Hype Machine: How Greed, Fraud and Free Money Crashed Crypto

A compelling and incendiary exploration of the cult of crypto told through the rise and fall of its most mercurial figure - Sam Bankman-Fried.

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Hype Machine: How Greed, Fear and Free Money Crashed Crypto is the definitive take on the crypto boom and bust of the last half-decade. Expansive, compelling, nuanced and eminently entertaining, it explains and de-mystifies the cult of crypto by following the trajectory of its most enigmatic and magnetic of participants, Sam Bankman-Fried.
This 30-year old, self-trained and unproven Californian had ridden the crypto wave by convincing professionals and amateurs alike to invest billions upon billions into his fund. He was feted by celebrities - everyone from Gisele Bundchen to Shaquille O'Neal to Larry David wanted a piece of the action - as well as smart investors and small family funds. And then the bubble burst.
Financial Times journalist Joshua Oliver introduces readers to the people and ideas that made SBF's remarkable trajectory happen and reveals the hype machine that allowed him to flourish. Through compelling research and incendiary exclusive interviews with an extensive network of sources in London, New York, the Bahamas and California - including crypto veterans, executives, former employees and the trailblazers who shaped the markets - Oliver paints a vivid, detailed and often absurd picture that has never been seen before.
Hype Machine is a bravura, must-read account of the defining financial moment of our times.