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Easy Money
- Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
- Narrated by: Ben McKenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
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Easy Money
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Publisher's Summary
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From a famous actor and an experienced journalist, a wildly entertaining debunking of cryptocurrency, one of the greatest frauds in history and on course for a spectacular crash.
At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Gotham) 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 the promise of taking power from banks, possibly improving democracy, and sure, a touch 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 a caper and exposé that points in shock to the climactic final days of cryptocurrency now upon us. Weaving together stories of average traders and victims, colorful crypto “visionaries,” Hollywood’s biggest true believers, anti-crypto whistleblowers, and government agents searching for solutions at the precipice of a major crash, Easy Money is an on-the-ground look at a perfect storm of 2008 Housing Bubble-level irresponsibility and criminal fraud potentially ten times more devastating than Bernie Madoff.
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What listeners say about Easy Money
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gerry Corcoran
- 2023-09-25
Detailing A Crash
Crypto is a scam. All of it. Always.
If you're someone who thinks otherwise, this book is probably not for you. Or maybe it is if you want to hear a different perspective? However, if you're someone like me who wholly believes the first line of this review, this book is definitely for you, but also won't tell you anything new if you've been observing the crypto industry's collapse over the last couple of years.
Ben McKenzie is an actor I'm unfamiliar with, who decided during COVID to self-appoint himself the title of journalist and start digging into the crypto industry that once felt like it was taking over the world. He quickly discovered what anyone without blinders on saw as obvious, that the industry was overrun with scams, cons and clueless idiots and venture capitalists willing to throw gobs of money at it for ludicrously generous promises of quick riches. McKenzie (and I think mostly his "contributor" if I'm honest), take all the various big scams that happened, condense them into a succint recollection and also go into both the business and ideological foundations that underpinned them and drove them to such great success before almost immediately going up in flames. It's a compelling listen (which McKenzie does a great job of) that makes you realize just how fragile our financial system is and how much of it operates under near total regulatory capture.
My one main gripe is McKenzie's unwillingness to ever demand personal accountability for the people who fell for these scams. He doesn't mind throwing shade at venture capital firms (nor should he), but he stops short of blaming any individuals who bet their life savings on ridiculoud promises and flashy marketing, calling it "victim blaming". No, if you can't be bothered to do five minutes of research (often all it takes to find out how scammy much of this stuff was) before throwing your entire financial well being at one of these cons, then you need to learn better critical thinking skills. This doesn't necessarily apply universally, but a LOT of the people who bought into the crypto bubble were little more than useful idiots and hand waving that away is only going to ensure that they never learn anything from their mistakes. If something seems to good to be true, it almost always is.
This is a good, well written and presented book, but if you followed the news or YouTube channels that detailed these scams as they were happening, there isn't much new to learn here. I do recommend it though, especially for people who need a crash course in how to spot scams.
Also, Satoshi Nakamoto is Adam Back. This is all but a certainty now.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Milgre52
- 2023-08-03
Valuable lessons for all investors
Worthwhile background investigation and well referenced. Good 'leg work’ and excellent professional presentation. I understand the crypto landscape so much better than before. A great service to investors and society write large. Thank you Ben and Jacob and please do a follow up as this unfolds/unravels .
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alison Blair
- 2023-08-15
Fabulously entertaining and informative
I could not stop listening once I started. Ben McKenzie is hilarious, entertaining, and informative.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cat Elizabeth
- 2023-07-25
Easy to listen to
Ben breaks down a complex industry and makes it digestible for the everyday person. Well performed and well researched.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Col Martin
- 2024-01-05
Kudos
A complicated story well told
An honest look at a craze that hopefully will be received as a cautionary tale for deco to come
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Victoire M.
- 2023-10-22
Great book! Annoying audio issues
I loved this book and enjoyed the narration. There are a number of audio issues with the book, which was annoying, but the story was great.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carlos Delaney
- 2023-11-07
Great book
Great expose on this BS industry.
It’s hard to believe bitcoin is still going … more victims on the hook…
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- 1273
- 2023-10-01
No understanding of finance-I want my credit back
This is what happens when talking heads pretend to know a subject, but have no understanding of finance or bitcoin. Waste of time. Go back to getting high.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alex
- 2023-09-09
Mostly good, amateur experience shows
This book is a great retelling of the crypto industry and it’s impacts. Generally, I was hoping for a bit more “behind the curtain” insight but there is enough “exclusive” content here to justify giving it a listen. The first 5 chapters are almost an extended foreword, like Ben got the book deal then filled the content of the book with how he got the book deal. That’s fine, but it felt like it was a little self-centric for too long without breaking it up with unique content actually centred around the title of the book.
Ben is a fantastic narrator, being an actor of course, but his writing certainly isn’t flawless. Some chapters will re-state something not even a minute later or use the same turn of phrase multiple times in succession I’m honestly surprised an editor never caught it.
Not to mention this production has its issues. The end of chapter 8, beginning of chapter 11, and somewhere mid-chapter 12 had random audio glitches in which it appears at least a couple sentences were skipped or the wrong track was placed randomly in the middle. Just randomly hitting the brakes and all you hear is “Ben McKenzie, Ben McKenzie.”
If you’re interested in crypto or capitalism, this will make you well versed in its rise and fall with some extra stories that will make you uncomfortable about the world. So it’s good, but not great.
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1 person found this helpful