto
was supposedly rebelling against,
saved the day.
We, the American taxpayers,
bailed them out,
and customers were guaranteed
all of their money back.
You're welcome, by the way.
- The jury has been selected in
Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial,
and we do expect
opening statements to start...
[V.O.] As for Sam, he was
charged with wire fraud,
securities fraud, commodities fraud,
and good old-fashioned
money laundering.
Oh, and the reason he was
hazy on his political donations.
- I... I...
Um...
[V.O.] They were ill*gal.
- Regulators are now asking political
campaigns to return the money.
They say that Bankman-Fried
tried to buy bipartisan influence
and impact the direction of
public policy in Washington.
[V.O.] After a month-long trial,
it took a jury of his peers
only four hours to find
him guilty on all charges.
- Do you have anything to
say to your investors?
- Do you have anything to say?
[V.O.] Sam was sentenced
to 25 years in prison.
How was he able
to pull off his swindle?
Within the source code of FTX,
there were two lines that prevented
users from overdrawing
their accounts,
but Sam instructed one of his
employees to add a single line
allowing him to borrow,
aka steal,
as much money as
he wanted from his customers.
It turns out you can't trust code,
only the people who write it.
- A lot of people look at
you and see Bernie Madoff.
- Yeah.
I mean, I don't think
that's who I am at all,
but I understand
why they're saying that.
People lost money.
[V.O.] In the end,
Sam believed in the power
of his own story so much,
he was willing to risk it all.
In the midst of this journey,
and with the help of
my friend Jacob Silverman,
I wrote a book about
everything I had learned.
And now with the tides turned,
people wanted to hear what a
crypto skeptic had to say.
- You might recognize Ben McKenzie
as Ryan Atwood from The O.C.,
but lately he's taken on a new role.
- He's been a vocal critic of the
cryptocurrency industry,
and his scrutiny has led him to
challenge its flaws and shortcomings.
- He's now co-author of the
new book entitled Easy Money.
- Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism,
and The Golden Age of Fraud.
- How did that guy from the O.C.
end up writing a book about crypto?
- Well, like most Americans,
I stumbled onto crypto
through a friend of mine.
- The problem was this buddy
who's been an old, old friend,
he gave me the worst
financial advice of my life.
- When I was in my 20s, he...
- And you remember it.
- Yeah, I remembered it.
And I love him.
Dave, if you're out there,
sorry to out you on CBS News, but...
- um, he said, you know,
you should buy Bitcoin...
- The story is so effective, because
we all agree on the premise
that our current financial
system is deeply flawed.
And so that lends the story of
cryptocurrency a lot of power,
but it doesn't make the story
of cryptocurrency true.
[V.O.] Some people got the message.
- How many of you have seen this
commercial starring Matt Damon?
Matt is not the only celebrity
promoting cryptocurrency.
[V.O.] Some just didn't.
- You say you did a deep dive,
and it only took me about 20 pages
of the Bitcoin standard to understand
how the un-bank
could benefit from this.
You think all these firms will
have egg on their face?
- The advertised,
decentralized future of money
is brought to you by Blackrock?
- I don't know. Bla-- Maybe.
They may...
I mean, if they think it's, uh, gold,
if they think--
You think it's going to zero?
- If... I can't predict the future
anymore than anyone else.
- So, if you're an American
sitting at home,
and you own cryptocurrency,
and there are millions
of those Americans,
maybe those viewers right now,
what's you advice to them?
- I am not here to
offer financial advice.
I am not a licensed
financial advisor.
Many of my celebrity... colleagues,
have effectively offered
financial advice...
- They said buy.
You're saying the opposite.
- They said buy.
I'm the celebrity who said,
be careful.
- Alright, be careful.
Ben McKenzie, thank you so much...
[V.O.] I stumbled down
this crypto rabbit hole
not sure of who I was,
or what I was doing.
But in playing the role of myself,
an undercover econ dork,
I not only found my footing,
but uncovered what I believe
to be the central
truth of cryptocurrency.
It's just a story.
Or rather, millions of different
stories spun by those invested in it.
In the end,
crypto is only a projection
of the hopes
and dreams of those investors.
- You still believe
in crypto overall?
- Uh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
I'm fully invested in crypto now.
- Yeah, I do believe in it still.
I still hold a lot of Bitcoin.
- Obviously, I'm not
a fan of Celsius.
I think that was a ripoff.
But I still love Bitcoin.
- Immediately, whenever it happened,
I mean, I wasn't trying to
look at crypto or anything like that,
but I'm still in the game.
- That's fascinating to me.
You know, like, I get it.
I can understand it.
Even if I don't agree with it.
[V.O.] And as long as people
are buying the story,
the crypto industry
will keep selling it,
changing the narrative to
fit the needs of the faithful.
The government bought Wilfredo's land
for a fraction of what it was worth.
He was forced to uproot his
family and build a new house nearby.
- I love the high ceilings,
it's nice.
[V.O.] The only way he could
afford to do that
was with the financial support
of his friends and family.
In the end, Wilfredo's
community saved him.
And despite Wilfredo
and his neighbors
being kicked off their land,
there are still no
signs of Bitcoin City.
Well, other than Corbin, that is.
- ...put it all the ways down, and
then when it dropped down to 5 grand,
I scooped up as much
as I could then.
and then it kind of
came back up and then...
[V.O.] However, the idea of
Bitcoin continued to spread,
albeit in an unexpected way.
[V.O.] My First Bitcoin
is a nationwide effort
to educate the impressionable
youth of El Salvador
on the magical ways of Bitcoin.
With over 35,000
graduates and counting,
an entire generation is
being turned on to crypto.
Forcibly.
And Bitcoin tourists
from all over the world
could come to watch kids
who aren't theirs graduate.
- [Spanish] You are the example
that the world is watching.
[Spanish You really can decide
what kind of future lies ahead.
[Spanish] What kind of example are
you going to set for the world?
[V.O.] Not weird at all.
So, was it worth it?
I feel like I was... as right
as I hoped I would be or more
and yet I had less of an effect.
What do you mean?
Sort of felt it would
be like a movie and
it would just disappear, but...
- Right.
- it's not a movie, you know?
It's not beautiful and perfect.
Like, people are still going to
believe in crypto no matter what.
Right? Like, it doesn't
matter what I say.
It doesn't matter what
anyone says, really.
I'm kind of tired of being me.
I'm ready to go back to
pretending to be somebody else.
Let's be honest.
I am not as interesting
as the people that I play.
I mean, I wasn't going to say it.
Who should I pretend to be next?
Doctor, cop, lawyer, right?
Yeah.
I'm going to just...
become a fake cop again.
- That's good.
- Get back to some honest work.
That's what I married.
Very few people would have
put up with what you put up with.
So, go ahead, now that you've
been listening for two years,
what is cryptocurrency, Maria?
- Oh God, please.
Should've just impaled
myself on this tiny, tiny knob.
Well, we've got two night scenes.
Do you want them done
tonight or tomorrow?
What are the night scenes?
One is, uh, it's my low point.
I'm down in a rabbit hole.
I'm in the kitchen,
looking at videos...
Thanks for your letter,
please send a clone over
I'll use him for garden work
and harmonies
Speaking of pretty
new documentaries
Have you seen the one about
the Rajneeshpuram Society?
Everyone seemed to think they were
lunatics, but I sort of thought,
Hey I get this inside
this rational brain of mine
I long to be contradicted,
I wait for a sign
Doesn't matter what cult, what sign
Just give me any cult you sign
- Have a good time
with your Bitcoin and...
your crypto and everything
else that you're playing with.
...bandages
Though I'm guessing
may you are an athiest
You'd get a reason,
you'd get a goal
You'd know how to dress,
and how to cleanse your soul
I'd be up for that, I'd be totally
up for cleansing my soul
Would I have to split
from my family?
They wouldn't know
what got into me.
I'd change my name
into something cool.
The world's spring grass
and the leader would use me
as a songwriter too, I'd spread
her message to the world,
Send in the choir.
Send in the choir.
Send in the choir.
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Everyone Is Lying to You for Money (2025)
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