Ben McKenzie became widely recognized for his role as Ryan Atwood in the popular teen series The O.C., but he has recently shifted his focus to what he describes as “the largest Ponzi scheme in history”: cryptocurrency.
“Repeatedly, what you observe with crypto is that a select few insiders amass significant wealth, while the majority of regular investors suffer losses,” McKenzie stated, as he delves into the sector in his latest documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which had a limited theatrical release in April.
McKenzie’s curiosity about cryptocurrency was sparked when a friend proposed they invest together, although he was unable to clarify what it entailed or how it functioned. With a background in economics, McKenzie began to research the field and soon found himself intrigued by “the extent to which the entire concept is inflated.”
In 2022, he participated in a U.S. Senate committee hearing regarding cryptocurrency and co-authored the book, Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.
Although some individuals within the industry have claimed the documentary amplifies negative narratives surrounding cryptocurrency, McKenzie asserts that he is merely advocating for increased regulations to safeguard investors.
According to Ben McKenzie, men are attracted to the intriguing narrative of becoming fabulously wealthy through cryptocurrency, yet they are often less inclined to discuss their financial losses. The actor and director, most renowned for his role in The O.C., examines cryptocurrency in his latest documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money.
He engaged in conversation with The Current’s guest host Lyndsay Duncombe about the documentary and his concerns regarding the detrimental effects of cryptocurrency on men specifically.
[Your documentary] opens with a scene where you state you’re in Iraq to discuss the origins of money, then you ascend a hill and reveal that you’re actually in West Texas. How does this introduction serve the message you wish to convey?
Everyone is Lying to You for Money is the title of the film — and I too am lying to you for profit, as I admit right at the start. The significance of lying in the narrative of money itself is that money is a creation. It is what we refer to as a social construct. It requires collective belief in its functionality. For it to be effective, a sufficient number of people must have faith in it. Throughout history, money has taken various forms, from feathers to coins to paper bills, and now it exists as digital ones and zeros in bank accounts. Ultimately, money boils down to trust. When you accept a dollar bill from me, it’s not because you trust me personally, but because you trust that this bill can be used however you choose.
Cryptocurrency asserts that we can bypass this need for trust, that we don’t require human trust anymore. It allows corporations to create money — that’s the essence of cryptocurrency, privately issued currency. And you can place your trust in that. The reality is that you cannot. You are essentially shifting your trust from a public domain to a private one, which poses significant risks. Fundamentally, money equates to trust, and these individuals are deceiving you for that trust.
Some individuals are indeed profiting from cryptocurrency, correct?
Without a doubt. The recurring theme in cryptocurrency is that a small group of insiders gains substantial profits, while the majority of everyday investors face losses. This pattern repeats itself consistently.
A clear illustration of this is Trump coin, the meme cryptocurrency launched by the former president, where his family reportedly accrued $1.4 billion, while investors collectively lost over $3 billion.
Such occurrences are common because the privatized nature of cryptocurrency issuance leaves ample room for price manipulation, leading to many investors being defrauded.
According to a federal report, crypto ATMs are the primary means by which fraudsters are extracting money from Canadians. The CBC’s Angelina King and Farrah Merali explore this issue in the three-part series Feeding Fraud: The Crypto ATM Problem.
Despite this, some investors in various cryptocurrencies who suffered significant losses have spoken to you and expressed their continued investment. They still have faith in Bitcoin. How do you account for that?
Belief and faith can be perplexing. Human beings are not entirely rational. For many, particularly men — as crypto tends to attract a male demographic — the narrative is incredibly enticing, the notion that one could amass vast wealth with minimal effort. The idea that this currency could be owned privately, impervious to government confiscation, forms part of the allure.
This appeals to a wide range of individuals, especially men facing financial struggles or harboring ambitions of wealth. Cryptocurrency exploits these men, capitalizing on their propensity to gamble, which is essentially what investing in cryptocurrency is: gambling in an unregulated, unlicensed environment. Additionally, men are often socialized to suppress their emotions when they experience losses. You rarely hear men discussing their unsuccessful sports bets; they share only the wins. From an early age, they frequently learn to feel shame and refrain from discussing losses. This collective silence has adverse consequences.
In this documentary, however, some of those men did open up and share their experiences with you. Yet, when you asked them if they still believed in cryptocurrency, they affirmed their belief. Were you taken aback during those conversations?
I was indeed surprised. It seems that the greater their losses, the stronger their need to believe becomes. This reflects the sunk-cost fallacy: they’ve invested considerable time and resources into this venture, and it feels more painful to acknowledge their error and the losses incurred. Psychologically, it’s often easier to persist and keep hope alive. What strikes me as most tragic is not just the belief itself but the realization that these individuals feel compelled to gamble in this manner. It signals a societal failure to provide a quality of life that doesn’t necessitate such gambling behavior.
-
Analysis
How Trump and his family keep profiting from his presidency
-
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers
Ultimately, one of the key takeaways from cryptocurrency is its critique of the existing regulated financial system’s inadequacies for the average individual. Many of these criticisms hold true — the regulated market often favors insiders. However, cryptocurrency is not a better alternative; it is, in fact, a worse option. This concept can be challenging for investors to comprehend, yet it remains an undeniable truth.