Movie
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money
Tropes in this movie
New Tech Leads to Disaster
highCrypto is introduced as a celebrated new financial technology with genuine early idealism; society-wide adoption follows, fueled by celebrities and politicians; warning signs are ignored amid regulatory failures; disaster materializes via FTX and Celsius collapses; McKenzie, the early skeptic, is vindicated by the documented fraud.
About this trope: A new technology or discovery is introduced and initially celebrated, then reveals hidden dangers that escalate to catastrophe. The arc is: marvel > adoption > warning signs ignored > disaster.
The Rich Are the Problem
highThe film explicitly argues that insiders and promoters extract value while retail investors — ordinary people seeking financial freedom — absorb losses. The Ponzi-scheme framing portrays a system structurally designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many, with celebrity promoters contrasted against financially harmed everyday participants.
About this trope: Wealthy elites are portrayed as exploitative, callous, or predatory, and extreme inequality is the central injustice driving the story.
The System Is Rigged
highRegulatory failures are a named driver of the industry's harm; the loosely regulated ecosystem persisted because institutions meant to protect investors were absent or negligent. McKenzie bypasses official channels entirely — operating as an independent filmmaker/journalist — to expose what formal oversight failed to stop.
About this trope: Institutions meant to protect people — governments, corporations, law enforcement, the justice system — are depicted as corrupt, incompetent, or actively harmful. Heroes must work outside official channels.
You Can't Trust Anyone
highThe film's title is a direct statement of this trope. Trusted authority figures — SBF (FTX), Mashinsky (Celsius), celebrity endorsers, politicians — are revealed as actively deceiving ordinary participants. Paranoia is fully validated; the true enemies were hiding in plain sight as promoters and exchange operators. Retail investors discover they were systematically manipulated.
About this trope: Trusted allies, institutions, or authority figures are secretly working against the protagonist. Paranoia is justified because betrayal is real and pervasive.
Full plot (spoilers)
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money is a 90-minute documentary in which actor and author Ben McKenzie turns investigative filmmaker, drawing on his 2023 New York Times bestseller (co-written with journalist Jacob Silverman) to expose what he frames as a systemic fraud at the heart of the cryptocurrency industry. Using his celebrity status as an entry point, McKenzie gains access to true believers and eager prospectors across multiple cities — New York, Austin, Miami, London, and El Salvador — documenting how crypto is aggressively marketed by celebrities, social media influencers, and politicians to ordinary people seeking financial freedom. The film traces how a loosely regulated ecosystem built around speculative digital assets evolved from a fringe libertarian experiment into one of the most heavily promoted financial products of the modern era, fueled by hype, misinformation, and reckless speculation. A centerpiece of the documentary is McKenzie's on-camera confrontation with Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the collapsed FTX exchange, who agreed to the interview without conditions. Alex Mashinsky, former CEO of the bankrupt Celsius Network, also appears. Through these interviews and field reporting, McKenzie argues that crypto functions structurally like a Ponzi scheme — one in which insiders and promoters extract value while retail investors absorb the losses. The film presents itself as skeptical but evenhanded, acknowledging the genuine idealism among early adopters while documenting the fraud and regulatory failures that have defined the industry's recent history. Coverage is based primarily on promotional materials, press interviews, and festival descriptions, as the film released theatrically on April 17, 2026 and detailed critical reviews were not yet fully accessible.
Sources: TMDb overview, DOC NYC festival page, Web search (Deadline, Variety, NBC Palm Springs headlines), Wikipedia (stub only)