Ben McKenzie – Exposing Crypto in “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money” | The Daily Show
Ben McKenzie, actor, author, and director of the new documentary “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” talks to Michael Kosta about the ugly truths of cryptocurrency. He explains why crypto is not real money, how celebrity advertisements and lack of transparency mislead people on the risk level of their investments, and how criminals permeate the crypto industry, starting with Jeffrey Epstein. They also discuss crypto’s targeting of young men and the changes McKenzie hopes to see in the crypto world, from stricter regulations to legal consequences. “I am not saying it should be outlawed, I am simply asking for it to be regulated properly. And I’m also asking, politely, for the criminals to go to jail.” #DailyShow #BenMcKenzie #Crypto
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33 Comments
getem comish, book could be about anything with that tittle
if this is somewhat true, does this potentially mean that big money is a contributor to this scam? why all the etf's, investors, countries holding btc as part of their sovereign fund and so on!!!
If the OC was set today Jimmy Cooper would definitely have had a crypto coin.
I think Ben is a great advocate for regulation, but he’s committing a huge logical error here: he’s blaming the math for the crimes of the person. Using the FTX collapse to say 'code is a lie' is like blaming the English language because someone wrote a fake contract. Sam Bankman-Fried didn't 'hack' the blockchain; he was just a guy who lied on his own private spreadsheets. Ben is conflating two totally different things: Centralized Companies (which can be greedy and dishonest) and Decentralized Code (which just follows math).
The whole point of Bitcoin is to remove the need to trust guys like SBF. When you hold your own Bitcoin, no CEO can 'change a line of code' to take it from you. Ben is right that we shouldn't trust celebrities, but he’s wrong to say we can’t trust the math. We shouldn't let the failures of crooked middlemen scare us away from the first-ever technology that actually lets us be our own bank.
Celebrity endorsements, same as influencer endorsements. Call it was it is…advertising. They are paid advertisements. They are not celebrities. They are actors shilling for a company. TikTok, YouTube, twitch etc etc. enjoy them but don’t accept what they’re telling you is honest
crypto = bath house?
"Everyone Is Lying to You for Money" translated into simplified English for the dyslexics out there: "Water is Wet"
The news about one of the rich types who paid millions into the trumps' dollar-backed crypto bunch trying to get his trump investment back being told he couldn't, and being pressured to buy more, says a lot about the cost of trust.
It's a social construct. It's all made up like government and religion. Pretty much covers it
Ben McKenzie…. for president?
I have always felt that Crypto is the greatest scam of all time.This may have been the greatest explanation of why.
It is difficult to watch when Ben is not able to differentiate between centralised controlled crypto vs decentralized Bitcoin. His fundamentals are wrong, that’s why most of his conclusions will be wrong.
If you own crypto, read any book on encryption.
Being lied to for money has been here a loooong time..not going anywhere
When it’s down people complain and call it a scam. When it’s up everyone buys in.
thats a really misleading summarization of what crypto currencies are. its like you would explain an alien what "banking money" is by starting with the 2008's financial crisis reasons. (oh, wait……..)
Putting his fame aside, what he's talking about is very poignant especially in the current state of the world. The documentary is great, and it is very much worth the watch.
An untraceable, "trust me bro – currency", where you dont need any actually physical interaction, what could possible go wrong.
I’m so glad I watched this video. Bottom line is that the crypto industry is not regulated, like an investment, by the government. At this point, It’s still a big scam.
What a horrible message from a guy who seems to understand it. It's not a scam.
Crypto investment schemes are scams, crypto isn't. To say Crypto is a scam because every crypto embezzler is a scamer is like saying cash is a scam because every ponzi scheme is a scam.
Use crypto currency like cash but DO NOT BUY crypto currencies, just accept it like cash and spend it like cash or you will be scammed.
Crypto, has no backvalue. Like money to gold, or bricks (real estate). It mines nothing, it builds nothing or develop. It is money for a digitale sword in a game. Not a real sword in a real world
It’s a grift for sure.
The daily show is very on point with investigation and such. But to lump Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto currency casino all together is as disengenous as conflating an iPhone with a Windows phone. No one would say those two different phones I mentioned are basically the same thing. Its been 17 years and Bitcoin has been number 1 at now $1.4T market cap with cryptographically had limit supply energy money.
I hope the daily show will do an interview with economist Lyn Alden who wrote Broken Money, Lawrence Leopard who wrote The Big Print, or Saifedean Ammous who wrote The Fiat Standard and The Bitcoin Standard.
Someone wrote a comment about Bitcoin requiring energy as if fiat money doesn't require trees, cotton, armored trucks that runs on fuel, armed guards, safes, brick and mortal buildings and staff. The energy cost of the current financial system dwarfs BTC.
Since the Daily Show have a huge audience ranging from center to left, yall should bring in people such as economist and career hedgefund investors and get their take vs an actor that played a police officer in a movie people liked.
WHAT THE FU€K?!!! He's married to Morena Baccarin?!!! We're all living in Ben McKinnzie's world.
If you want to hear more, he was just on Jon Stewart's podcast
I got involved in crypto back around 2021-22. I bought stock in Voyager and invested through Voyager, BlockFi and Coinbase. The more I learned how crypto operated, the more I realized how tenuous and insecure it was as an investment. Then Votager and BlockFi both declared bankruptcy due to large unsecured loans to Sam Bankman-Fried. I basically lost every penny invested through and in these companies. Obviously, I have since steered clear. The original premise of why crypto was created, I think, was admirable, but, as humans do, it soon became a haven for money laundering and pump-and-dump schemes.
iiiii love this man!
Best investment one can do is buy some land with a little water access (well or stream) and grow fruits and vegetables from it. It will give you thousands of dollars worth of food each year. And when the market crashes your vegetable will still grow and feed you, your family, your friends and the less fortunate around you.
🤗😊
This is what capitalism is. Exploit the innocent.
Anyone, who doesn’t understand blockchain or Bitcoin, says its primary use is for crime. Here are just a few counter arguments to Ben’s messaging in his movie:
1) Any four year period of Bitcoin’s 17 year existence had a 1.5% chance of a loss – so you are not gambling if you are an investor rather than a trader. These gains are predicated on the government’s/Fed’s massive printing of dollars for any reason at any moment in time. Since COVID, the dollar has lost more than 30% of its purchasing power.
2) Global adoption of Bitcoin has hit nearly 560 million people.
3) On a percentage basis, fiat currency is used more for money laundering and criminal activity than Bitcoin.
4) Any single person’s involvement (Trump or Epstein) is minor for an asset 17 years old with a +$1 trillion market cap.
5) Bitcoin is the first asset to achieve absolute, mathematically-enforced scarcity, and also, allows for the exchange of value digitally without a central authority involved during the digital age.
6) You don't use the base layer for speed. The Lightning Network (Layer 2) handles millions of instant transactions off-chain before settling the final numbers on the base layer. The base layer is the final settlement or vault.
7) Over 98% of stablecoin volume is tied to legitimate economic activity, including cross-border remittances, dollarization of emerging markets, etc..with the benefits of blockchain (like 24/7 access).
Of course the only actor to portray both Commissioner Gordon AND Batman stands up for the right thing.
100% agree with the guy from the OC and Gotham, Crypto needs to be regulated and the criminals need to be prosecuted and go to jail.
Thank you for speaking out so thoughtfully about this! It worries me seeing celebrities in ads for crypto or reverse mortgages.