The Cult and Corruption of Cryptocurrency

Mother Jones · collected 2026-08-26 · by Reveal
Read the original at Mother Jones ↗

Summary

Television actor Ben McKenzie launched an investigation into cryptocurrency for his documentary film "Everyone Is Lying to You for Money", which explores why people continue to invest in digital currency despite its risks. The film focuses on McKenzie's journey and features interviews with disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested months after the interview took place. McKenzie expresses concerns about the "cult-like behavior" of crypto investors and shares poignant conversations with everyday people who lost everything but still believe in digital currency.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-26, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
14%
1 of 7 hedged
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject
Publisher trust
95.1
red-flag proxy, not a credibility rating
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-08-26 · how these are computed

AI analysis (generated at analysis time, not now)

Story summary

Television actor Ben McKenzie has made a documentary film, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which delves into the world of cryptocurrency. In it, he expresses his concerns about the "cult-like behavior" of people investing in digital currency, despite its high risks and lack of regulation. He also shares his interview with Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX who was arrested months later. McKenzie's documentary focuses on why some individuals continue to invest in cryptocurrency despite knowing its potential pitfalls.

Written for “Cryptocurrency Scandals Emerge” on 2026-08-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Score +0.85 Confidence high
Leaning score +0.85 for article 2424 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-08-27

Story

📰 Cryptocurrency Scandals Emerge
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event. This is the one the site leads with.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Trump’s Crypto Corruption Is Off The Charts — Mehdi and Ben McKenzie Explore Why different event · 80%
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 10
“They cover different aspects of a related topic, and mention the documentary 'Everyone Is Lying to You For Money' but do not describe the same specific happening”

Publisher

Mother Jones · 30 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
SignalValueWeight
Correction rate 0.000 0.4
Uncertainty density 0.097 0.25
Assertive mismatch rate 0.000 0.35
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article, beyond the feed's “Reveal”.

Topics

Apple Podcasts FTX Pandora Spotify iHeartRadio

Subjects

McKenzie PERSON · 2× Al Letson PERSON · 1× Apple Podcasts ORG · 1× Ben McKenzie PERSON · 1× FTX ORG · 1× Pandora ORG · 1× Sam Bankman-Fried PERSON · 1× Spotify ORG · 1× iHeartRadio ORG · 1×

Narrative

On this week’s More To The Story, McKenzie shares his concerns for what he calls the cult-like behavior of those investing in digital currency, talks about his interview with disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried just months before his arrest, and discusses the poignant conversations he had with everyday people who trusted the power of digital currency and lost everything—yet are still crypto believers.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-26
🔮 Ben McKenzie might seem like an unlikely choice to launch an investigation into the complicated world of cryptocurrency.
2026-08-26 · Mother Jones
The Cult and Corruption of Cryptocurrency · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 1 hedged)

Ben McKenzie might seem like an unlikely choice to launch an investigation into the complicated world of cryptocurrency. uncertain
McKenzie → seem → cryptocurrency
But the television actor known for shows like The O.C. and Gotham did exactly that. asserted
actor → know → that
His documentary film, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, is a deep dive into the people and companies at the heart of crypto. asserted
Everyone → lie → crypto
The film focuses on McKenzie’s journey to discover why people continue to invest in digital currency even while knowing the risks of this highly under-regulated market. asserted
people → focus → market
“I think crypto is not only not the future of money, it’s the past of money,” he tells host Al Letson. asserted
he → think → Letson
“And it’s something we’ve tried before and it’s failed asserted
it → ’ → ?
On this week’s More To The Story, McKenzie shares his concerns for what he calls the cult-like behavior of those investing in digital currency, talks about his interview with disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried just months before his arrest, and discusses the poignant conversations he had with everyday people who trusted the power of digital currency and lost everything—yet are still crypto believers. asserted
who → share → everything
💬 Give feedback
🕘 History 🎫 Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v1.0.0