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Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud Hardcover – July 18, 2023

by Ben McKenzie (Author), Jacob Silverman (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 606 ratings
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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.

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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harry N. Abrams
  4. Publication date
    July 18, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.35 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1419766392
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1419766398
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

"One of the crypto industry's unlikely but most prominent critics."—Washington Post

"A smart, savvy road map through the mayhem of the cryptocurrency madness."—Ron Chernow

"An amazing journey..."—Liaquat Ahamed

"A perfectly timed page-turner"—William D. Cohan

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If you're looking for a smart, savvy road map through the mayhem of the cryptocurrency madness, Easy Money is the guidebook for you. Ben McKenzie has given us a wry and knowing saga of his personal quest to expose the crypto charlatans, and his sleuthing uncovers a world of frauds, true believers, and opportunists that you won't soon forget.”―Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times bestselling author of Alexander Hamilton and

“Ben McKenzie takes us on an amazing journey, guiding us through the astounding story of how a bizarre cast of swindlers and scammers persuaded millions of people to take leave of their senses and part with trillions of dollars, only to put them into the surreal and illusory world of so called ‘crypto assets’ and watch them vanish into thin air. When it is all over, the last couple of years will prove to have been one of the strangest episodes in the history of money.”―Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lords of Finance

“Ben McKenzie's Easy Money is a perfectly timed page-turner that gets to the heart of the fundamental scam that was (and is) the mania around cryptocurrency. It's a devastatingly well-told story of greed, con men, and endless gullibility. McKenzie goes down the rabbit hole, only to become a full-throated skeptic who then takes us along on his journey of enlightenment and discovery, proving once again that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”―William D. Cohan New York Times bestselling author of Power Failure and House of Cards

“Superb . . . the terrible story of our economic times.”―Julian Zelizer, coeditor of Myth America and professor of history and public affairs at Princeton Un

“Easy Money is a deceptively ambitious project—at once a riveting account of the financial crime of the century, and a thoughtful meditation on the nature of democracy and what we owe each other.” ―Zachary Carter, author of The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes

“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.”―Wajahat Ali, author of Go Back to Where You Came From

“The perfect guide to the recent bitcoin hysteria…. gripping.”―Financial Times

"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."―Times of London

“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.”―Bethany McLean, New York Times-bestselling author of The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Big Fail

About the 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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harry N. Abrams (July 18, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1419766392
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419766398
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.35 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 606 ratings

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Ben Mckenzie

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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

1165mgs
5.0 out of 5 stars A very professional and trustful book
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024
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Ben and Jacob have made a wonderful work together, the book is entertaining and give the reader a full review of the biggest scam of all human history: The Crypto market.
Congratulations to the authors, greetings from Bolivia.
One person found this helpful
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Gregory
4.0 out of 5 stars Not all cryptos!
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023
COVID-19 was a weird few years, and the perfect storm of cheap cash and a bored populace led to a bubble of spectacular financial blowups, many of them tied to vaporware scams posing as cryptocurrencies. The details of many of these blowups are entertainingly recounted here. My main beef with the book is that extrapolating the actions of a few bad actors to paint all cryptocurrencies as fraudulent feels unfair.
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MikeyR
5.0 out of 5 stars A fun and informative read that will give you the full story on cryptocurrency
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2023
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A fun and informative read. Some digressions away from the main topic but otherwise lays out a compelling picture of how crypto “currency” became the modern American parable for everything that has gone wrong in the country. It was the quintessential get rich quick scheme, always a perennial winner in a land where hard work is more often idolized in the abstract. It hoovered up (and paid for) many of the country’s recognizable elite to further legitimize the scheme a la Theranos (also an enjoyable irony that the author is a celebrity). Almost nobody put themselves out there to speak out against what would cause millions of people to lose a lot of money (sticking with the sad theme of a country where moral courage is appallingly rare). And there is once again the great theme of a “democracy” where wealth interests can swoop in with unlimited money and buy their preferred policy position, which in this case was to do nothing (the most preferred outcome as the current system works great for them). Sadly, there is no end in sight to these types of scandals. Americans get hit with both legally questionable or fraudulent schemes as well as completely legal ones, cryptocurrency in the former and exorbitant credit card fees in the latter. Until private interest money is eliminated from the government (by publicly financed elections), American policy will continue to be purchased by plutocrats and the government will remain dangerously unstable. No country is riper for scamming than this one and all the would-be fraudsters and hucksters know this only too well.
7 people found this helpful
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Robert In Denver
5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute "Must Read" For So-called "Investors" Who Believe In Crypto
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2023
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Although Ben McKenzie on the surface seems to be an unlikely author as a multi-series television star, and former teen idle twenty years ago, his research and explanations on "casino-type investing during easy money times" are accurate, well documented and easy to understand. He has attended many panel discussions and done countless interviews including a lengthy discussion on Bill Maher's HBO show, and many, many more. I have not heard or read of any reputable economists who are questioning his conclusions that crypto is nothing more than an elaborate well hyped Ponzi scheme. He also explains the history of block chain technologies, which are not new by the way. He also stresses the environmental irresponsibility of the crypto mining process. This book is an excellent read for anyone with interest in modern age economics, and what happens when capitalism is left unregulated, and becomes taken over by greed and deceit.
4 people found this helpful
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FunnerRunner
3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023
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Great contrarian view of the cryptocurrency world.
2 people found this helpful
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quibidtype
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the money
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2023
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First off, Ben is a good writer.

I'd noticed that he was one of the few celebs or people who's consistently entertaining on Twitter (X?), where it's hard to be consistently engaging in short form text. Only writers who 'have something' can do that. So I decided to buy the book. Could Ben be a good storyteller/journalist also? (I bought the Kindle book first, then the audio book when I saw Ben was the narrator).

The answer is yes. I listened to the book over a few weeks, and came away entertained, and also that the book was important. When the crypto boom is taught this book should be part of the reading list, as it's accessible, comprehensive, and successfully demonstrates the ten billion dollar+ fraud that was the crypto ecosystem of the late 2010's to early 2020's.

Beyond that, there are subtle themes and original research (I never knew the likely origin story of bitcoin) that raise the book up with great non fiction.

I was surprised by how good it was.
11 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good subject, important topic, OK writing
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2023
The subject is very compelling and "Ryan Atwood of The OC cautions you against investing in crypto" is an amazing hook but ultimately the writing is a little too high-school-essay to be a pleasant reading experience! Sorry Ryan Atwood!
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Patricia Kemp
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023
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I loved this book. It was a page-turner. Thoughtful, analytic, factual, intrepid. I admire him for taking on the "trillion" / "billion" $$$ industry and exposing it so we could all understand what crypto is or purports to be. I was skeptical about crypto from the time I first heard about it but I didn't have the information I needed to get the big picture. It's even more confusing when sports venues are named after crypto enterprises. celebrities endorse it and legitimate financial institutions jump in. This book and a small number of good economic writers also saw through the scam. Also, cryptos connection to casino capitalism, gaming & gambling addiction & how absolutely insane it becomes when globally scaled. He nailed it. Thanks for the schooling!
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Will B.
5.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly personal story
Reviewed in Canada on October 12, 2023
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First off, I'm grading on a bit of a curve to give this 5 stars, since it's not exactly a perfect book. But it is the product of a lot of time, effort and money that went into unearthing truths that desperately tried to remain hidden, in a situation where it would have been dramatically easier and more profitable to just go along with the lies. I commend that effort, and it makes me more generous with the grade on the book.

What surprised me about this book was how personal of a story it was, from the perspective of author Ben McKenzie. It is heavily infused with his first-person perspective, and as much as there is a narrative holding the chapters together, it is him. How he became suspicious of crypto, how he engaged Jacob as his collaborator, how he interviewed crypto celebrities, how he interviewed crypto victims, how he interviewed crypto investigators. It is an interesting way to construct the book, because Ben (as he repeatedly admits himself) is not a particularly remarkable or sympathetic protagonist. He's a moderately successful actor, largely on the strength of his good looks, with the disposable income and spare time necessary to engage in journalism-as-hobby. Still, Ben's voice comes through in way that feels very sincere and authentic, and his self-deprecating humbleness presents as a refreshing contrast to the hubris and bombast of some of the con-men he covers.

The book is a bit dull over the first third or so, which is *just* a story about Ben. But then it heats up as he gets himself right in the thick of the fraud as it's happening in real time. He scores interviews with *major* players and asks them good questions that peel away at the lies covering the truth. He travels in person in El Salvador to get the real story of Bitcoin adoption. He meets with the internet sleuth who blew the lid off of Celsius. He exchanges DMs with SBF shortly before his arrest. The fact that the story is so much about Ben seems like a weakness early on, but becomes a strength as Ben finds himself, improbably, right at the middle of major events.

Ben self-identifies his strength, from an actor background, as storytelling. And I think that mostly pays off. I was captivated by the storytelling even when it was 90% stuff I already knew, because it was well told. I do think this could be a bit better at extrapolating the micro-story of what specifically happened to more of a macro story, about human nature. A couple other books I've read that touch on similar topics are David Gerard's "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain" and John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Great Crash 1929", and I was impressed reading those books how they not only chronicled historical events, but also recognized patterns that were eerily predictive of future events after the book's were written. I'm not sure this book succeeds at finding that larger story, but maybe it's just too soon to judge.
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Sean Connolly
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read about the Crypto world
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2023
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It is a better book than I thought it might be. Well researched and it makes some valid points about things to be wary of when investing in crypto.
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Eine authentische Wiedergabe einer kaputten, parallelen Welt
Reviewed in Germany on August 28, 2023
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Eine wunderbare Zusammenfassung von einer verzerrten Welt, sehr gut erzählt. Es ist Crypto. Kein Bezug zur Realität, keine Regeln, kein Schutz, nur Vorgaukeln und Betrug. Mehr muss man über crypto nicht wissen. Weniger sollte man aber auch nicht wissen. Die Brücke zur realen Welt schlagen sog. Stablecoins, wertlose Tokens, vergeudete Computerrechenleistung, die ihren Wert ausschliesslich aus dem Dollar-Pegging bekommen. Shitcoins haben nur einen Wert indem man sie in $, €, £ ausdrückt. Ein Bitcoin sind 25.000 Tether.
Few.
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Amazonカスタマー
4.0 out of 5 stars 胡散臭いが浸透している日本にはピッタリ。
Reviewed in Japan on September 10, 2023
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翻訳版を早く出すと良い。
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Nikola Air
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book about Cripto
Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2023
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I discovered Ben McKenzie as a great actor on The OC, or on Gotham and now as a great author. This book is taking about Cripto like no other book out there. A must read for every one who believes in Crypto currency.
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