One of the first lessons of economics is that money is made up. Put another way, it’s a construct: Money is only worth what we say it’s worth. That means its value is based on trust. And when that trust evaporates — say, when the price of cryptocurrency collapses — things can go south quickly.
That’s the crux of “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money” (in theaters), a new documentary directed by Ben McKenzie about the strange universe of cryptocurrency. On first glance, McKenzie is perhaps not the most obvious candidate to direct a movie like this: He is probably best known for playing Ryan Atwood, the protagonist of “The O.C.,” and has worked steadily as an actor on TV and film since the show’s finale in 2007.
But McKenzie became interested in crypto through a friend during the pandemic. It seemed like a lot of people were getting very rich very quickly. His interest quickly turned to skepticism, though, especially when he saw dozens of actors and celebrities, including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson, hawking crypto in ads and interviews. Surely, McKenzie says with exasperation to his wife (the actress Morena Baccarin), they don’t know what they are talking about. Does … anyone?