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.

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.

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.

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.

Ben / Jacob - - great job on writing about a very complicated subject and breaking it down to the obvious. I've long suspected crypto was another twist on the old Ponzi scheme, and as it continues to implode around us, congratulations for being the few who knew it early on and had the courage to go against the tide. I enjoyed this book very much. THANK YOU!