Katie Drummond

This episode was produced by our showrunner, Anne-Marie Fertoli.

Kate Osborne is our executive producer.

Music and mixing by Pran Bandy.

This episode was fact-checked by Daniel Roman.

And I am, of course, your host, Katie Drummond, Wired's global editorial director.

Check back here on Thursday for the latest episode of Uncanny Valley, where Wired's writers and editors add you to the Slack channel.

From Wired, this is The Big Interview, where we'll get to know the people behind the headlines in conversations that explore the intersection of technology, power, and culture.

I'm Katie Drummond, Wired's Global Editorial Director, and people of a certain age may know my next guest as an actor, but these days you're equally likely to know him for his other leading role, crusading against cryptocurrency.

That's Ben McKenzie testifying before Congress on the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in late November 2022.

McKenzie, who has an undergrad degree in economics, has written a book on the subject.

And now he's out with a new documentary, Everyone is Lying to You for Money.

Very good name, I must say.

Ben's here now.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thanks for having me, Katie.

It's an honor to be here.

We are delighted to have you here.

And I had intended to start with that congressional testimony, and I want to get back to that in a minute.

But I actually was just at my desk upstairs and was reading this New York Times piece that came out today.

We're talking in early April.