Ben McKenzie's Film Labels Crypto a Scam
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- Ben McKenzie released his debut documentary “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” which opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles.
- Crypto is described by McKenzie as a scam with only two real use cases—gambling and crime—and he cites tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Fart Coin, Trump Coin, Melania Coin, and CumRocket as “gambling devices.”
- Wash trading is explained by McKenzie as a manipulation technique where traders create the illusion of activity by buying and selling the same security, allowing insiders to inflate prices before selling to ordinary investors.
- University of Virginia awarded McKenzie a degree in economics before he pursued acting; he later co‑authored the 2023 book “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” with Jacob Silverman.
- Trump—who called crypto a scam in 2021—now backs crypto ventures, licensing his name to the $TRUMP meme coin and being tied to World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin and governance token, with Forbes reporting he has earned $1.2 billion from crypto.
- Bankman‑Fried was interviewed by McKenzie at the height of his wealth; months later, BF was convicted of securities fraud and money‑laundering and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Why it matters: The film spotlights how insider‑controlled crypto markets manipulate prices, warning everyday investors of likely losses while casting doubt on political figures profiting from the sector, thereby increasing pressure on regulators and the crypto industry to address fraud.
