Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of Ftx's Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire

For fans of Billion Dollar Whale and Going Infinite and from the Time correspondent who covered this remarkable story, a perceptive, eye-opening chronicle of the human side of the fallout from the cryptocurrency bubble.

As cryptocurrency rose in popularity during the pandemic, new converts bought into the idea that crypto would not only make them rich, but usher in imminent revolutions across art, finance, politics, and gaming. This male-dominated, overhyped industry caught the zeitgeist through people like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, now convicted of one of the most calamitous acts of financial fraud of the last century.

During his meteoric rise, Bankman-Fried outflanked idealists in the movement like Vitalik Buterin, who sought to use his creation Ethereum to build fairer systems. But Bankman-Fried’s growth-obsessed, by-any-means approach to crypto proved far more intriguing to people who just wanted to get rich—which led to the creation of a slew of insanely risky financial instruments that mirrored those of the 2008 financial crisis.

Now, based on in-depth reporting and research within an extensive network in the global crypto community, the full, shocking story of the battle for crypto’s soul is revealed as never before. Engaging and accessible, Cryptomania reveals the wrenching human cost of this economic and cultural meltdown—from the conmen and eccentrics driving the bubble to the victims caught up in their current.