Ben McKenzie Says Crypto Has a Secret Ingredient: Male Loneliness

Ben McKenzie had A question: “When did WIRED die?” Specifically, the actor-director wanted to know from WIRED when “‘all caps’ died.”

Mackenzie wasn’t asking for herself; He was engaging in the time-honored celebrity tradition of reading mean tweets. However, in this case, the object was not so much the event itself as the publication hosting the event. McKenzie, who famously played Ryan oc Before becoming a leading voice of crypto skepticism, WIRED senior correspondent Andy Greenberg was sharing the stage with what will hopefully be a series of smaller events we’re calling WIRED@Night.

On April 16, nearly 100 people gathered at event partner Ace Hotel Brooklyn to sip drinks and contemplate the future of cryptocurrency from Applos, Faccia Brutto, The Sorting Table, and Manzo.

McKenzie, coauthor Easy Money: Cryptocurrencies, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of FraudThere’s a new independent documentary in theaters called Everyone is lying to you for money. Greenberg, who frequently writes about crypto scams, talked to him about scenes from the book and film, in which McKenzie travels to places like crypto hub El Salvador to understand why the technology still has so much appeal despite its less-than-reputable reputation.

One of McKenzie’s explanations? Male loneliness. “There’s this longing for community, real community,” McKenzie said, noting that crypto exists online as a kind of extreme gambling, something that really exploded into the mainstream during the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are more IRL antidotes to that kind of digital isolation.



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