The complex and often shady realm of cryptocurrency is explored through the story of a now-imprisoned participant.
Lewis stumbled upon Sam Bankman-Fried’s narrative just as his brief reign over a cryptocurrency empire was beginning to collapse. According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried appeared to have noble intentions: he saw himself as a promoter of altruistic investment, and his wealth—which on paper amounted to billions—was meant to tackle the most significant existential threats to life on earth, such as nuclear wars, deadly pandemics, rogue artificial intelligence, and more. However, Bankman-Fried’s social awkwardness and unconventional thinking made him a weak advocate for his own causes. Interestingly, Lewis notes that Bankman-Fried seemed to have a surprising lack of interest in money itself. This is where the problem lies, as federal investigators are currently probing into the disappearance of billions of his investors’ dollars. Lewis notes that such occurrences were not unusual in the crypto world, with exchanges frequently misplacing or losing their customers’ money. Was this a criminal act in this instance? Lewis refrains from making a definitive call. Instead, he somewhat frustratingly tends to downplay the issue by depicting Bankman-Fried as a naive young man who was only twenty-nine when his empire fell. Lewis continues this narrative of Bankman-Fried as a misunderstood child, which raises some doubts about the author’s reporting.
While this may not be Lewis’ finest work, it provides an interesting character study and a valuable lesson: steer clear of investing in cryptocurrency.
