Ben McKenzie (bottom right) with Rachel Bilson, Adam Brody and Mischa Barton in “OC, California”.IMAGO / Avalon.red
He was once the handsome TV bad boy. Today Ben McKenzie explains Bitcoin and Co. – and exposes celebrities, fraudsters and an entire industry.
May 7, 2026, 10:52 p.mMay 7, 2026, 10:52 p.m
During the pandemic, the world worked from home and many discovered new hobbies. Ben McKenzie did more than that: He examined the crypto world and observed celebrities like Snoop Dogg and the Kardashians, who publicly raved about futuristic possibilities. Matt Damons Advertising for Crypto.com gave him nightmares, he says today.
The reason: “I knew from the start that Matt Damon didn’t know shit about crypto.” Unlike himself, who has a degree in economics, foreign policy and international relations and has been working with cryptocurrencies for years.
Many fans are thrilled – and are making memes from old “OC” scenes: “It’s hilarious how many people think Ben McKenzie is great again because he’s smart and hates crypto so much.”
“At best, gambling, and at worst, fraud.”
“Can you explain in two simple sentences what cryptocurrency actually is?” asks him Journalist Mehdi Hasan in his podcast for everyone who doesn’t know. “I can even say it in one sentence: It’s a get-rich-quick scam,” says McKenzie. Small investors would be systematically excluded while a handful of insiders line their pockets.
The actor speaks about the subject with the same passion with which he once delivered his lines as bad boy Ryan Atwood in “OC, California” – only this time it’s real. In 2003, the now 47-year-old became a teen crush for thousands of viewers. He later scored another hit as James Gordon in the Batman series “Gotham”. And now this guy is a tough crypto critic?
Ben McKenzie as James Gordon in Gotham.IMAGO / Capital Pictures
“I’m the only six-time Teen Choice Awards star who has written a bestseller about economics,” he jokes in several interviews – and he’s absolutely right. In 2023 he published the book “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud”.
“The guy from ‘OC'”: Not an exception, but a specialty
Last April, his – surprisingly funny – documentary “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money” was released. McKenzie is the writer, director and lead actor in it and says: “Cryptocurrency is pretty stupid.”
An excerpt from his interview with Sam Bankman-Fried also appears. The billionaire was a crypto figurehead, was on the cover of Forbes magazine and on a first-name basis with US congressmen. In 2024 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for financial fraud and money laundering. McKenzie grilled him months earlier when the actor asked him how much money Bankman-Fried donated to politicians. He avoided the question, visibly nervous and tense, and the red flags were waving.
The trailer for “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money”.Youtube
“Why the hell is the guy from OC, California doing a tougher interview with Sam Bankman-Fried than the people at CNBC, FOX Business, Bloomberg or CNN?” asks Mehdi Hasan, and McKenzie is just as stunned: “Yes! What’s that supposed to mean?! I? I have to do this?”
He is not the first celebrity to suddenly surprise with “real knowledge”. Ex-Disney star Bridgit Mendler founded a satellite communications company after the series ended “My Sister Charlie” and now works with NASA. Danica McKellar, known as Winnie from “The Wonder Years”, has published several mathematical books and is considered an expert in supporting children in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology.
Ex-Disney star Bridgit Mendler earned a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Harvard Law School and founded Northwood Space, a startup to improve communications with satellites.Image: IMAGO / Capital Pictures
But McKenzie’s case is special because he didn’t just move into a new industry – he became one of its harshest critics. And he is using his well-known face to bring this topic into the mainstream. So that people who would otherwise not come into contact with it also question these machinations. It’s quite possible that he won’t be remembered as a teenage heartthrob, but rather for his enlightenment about the opaque crypto industry. (aargauerzeitung.ch)