Ben McKenzie Slams Cryptocurrency Industry as 'Largest Ponzi Scheme in History'

Ben McKenzie, best known for his role as Ryan Atwood in the early-2000s TV show The OC, has made a career swerve into cryptocurrency criticism. In 2018, he appeared before the US Senate committee on banking, where he quipped that he could also be called Ryan Atwood.

McKenzie's testimony highlights his transition from a Hollywood actor to an economics-focused documentarian. He drew on his undergraduate studies in economics to publicly criticize the cryptocurrency industry, calling it 'the largest Ponzi scheme in history.'

In an interview with ABC News, McKenzie explained how he became skeptical of cryptocurrencies during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was initially interested in the market's potential but soon decided that deregulating currencies wasn't a solution to post-global-financial-crisis malaise.

McKenzie even interviewed disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for his documentary, Everyone Is Lying To You For Money. The film delves into the 2022 collapse of the cryptocurrency market and features McKenzie's impassioned speech to Congress about the industry's failures.