{"id":439481,"date":"2026-04-17T06:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/439481\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T06:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:31:17","slug":"ben-mckenzie-on-his-crypto-documentary-and-trump-family-coin-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/439481\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben McKenzie On His Crypto Documentary And Trump Family Coin Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tActor-director Ben McKenzie<\/a> isn\u2019t afraid to make a bold statement. For instance, when we meet up at a hotel in Miami to discuss his debut documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money<\/a>, he\u2019s wearing a blue baseball cap stitched with the words \u201cMake Lying Wrong Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat clear reference to a certain occupant of the White House and his political movement is by no means McKenzie\u2019s most provocative statement on matters of urgent relevance. His new documentary, which opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, takes on another sacred cow (or sacred bull, if you prefer the language of Wall Street): reverence for cryptocurrency. In short, he views crypto as a scam.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCrypto really only has two use cases that I\u2019ve seen, which is gambling and crime,\u201d he tells me over a double espresso at the JW Marriott. \u201cThere are all these speculative cryptocurrencies that would include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the 20,000 other coins out there, like Fart Coin and Trump Coin, Melania Coin, CumRocket \u2014 my personal favorite. They\u2019re just gambling devices. You\u2019re betting the price is going to go up or down. You\u2019re probably going to lose because there\u2019s a lot of insider trading and self-dealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ben<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBen McKenzie (center) in \u2018Everyone Is Lying to You for Money\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Forge<\/p>\n

\n\tMcKenzie believes ordinary people don\u2019t have a realistic way to make money off crypto speculation because super-wealthy players manipulate coin values to their advantage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe insiders own the vast majority of these coins, sometimes billions of coins. The supplies for non-Bitcoin is unlimited; it\u2019s whatever they want to put in the [computer] code,\u201d McKenzie contends. He points to the shady practice of \u201cwash trading,\u201d which Nice Actimize defines as \u201ca form of market manipulation where a trader creates the illusion of trading activity by simultaneously buying and selling the same security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the crypto world, McKenzie asserts, wash trading works this way: \u201cYou can set up as many accounts as you like and the pseudonymity of the blockchain obscures who\u2019s buying what from whom. And so, you can basically just trade [back and forth with yourself]\u2026 and it looks like the price of the thing is going up, but it\u2019s like three card monte or something. You go to put your real money in and [wealthy coin holders] sell to you. And if they bid the price up enough, they\u2019re just waiting for there to be enough real money in the system to [cash out].\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ben<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBen McKenzie trolled for criticizing cryptocurrency, in a scene from \u2018Everyone Is Lying to You for Money\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Forge<\/p>\n

\n\tMcKenzie earned a degree in economics from the University of Virginia before he became an actor \u2013 starring in The O.C., Southland, and Gotham among other series and films. During the pandemic when acting opportunities were put on hold, he did a deep dive into crypto which resulted in a 2023 book he wrote with Jacob Silverman, Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a safe bet President Trump and his family haven\u2019t read his book, or if they did, they ignored it. In 2024, the president posted on social media, \u201cI promised to Make America Great Again, this time with crypto. #WorldLibertyFi is planning to help make America the crypto capital of the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Photo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPhoto illustration of the $Trump meme coin in Brussels, Belgium, on February 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJonathan Raa\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tWorld Liberty Financial issued a so-called \u201cstablecoin\u201d pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar, as well as a \u201cgovernance token\u201d (an Abu Dhabi royal bought a 49 percent stake in the firm for $500 million, per the Wall Street Journal). The president also licensed his name to the $TRUMP meme coin. Forbes magazine says Trump has made $1.2B off his crypto ventures to date.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did not predict that Trump was going to make this turn to crypto because he had previously called it a scam in 2021,\u201d McKenzie says. \u201cUntil he could figure out how to get his cut\u2026 He realized the amount of money he could make and, I think, maybe the power of using the crypto faithful to get them into his [political] coalition, to get the crypto lobby and industry to give him money \u2014 because they have so much money now, it\u2019s really staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDirector Ben McKenzie takes part in a discussion of \u2018Everyone Is Lying to You for Money\u2019 at the Miami Film Festival<\/a>, with filmmaker Billy Corben moderating.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew Carey<\/p>\n

\n\tThe director continues, \u201cIt\u2019s deeply fitting that a sort of fraudulent currency is now being foisted upon us, sold to us by a convicted fraudster president. And the industry, which was supposed to be a reaction to the excesses of the government and Big Brother and the state, now is benefiting wildly from the most powerful man in the government giving it his blessing and now must stay in his good graces in order to keep the thing going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLending credibility to McKenzie\u2019s crypto critique, he saw through Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> long before others did \u2014 including many members of Congress who were only too happy to accept donations from the founder of the crypto exchange FTX. McKenzie set up an interview with SBF at the height of his wealth and prestige and poked holes in the kingpin\u2019s arguments in favor of crypto.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sam<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSam Bankman-Fried (center) leaves the court in New York, on January 3, 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFatih Aktas\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was probably the strangest hour of my life,\u201d McKenzie says of his sit-down with Bankman-Fried in Manhattan. \u201cI prepared as extensively as I could by watching interviews with him, what he might say to any particular question and what might be my rebuttal, and can we get to a deeper truth beyond the talking points? Because he was really just repeating talking points over and over\u2026 Many members of the financial press were just taking it, just accepting whatever he was saying uncritically\u2026 It was doing a disservice to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t until well after McKenzie\u2019s encounter with SBF that the latter\u2019s crypto empire collapsed. Bankman-Fried was eventually charged with securities fraud, money laundering and other alleged crimes. He\u2019s serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Everyone<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Forge<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are many humorous moments in the film (including running jokes at McKenzie\u2019s expense about people constantly identifying him with The O.C. and nothing else from his acting career). Barbs are aimed at Matt Damon, Tom Brady, and Larry David for making pro-crypto TV commercials.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNever heard anything from any of these folks,\u201d McKenzie notes. \u201cThe point is not obviously to single any one individual out per se, but by the same token \u2014 no pun intended \u2014 If I\u2019m trying to fight this, essentially, public relations campaign up against a very massive foe, the multi-trillion dollar crypto industry \u2014 it\u2019s not that big, but that\u2019s what they claim it to be \u2014 sort of the best tool at my disposal is humor, is mocking them. It\u2019s incredibly powerful if done correctly, and certainly not just me alone. I mean, the Matt Damon South Park episode is really fantastic. If you haven\u2019t seen that or haven\u2019t seen it in a while, it\u2019s worth a rewatching. But I want to call them out, and none of it\u2019s personal. Personally, I felt like they should have apologized and given the money back or given it to the victims or whatever. That\u2019s what I would have liked to have seen done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ben<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBen McKenzie and Morena Baccarin attend the \u2018Deadpool & Wolverine\u2019 New York premiere on July 22, 2024.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tA throughline in the film is McKenzie\u2019s relationship with his wife, actress Morena Baccarin, and their young kids. She appears supportive of her husband\u2019s crypto investigation yet can\u2019t help rolling her eyes on occasion at the zeal of his pursuit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a series of conversations between Morena and me,\u201d that culminated in the family\u2019s participation, he says. \u201cAt the end of the day, I feel comfortable where we landed. We asked our children who was comfortable; one of them really wanted to be in it, one of them didn\u2019t\u2026 I hope I don\u2019t have some staggering therapy bill later. But the reason that we ended up doing that is that I had all this footage that didn\u2019t really have a narrative thread to it because it was interviews with fraudsters and Senate testimony\u2026 But who\u2019s journey are we on? What are we watching? And the obvious was, well, it\u2019s me. And okay, if it\u2019s me, then what do people know about me? The O.C. So, make fun of yourself first and kind of be merciless and then hopefully they\u2019re on your side or at least open to being on your side and then tell them a fun story.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHe adds, \u201cThe idea was, once we sort of settled on the structure, make it as funny as possible at the top, and then kind of, if you\u2019ll excuse the phrase, \u2018kick them in the nuts\u2019 at the end, because you\u2019re only going to get to that place where you\u2019re able to earn the interest of the audience in this thing, if they\u2019ve been entertained at the beginning. So hopefully we walked that line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor-director Ben McKenzie isn\u2019t afraid to make a bold statement. For instance, when we meet up at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[44552,18,117,194764,19,17,194765,327,194766],"class_list":["post-439481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ben-mckenzie","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-everyone-is-lying-to-you-for-money","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-miami-film-festival","tag-movies","tag-sam-bankman-fried"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116418648334349319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}