Ben McKenzie
Compared to the many other celebrities that have become evangelists or shills for the crypto industry, Ben McKenzie—the ex-star of The O.C. and Gotham—stands out. In a New York Times profile starring McKenzie as he and a reporter take a trek out to a Texas crypto mining operation, he explained how he hopped on the anti-crypto train after the start of the pandemic, saying it had no connection to any real-world currency and instead was fueled by speculation. Now he’s spoken about the dangers of the crypto industry at SXSW and he’s planning to publish a book about crypto alongside The New Republic writer Jacob Silverman.
The ex-”teen-soap star,” as he called himself in a Slate op-ed, wrote with alarm about the growing number of American adults getting into crypto. He’s railed against other celebrities like Kim Kardashian for bringing cryptocurrencies more mainstream, despite how volatile the crypto market can be. He called the “Hollywoodization” of crypto a “moral disaster.”
The self-described no-coiner is a self-acknowledged B-lister in the world of celebrities, yet his stance and constant critique of other pro-crypto Hollywood types has not gone unnoticed by the wider crypto fandom.
