Crypto Books: The Tale of Two Extremes
Books on crypto seem to fall into one of two delightful camps: exuberant cheerleading for blockchain as our ticket to utopia or snarky exposés that label the whole thing a scam. Following a particularly raucous bubble bursting, filled with jaw-dropping frauds and the occasional arrest of crypto big shots, it’s safe to say we’re in the latter genre’s phase right now. Welcome to the circus!
Catching Up with Zeke Faux
The latest entry? Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Bloomberg’s very own Zeke Faux. With a cover featuring none other than Sam Bankman-Fried—crypto’s most infamous Ponzi-schemer—this book is like a guided tour through the seediest corners of the crypto carnival, occasionally eliciting outright laughter at the absurdity of it all. Spoiler alert: there’s no shortage of unsavory characters.
Meet the Cast: Razzlekhan and Friends
From questionable yacht soirées thrown by ex-child actor Brock Pierce—who, for some reason, refers to himself as a “doula for creation”—to crypto enthusiasts who turn tacky flaunting of wealth into a community sport, Faux shines a light on the unsavory cast that populated the last blockchain bonanza. Take Razzlekhan, for example: her raps, which could only be described as “a cry for help,” were accompanied by antics meant to showcase her ‘edgy’ business practices. Picture this: hypersexual yet incredibly unappealing—and that’s her on a good day!
Tethering to Trouble
At the heart of Faux’s narrative is Tether, the wildcat stablecoin galloping through this financial zoo. Building on his award-winning scoop about Tether’s murky backing—hint: it’s about as transparent as a brick wall—Faux takes us on a globe-trotting quest to unearth the true state of this digital dollar proxy. Spoiler: it’s a thrilling journey that includes a cartoon creator and a plastic surgeon whose clinic offered services one might only wish to keep confidential.
Pig Butchering: A Dark Turn
Then comes a chapter whimsically titled “Pig Butchering,” which starts with Faux getting unsolicited messages from a fictitious “Vicky Ho”—a name that sounds more like a bad date than a scam artist. But “butchering” is really just a euphemism for romance scams—delightfully sinister! Faux’s trip through Southeast Asia to witness the horrors of crypto-enabled scams is both eye-opening and heart-wrenching, revealing just how efficiently criminals have adapted to our digital age.
Missing the Mark on Accountability
While the tales weave an engaging narrative, Faux’s biggest shortfall is his inclination to pin the blame for every woeful scam on Tether as if it were the original sin of the crypto world. But blaming Tether for the misery inflicted by romance scams is like blaming $100 bills for your online shopping addictions—ridiculous, right? It’s a common mistake to conflate a tool with the actions of miscreants, yet Faux seems quite keen to do so.
The Takeaway: Crypto Has Layers
Number Go Up may burst with humor and scandal, but it fails to paint a well-rounded portrait. The crypto landscape is not solely a den of thieves; it’s also fertile ground for innovation that even corner stores are tapping into. Faux’s comparisons to historical scams occasionally surface, yet one can’t help but feel he’s missing the broader strokes of a larger canvas. The reality is, dismissing crypto entirely is akin to throwing out the baby with the blockchain bathwater.
The Final Verdict
In the end, Number Go Up should not be your go-to reference for crypto’s historical significance or future prospects. However, it’s an uproariously entertaining front-row seat to the recent crypto rollercoaster and a fitting reminder of the gutter-dwellers who thrive in its shadows. Worth a read? Absolutely—if only for the laughs and cringes it provides!
This critique originally appeared on Fortune.com
