"It's the longing for community, actual community," Ben McKenzie told an audience in Brooklyn — his answer to why cryptocurrency keeps drawing people in. McKenzie, the actor and director who coauthored Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, made the remark during a WIRED@Night event on April 16 at Ace Hotel Brooklyn, where about 100 people attended a discussion with WIRED senior correspondent Andy Greenberg.

Event and main claim

Ben McKenzie made a blunt point about why cryptocurrency keeps drawing people in: loneliness. McKenzie, the actor and director who coauthored Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, raised the observation during a discussion at a WIRED@Night event on April 16 at Ace Hotel Brooklyn. About 100 people attended the evening, where McKenzie and Andy Greenberg, WIRED senior correspondent, talked through themes from McKenzie's book and his new independent documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money.

The remark came amid a wider conversation about crypto's social life. McKenzie said the technology offers more than a technical promise; it creates communities, rituals and a form of shared identity that can substitute for other social ties.

Loneliness, community and gambling

McKenzie framed crypto as a kind of extreme gambling wrapped in community. "It's the longing for community, actual community," he said. His point was that many participants come to crypto seeking connection — and what they find is a networked substitute built on speculation, memes and shared rituals.

Those rituals give people signals about who belongs and who doesn't, creating insider language, in-jokes and public displays of loyalty. McKenzie argued that those features make speculative tokens and online campaigns sticky, even when the economic fundamentals are weak or the projects are poorly designed.

Mastheads

He linked that dynamic to the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that crypto's mainstream growth accelerated as people spent more time online. That period, McKenzie said, magnified digital isolation and created fertile ground for online movements that promised belonging as much as profit.

Reporting, travel and on-the-ground observation

McKenzie described travelling to crypto hubs such as El Salvador to understand why the technology still holds sway in so many quarters. Those trips form part of the reporting that went into his book and film; they let him observe how local politics, promotional campaigns and social incentives interact to produce uptake.

He used those visits to show how different groups frame crypto as empowerment, escape or a path to status.

Andy Greenberg, who led the conversation and has written extensively on crypto scams and vulnerabilities, guided the discussion through scenes from McKenzie's book and documentary. Greenberg's reporting background gave the talk a forensic edge. He questioned where charisma and social proof replace technical merit — and when that substitution becomes dangerous for ordinary investors.

Why the social angle matters for markets

McKenzie's argument shifts focus away from blockchain code and towards human behaviour. That matters because financial markets — including crypto markets — are built on expectations and coordination. When a community rallies behind a token, those shared expectations can move prices fast. When the social glue collapses, prices can unwind just as quickly.

At the event McKenzie suggested that the combination of gambling mechanics and social belonging helps explain recurring cycles of boom and bust in crypto. Still, when people treat speculation as a game played among friends, losses can be rationalised as temporary setbacks rather than structural failures, which can prolong rallies and deepen subsequent declines.

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McKenzie’s point was simple: when social belonging replaces technical merit, markets can rally and collapse on the strength of feeling as much as fundamentals.

This article was created with AI assistance.