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A few years ago, during the absolute peak of the cryptocurrency craze, a somewhat surprising skeptic emerged. Most people know Ben McKenzie from his acting work on Southland or Gotham, or would recognize him instantly as Ryan Atwood from The O.C. While seemingly everyone else was buying Bitcoin, McKenzie decided to figure out what Bitcoin was actually all about. And, of course, he decided to film it.
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On this episode of The Vergecast, McKenzie takes us into his many adventures in crypto. His documentary, Everyone Is Lying To You For Money, is out this week, and it’s a fun and revealing journey into the chaos of the crypto world. (You can probably guess from the title where McKenzie ultimately lands on the subject.) He tells us what he saw around the world that solidified his thoughts about crypto’s problems, whether he sees similar issues in the current rise of prediction markets, and whether any of this is actually about money at all.
After that, The Verge’s Victoria Song tells us of her own long, crazy-making journey, this time into the world of continuous glucose monitors. After more than a year of testing these devices, watching them turn into a government- and influencer-endorsed phenomenon, and grappling with some very real issues that came from so much self-quantification, Vee tells us where this trend is really headed.
Finally, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]!) about why all gadgets seem the same now. Where are the big, new, bold ideas about laptops? Or phones? Or anything? We’ve been asking that question for a while, too, and we have some answers. But they’re not entirely satisfactory.
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