Ben McKenzie, best known for his roles in popular television series like “The O.C.” and “Gotham,” is on a mission. His target? The complex world of cryptocurrency.
McKenzie’s foray into the world of crypto started during the early days of the pandemic. With TV production on hold and a lot of free time on his hands, he began reading about crypto out of curiosity. The more he learned, the more he grew suspicious. He saw similarities between the crypto craze and the economic bubbles of the past.
His background is in acting, not finance, although he does hold an economics degree. But in 2021, as crypto and NFTs had reached a fever pitch in the U.S. and across the globe, McKenzie saw an opportunity to leverage his fame and emerge as one of crypto’s most recognized critics.
Early Skepticism
A seasoned actor, he recognized the power of a compelling story. He concluded that crypto, much like a Hollywood blockbuster, was being sold on the strength of its narrative rather than its substance. McKenzie told CBS Mornings, “Crypto, at the end of the day, is just a story, or rather a collection of stories.” In McKenzie’s view, it was marketed as a way to build wealth and democratize finance, but he felt that these promises were empty.
McKenzie told The Guardian he reached somewhat of an epiphany while reading his daughter a bedtime story. The story was The Emperor’s New Clothes, and McKenzie said, “I’d forgotten that the tailor’s trick is to appeal to ego and status worship.” That is how McKenzie viewed crypto’s swift rise in 2021 and the aggressive advertising and marketing tactics fueling the surge.
McKenzie’s anti-crypto conviction led him to take a bold step. According to The Guardian, he essentially bet $250,000 that the crypto market would collapse. As it turned out, he was not necessarily wrong, but he miscalculated the timing, leading to a sizable loss he would have to explain to his wife.
“It was an expensive lesson. But it was a luxury that I had the money to speculate with. What makes me most angry is the selling of this junk to people who cannot afford to lose the real money they have, and the complicity of the people that did that,” said McKenzie.
Capitalizing On The Crypto Collapse
Armed with newfound knowledge and a sense of purpose, McKenzie started writing articles criticizing celebrities who endorsed crypto companies and warning the public about the risks of investing in digital currencies. His activism culminated in his testimony before the Senate banking committee in late 2022, a remarkable event in his unlikely career pivot.
“In my opinion, the cryptocurrency industry represents the largest Ponzi scheme in history. In fact, by the time the dust settles, crypto may well represent a fraud at least ten times bigger than Madoff. 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,” McKenzie testified.
He told CBS Mornings, “The reason that I used the word ‘Ponzie scheme’ in front of the Senate is that an investment scheme without value is a Ponzie scheme. I mean, that’s the definition, and Ponzie schemes are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
From there, his momentum prompted him to co-author a book titled “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” with journalist Jacob Silverman. The book is billed as a deep dive into the rise and fall of the cryptocurrency industry.
Kirkus Reviews calls the book “A well-reasoned, occasionally shrill critique of the crypto universe.” The review explains, “Writing with financial journalist Silverman, McKenzie charges that since crypto behaves like a security, and an unregulated one at that, its price ‘jumps up and down like a rabbit on amphetamines.’ Furthermore, the technology doesn’t scale well enough, it’s environmentally disastrous because it requires so much electricity to ‘mine,’ and it’s surrounded by ‘fraudsters’ and ‘con men.’”
While McKenzie’s crusade against crypto is far from over, his journey from Hollywood to the heart of the crypto world serves as a call to action for the crypto community to combat these negative narratives with honesty, transparency, and enhanced education around decentralized finance and crypto’s greater application to the world of finance.
“Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” is set to publish on July 18.
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