Cryptomania - by Andrew R Chow (Hardcover)

About the Book

"As cryptocurrency rose in popularity during the pandemic, new converts bought into the idea that crypto would not only make them rich, but would usher in imminent revolutions across art, finance, politics, and gaming. Cryptocurrency caught the zeitgeist through figures like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who only two years later would be convicted of one of the most calamitous acts of financial fraud in US history. During his meteoric rise, Sam Bankman-Fried outflanked idealists in the movement like Vitalik Buterin, who sought to build fairer, more democratic systems through Ethereum. Bankman-Fried pursued a growth-obsessed, by-any-means approach to crypto, which proved seductive to those who just wanted to get rich. But this Silicon Valley-like approach also drove the creation of a spate of high-risk financial instruments that mirrored those of the 2008 financial crisis. Accused of misleading investors and mishandling funds, Bankman-Fried became a target of prosecutors. Now, Cryptomania unfolds the tumultuous twenty months inside this male-dominated, overhyped industry that led to its downfall. Drawing on exclusive reporting and an extensive network in the global NFT community, Andrew Chow chronicles the battle for crypto's soul, and the human toll of its economic meltdown--from the conmen and eccentrics driving the bubble to the victims caught in its burst"--

Book Synopsis

For fans of Bad Blood and Too Big to Fail, an explosive, page-turning account of one of the largest financial frauds in US history, chronicling the utopian promises, human collateral, and incineration of billions of dollars in the 2022 crypto crash, by Time magazine's technology correspondent.

As cryptocurrency rose in popularity during the pandemic, new converts bought into the idea that crypto would not only make them rich, but would usher in imminent revolutions across art, finance, politics, and gaming. Cryptocurrency caught the zeitgeist through figures like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who only two years later would be convicted of one of the most calamitous acts of financial fraud in US history.

During his meteoric rise, Sam Bankman-Fried outflanked idealists in the movement like Vitalik Buterin, who sought to build fairer, more democratic systems through Ethereum. Bankman-Fried pursued a growth-obsessed, by-any-means approach to crypto, which proved seductive to those who just wanted to get rich. But this Silicon Valley-like approach also drove the creation of a spate of high-risk financial instruments that mirrored those of the 2008 financial crisis. Accused of misleading investors and mishandling funds, Bankman-Fried became a target of prosecutors.

Now, Cryptomania unfolds the tumultuous twenty months inside this male-dominated, overhyped industry that led to its downfall. Drawing on exclusive reporting and an extensive network in the global NFT community, Andrew Chow chronicles the battle for crypto's soul, and the human toll of its economic meltdown--from the conmen and eccentrics driving the bubble to the victims caught in its burst.

Review Quotes

"If you can't look away from Big Tech folks behaving badly, Cryptomania should be at the top of your to-read list."--The Seattle Times

"Cryptomania is an epic, essential recounting of the 2022 crypto bubble, in which aspiring heroes strived to upend a predatory creator economy, and then villains like Sam Bankman-Fried co-opted a movement for their own greedy ends. It's a deeply-reported page-turner that manages to be both scathing and empathetic."--Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online

"[An] explosive investigation...whenever the next big 'disruptor' comes around to upend an industry, remember this cautionary tale of greed and corruption."--Esquire

"Cryptomania is a page-turning adventure that manages to be smart, fun, damning and trenchant all at once--?a globe-spanning roller-coaster ride that perfectly captures the surreal rise and fall of the world of crypto. Whether you care about crypto or just love a good story, even if you find the whole sordid saga somewhere between incomprehensible and appalling, this is the book for you."--Molly Ball, author of Pelosi

"Deftly reported and masterfully told, the stories of greed and graft in Cryptomania play out like allegories for our age. Andrew Chow knows this crooked terrain inside and out, and it shows on every page."--Simon Shuster, author of The Showman

"Finally--here's the book that goes right into the heart of the cryptocurrency cyclone. In this riveting account, Chow does something miraculous--he actually explains this crazy industry before describing in forensic detail how it all went bust."--Christopher Leonard, New York Times Bestselling Author of Kochland and The Lords of Easy Money

"In its short lifespan, cryptocurrency has gone through booms and busts and booms again. Trying to capture its story at any given moment is like trying to catch water between your fingers. But in Cryptomania, Andrew Chow gives readers the inside story of the (mostly) men who drove the hype cycle to end all hype cycles, and left chaos and financial ruin in their wake. Read it to understand what crypto was supposed to be, what it became, and what could still happen."--Bryan Walsh, author of End Times

"Cryptomania confidently and authoritatively captures the rise of the decentralized finance movement. Andrew Chow has deftly made the complex trappings of crypto legible while the stakes are grounded in the human story of several powerful figures who could not see past their own hubris."--Kevin Nguyen, author of New Waves

"A scrupulous postmortem of how 'ego and arrogance' drove the 2022 cryptocurrency crash...Buoyed by richly reported portraits of well-known and obscure players connected to FTX's collapse, this is a worthy addition to the crowded field of crypto investigations."--Publishers Weekly

"An engaging, in-depth account of crypto's digital gold rush, Cryptomania brings you down the rabbit hole, exposing an idealistic industry undone by fraud, corruption and a whole lot of greed."--Kurt Wagner, author of Battle for the Bird

About the Author

Andrew R. Chow is a correspondent for Time who covers technology, culture, and business. He has written four Time cover stories, including about the impacts of the AI corporate arms race and a prescient profile of Vitalik Buterin months before the 2022 crypto crash. He has previously written for The New York Times, Pitchfork, and NBC News. Cryptomania is his first book.