Easy Money
Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES 2023 BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR
"A smart, savvy road map through the mayhem of the cryptocurrency madness."
--RON CHERNOW, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Alexander Hamilton
From "one of the crypto industry's unlikely but most prominent critics" (Washington Post), an entertaining and well-researched account of the rise and fall of cryptocurrency.
At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie was the perfect mark for cryptocurrency: a dad stuck at home with some cash in his pocket, worried about his family, armed with only the vague notion that people were making heaps of money on something he--despite a degree in economics--didn't entirely understand. Lured in by grandiose, utopian promises, and sure, a little bit of FOMO, McKenzie dove deep into blockchain, Bitcoin, and the various other coins and exchanges on which they are traded. But after scratching the surface, he had to ask, "Am I crazy, or is this all a total scam?"
In Easy Money, McKenzie enlists the help of journalist Jacob Silverman for an investigative adventure into crypto and its remarkable crash. Weaving together stories of average traders and victims, colorful crypto "visionaries," Hollywood's biggest true believers, anti-crypto whistleblowers, and government operatives, Easy Money is an on-the-ground look at a perfect storm of irresponsibility and criminal fraud. Based on original reporting across the country and abroad, including interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried, Tether cofounder Brock Pierce, Celsius's Alex Mashinsky, and more, this is the book on cryptocurrency you've been waiting for.
About this Author
Ben McKenzie has been a fixture on TV for more than two decades, first capturing audiences in the pop culture phenomenon The O.C. Recently, he played the lead role on Fox's hit series Gotham, for which he also directed and wrote episodes. In 2020, he starred in Grand Horizons, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best New Play. McKenzie graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in economics and foreign affairs.
Jacob Silverman is a journalist in New York who writes about tech, crypto, and politics. He is the author of Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, the Washington Post, and many other publications.
Reviews
"Easy Money is a smart, fast-paced, and timely exposé of corporate greed, fraud, and incompetence masquerading as genius. Simultaneously illuminating and infuriating, authors McKenzie and Silverman's page-turning book goes on a global journey to explain how crypto is the latest Ponzi scheme orchestrated to seduce and defraud the masses while benefitting the very few."
"The perfect guide to the recent bitcoin hysteria.... gripping."
"One of the golden rules of finance is never invest in something you don't understand. This book shows what happens when you ignore it."
"Easy Money is the delightful story of how actor Ben McKenzie and journalist Jacob Silverman realized long before most of the rest of us that cryptocurrency was a scam, and set out to take it and all of its promoters down. One part travelogue and one part anatomy of a fraud, it's a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what the hell happened--and how human nature works when there's money to be made."
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