Latest news with #SamBankmanFried
The National
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Mountainhead spoiler review: Ending explains what HBO film is really about
The world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel. Horace Walpole coined that phrase, Succession creator Jesse Armstrong quoted it in his review of a book on disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, and his new film Mountainhead brings that sentiment to life. Mountainhead is a film built for the moment – and these days, moments are more ephemeral than ever. That's precisely why Armstrong, rushed his idea for a fictional summit between tech billionaires to the screen in a matter of months. He pitched it to HBO in December, filmed it in March, and released it today on OSN+ across the Middle East. The film stars Ramy Youssef, Cory Michael Smith, Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman as four of the world's most powerful – and self-declared 'smartest' – men, each with a different claim to fame. It's not based on a true story, but it clearly draws from reality. Randall (Carell) is an elder statesman financier in the style of Peter Thiel, Jeff (Youssef) is an AI entrepreneur like Sam Altman, Venis (Smith) is the richest man in the world who owns a major social media app similar to Elon Musk. Schwartzman, meanwhile, plays a character call 'Souper' – short for soup kitchen, due to his significantly lower net worth. The film is entirely set at a house in the Rocky Mountains, where the four old friends meet for a weekend of fun and end up becoming consumed by the impact of Venis's latest product – generative AI that can create undetectable deepfakes. Within hours of its launch, the world descends into chaos – with inflammatory uses of the tech causing mass violence across the world. Their reactions are naive and self-interested, to say the least. Armstrong has long been interested in the workings of power. But after the conclusion of Succession, and in preparation for his review of Michael Lewis's book Going Infinite, chronicling the rise and fall of Bankman-Fried, he grew obsessed with those on the cutting edge of new technology – men who were changing the course of human history with a hastily-cobbled philosophy guiding their way forward. The venal Prometheans in Mountainhead speaks the language of this philosophy – they talk reverently of 'first principles', for instance – an idea that guides many in the tech space, including Musk. First principle thinking in tech involves boiling down complex problems into their most fundamental, indisputable truths to build new solutions from the ground up – rejecting all orthodoxy completely. The success that the Mountainhead billionaires – who call themselves the Brewsters – have found in life has led them to believe that they have it all figured out. They see themselves as the world's true leaders – and they have their fingers on the buttons that can bend the world to their will. And in their minds, all their actions are for the greater good. The future they are working towards is transhumanist – in which the consciousness of every person on earth will be uploaded into the cloud to exist in a state of bliss. In the meantime, they believe their every innovation will solve all the world's problems and heal all wounds – despite all evidence to the contrary, and with little depth to their analysis. 'Once one Palestinian kid sees some really bananas content from one Israeli kid – it's all over!' Venis remarks. In Succession, Armstrong needed to make his lead characters somewhat sympathetic for the sake of keeping viewers on board for a long-term narrative – here he has no such necessity and chooses not to. The only one with any semblance of a conscience is Youssef's Jeff, who realises his AI detection tech holds potentially the cure to the info-virus that Venis has just unleashed into the world. Youssef, who is an outspoken activist for peace in Palestine in real life, is a knowing bit of casting – but his character proves to be just as corruptible as the rest. Youssef's performance as he captures those layers proves to be the best turn of his career. This all could have become something more akin to a Black Mirror episode if Armstrong had wanted to, but that's just not what interested him. It seems at first that things will play out as a spin on the work of Ayn Rand (the title is a play on Rand's The Fountainhead, after all), with the world's most powerful literally removing themselves from society completely as the world burns. Instead, it becomes a darkly comic spin on Hitchcock film Rope. Before that, the film does toy with the idea of what these men may do if they decided to wield the levers of power at their disposal completely – they consider staging a coup of the United States, buying a country such as Haiti and 'relocating' its inhabitants and turning it into their own state, and more – but these plans are forgotten when they decide that their real problem is Jeff. Jeff wants Randall to push Venis out from his company and stop the world from burning, giving his own AI detection tech to the government for regulatory purposes. Randall, on the other hand, has incurable cancer, and Venis promises him that he will be the first to have his consciousness uploaded to the cloud. Randall then conspires with Venis and Souper to kill Jeff – and they speak about his murder with the same euphemistic Silicon Valley speak. It is there that the film's real message starts to emerge. Yes, these people may be brilliant in many ways, and yes, they may truly believe in their moralistic ambitions. But they are still human, as much as they may pretend to have transcended the rest of humanity. There are still guided by fear, jealousy and pride. They are still capable of stupidity, as much as they feel their net worth inoculates from it. As a result, the techno babble and first principles talk become another tool which they use to get what they want – a lie they tell themselves, each other, and the world. This is a film about the hubris and folly of man – the only true constant in an ever-changing world. They worship 'progress' – and the progress they want is whatever grants them more power. They don't kill Jeff, in the end. After locking him in a sauna, filling it with gasoline and threatening him with a match, they force him to sign over his company to them. And the next morning, when the dust settles, Jeff comes to breakfast with only moderate disgust for his friends. When Jeff goes to leave, Venis follows him, offering him a partnership – to integrate Jeff's tech into Venis's destructive tech to make it even more powerful, and bring about the transhumanist world that they always wanted. Jeff agrees, dropping all of his previously held moral qualms – his only condition being that they cut Randall out completely as an act of revenge. To them, this is all a comedy. They have lost the ability to feel and have no concern for the well-being of humanity. They don't need to create a secret Randian retreat to separate themselves from society – they have already separated themselves in their minds. As a result, we can infer, their actions from here will never take humanity's well-being in concern – and for everyone else, this will become a tragedy. They do the thinking, but the rest of us must feel the consequences. Ultimately, this is the most cynical work yet from Armstrong, and may prove to be his most divisive. But as far as food for thought, there's plenty here to chew on – just be careful of the bitter aftertaste.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Bitcoin's boom challenges anyone who believes the market is an efficient judge of value
If you want more evidence of how politics is infecting markets, consider the amazing resurgence of crypto over the past year. Bitcoin, the granddaddy of the sector, has shot up 50 per cent since last October. Meanwhile, promoters are licking their lips as they contemplate the prospects for a new wave of 'stablecoins' – digital tokens that purport to tie their value to that of an underlying asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold. What's driving the new crypto frenzy? It's not the discovery of some grand new application for crypto. Nor is it a technological breakthrough. No, it's politics. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and a large bipartisan swath of Congress have suddenly turned into crypto boosters. They're demolishing restrictions on crypto use and pushing forward crypto-related projects. Even if you're not a crypto investor, you should pay attention to this odd outburst of enthusiasm. The bitcoin boom challenges anyone who wants to believe that today's market is an efficient judge of value. It also undercuts those who want to believe regulators are keeping a close eye on potential abuses. In a rational world, the appropriate price for bitcoin – an intangible asset that generates no profits, pays no dividends and has no obvious practical utility – would be close to zero. Instead, it's more than US$100,000. What makes its lofty value even more baffling is crypto's long and growing criminal record. Just over a year ago, Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the massive FTX crypto exchange, was sentenced to 25 years in jail for fraud. Around the same time, Canada's own Changpeng Zhao, former head of crypto trader Binance, paid US$50-million in fines and spent four months in jail for money laundering. Meanwhile, Do Kwon, the South Korean software guru behind the TerraUSD stablecoin and Luna cryptocurrency, vanished after his creations crashed, wiping out billions of dollars in value. He was eventually apprehended and arrested and still faces court cases in multiple jurisdictions. Opinion: Canada was once a global leader in crypto. It can be one again Strangely, though, these and other lurid crypto mishaps have vanished from Washington's official memory. The U.S. capital's abrupt shift in sentiment demonstrates the amazing moral elasticity of the new administration. Mr. Trump, who once denounced crypto as a 'scam,' is now vowing to make the United States the 'crypto capital of the world.' He has issued his own personal meme coin – the term for a deliberately useless token, often created with a satirical intent – and has raised more than US$300-million from sales of it, according to a Washington Post analysis. The President is shameless in his promotion of his coin as demonstrated by the private dinner he recently held to reward the biggest buyers of his token. Some might ask if such events amount to selling presidential access to the highest bidder. Others might worry that Mr. Trump is opening the door to outright bribes laundered through purchases of his personal meme coin. In the wonderful world of Washington crypto, though, nobody seems too fussed by such ethical questions. Conflicts of interest are the new norm. Consider this week's events. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump's social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, announced it was raising US$2.5-billion to invest in bitcoin. A day later, the U.S. Department of Labor rescinded its guidance that had previously discouraged retirement plans from offering crypto as a potential investment to their members. This might be a coincidence. Or not. Either way, it looks horrible. So does the extravagantly named GENIUS Act, now advancing rapidly through Congress with bipartisan support. It aims to legitimize stablecoins. These digital tokens attempt to address one common criticism of crypto – the fact that bitcoin and its ilk can fluctuate wildly in value. Stablecoins, as the name suggests, claim they can stabilize the value of their tokens. How? By backing them with reserves of U.S. Treasuries and other low-risk assets. It's an intriguing notion, but it raises loads of questions. Who will ensure stablecoins have the reserves they claim? What happens if a stablecoin develops problems and fails? In many ways, stablecoins look like quasi-banks, but with few of the rules that normally protect bank depositors. Critics say they will increase the fragility of the financial system. Perhaps the fundamental question here is simply, why? Stablecoins solve no obvious problem. Everything they claim to do can be done already through banks and credit cards. It's hard to understand what value can be generated from creating a digital middleman to hold government bonds for you. To be sure, you can make similar points about crypto more generally. More than 15 years after bitcoin first appeared, it is still searching for a practical application. The blockchain concept it relies upon is too clunky and slow for day-to-day use in stores or banks. And the same is true of other digital tokens despite endless tinkering and extravagant claims. Crypto shines in just two areas: enabling criminal activity and offering people a vehicle for pure fact-free speculation. So why is Washington suddenly so enthusiastic about it? Perhaps because the crypto industry accounted for nearly half of all the corporate money that flowed into the U.S. election last year, according to non-profit group Public Citizen. The generous donations appear to have bought the industry a bumper crop of new converts.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Here's how to spot 4 common investment scams
Recently, I was telling a friend about a marketing pitch I'd received that ended with a hard sell. I mentioned to my friend that I was still thinking about the pitch, which promised to generate leads for my freelancing business. 'How do you know it's not a scam?' she asked me. That stopped me in my tracks. I'd recognized the hard sell as soon as it started—and had even anticipated it. I scheduled the call before another appointment so I'd have a good reason to hang up. But I'd still been tempted. After a moment's thought, I was able to articulate how I knew I wasn't being scammed. This company is offering to do something real that I could certainly do myself—identify and contact potential clients. The company isn't scamming me; they're just using high-pressure sales techniques. But my friend's question was an excellent reminder of how easy it is to fall victim to investment scams, whether you're investing in your business or your nest egg. That's why it's so important to understand what investment scams look like and how to recognize them. Nothing new under the sun While the methods scammers use to reach their targets are constantly changing and evolving, the actual scams have remained basically the same since the first prehistoric cave dweller received an email from a deposed Nigerian prince. Even 'new' investment scams, like Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency fraud and whatever the hell NFTs claimed to do, prey on reliable human frailties that don't change—like assuming we don't need to understand an investment to profit from it. That's why most investment fraud is just repackaged versions of the same old scams. These might include: Ponzi schemes A century ago, Boston con artist Charles Ponzi promised investors a 50% return within 45 days on an investment in international mail coupons. At the heart of every Ponzi scheme is the promise of high returns with little to no risk. Of course, there wasn't really an investment. Instead, Ponzi continued to gather new investors, using their money to pay the 'returns' to the original investors. This is the other hallmark of a Ponzi scheme—the scammer must constantly bring on new investors to satisfy the older investors. Ponzi's international mail coupon scheme fell apart when postal inspectors grew suspicious and his investors cashed out in large numbers. Ponzi schemes are inherently unstable and will inevitably disintegrate, either when investors cash out or when the scammer can no longer bring in new investors. But they continue to crop up, as Bernie Madoff reminded the world in 2008. You can generally recognize a Ponzi scheme when it seems too good to be true, when the returns are too consistent, and when those returns arrive nearly overnight. Those all feel great, which is how Ponzi schemes override your logic. This is why it's always a good idea to embrace your financial paranoia. Pump-and-dump schemes The aim of a pump-and-dump scheme is to manipulate the price of a stock in order to profit. Under this scheme, scammers purchase shares of a company at a low price, then start aggressively promoting the stock—pumping it—to encourage investors to buy in. This inflates the price of the stock. At that point, the scammers sell off their shares—dumping the stock—profiting off the unnaturally high price. This leaves the investors holding stocks they paid too much money for. Typically, pump-and-dump schemes work with penny stocks on little-known exchanges and the scammers engage in high-pressure tactics to get you to invest now. If you've never heard of the stock or the exchange it's traded on, and the sales pitch veers from buttering you up ('A smart person like you wouldn't leave this opportunity behind!') to a hostage negotiation ('Come on, do the right thing!'), then you may be facing a pump-and-dump scheme. Even if you have to do the Zoom-call equivalent of locking yourself in the bathroom and escaping out the window, get out of that meeting. Pre-IPO investment scams We all like to imagine where our bank account would be if we'd been one of the initial investors in Apple, which is why it's easy to fall victim to a pre-IPO investment scam. These fraudulent offers give you the opportunity to purchase a stake in an emerging company before its initial public offering, or IPO, and they will often compare this startup to an established company so you'll get dollar signs in your eyes. Who wouldn't want to get in on the ground floor of the next Amazon? Like pump-and-dump schemes, pre-IPO scams commonly include high-pressure sales tactics. The fraudsters want your money as quickly as possible and they don't want you to have time to think more deeply about their offer. The other red flag for pre-IPO scams is how you are contacted. These scammers often rely on cold-calling potential investors and social media solicitations (because that's really how the biggest companies in the world raised their capital, right?). Taking a moment to think through the weirdness of getting contacted out of the blue for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! can help you resist the temptation to invest. Affinity scams Scammers know that you're likely to lower your guard among your community, so the bastards exploit that. Affinity scams target members of affiliated groups, such as religious communities, military members, or other tight-knit circles. The fraudster either is a member of the group or poses as one. By earning the trust of a respected leader, who spreads the word about the investment scheme, the scammer is able to convince the group to invest. These scams can be some of the most difficult to identify, since the scammer is exploiting the group's social capital for their own gain, especially if they have hoodwinked a well-regarded leader. The best way to fight affinity scams is to ask a lot of questions. Legitimate investment professionals are happy to field questions and help you understand where your money is going. Scammers will pressure you to shut up—and will use group dynamics to enforce your silence. And that faux-friendly insistence on silence after you've asked questions is the best indicator of an affinity scam. Know the signs of a scam Knowing what scams exist doesn't make you immune to them. Madoff's victim list included a number of brilliant minds and tough cookies —which just proves that fraud can happen to anyone. Understanding the specific psychological tools scammers use can help you give yourself enough room to think before you act. Urgency: There is no legitimate investment that can't wait 24 hours. You can feel confident about walking away from anyone who pressures you to make an immediate investment decision. Ambiguity: Even if you are an investment noob, you need to understand what your money will be used for. If you're more confused after getting a string of smart-sounding gobbledygook or if you've been told not to worry your pretty little head, don't invest. Guarantees: There are no guarantees in investing. Give the hairy eyeball to anyone who tells you differently. Reaching out to you: Cold-calling is the last refuge of the desperate. (So says the writer who sometimes needs to find people to interview.) If someone is reaching out to you with an exciting opportunity, you need to wonder why. Not today, scammer Remembering that scamming techniques don't really change over time can help you protect yourself. That's because all scams, from Ponzi schemes to pump-and-dumps to pre-IPO investments to affinity scams, aim to get your emotion to override your logic. Of course, it can be difficult to recognize when your lizard brain is driving. That's why you can train yourself to look for the classic signs of an investment scam, including urgency, ambiguity, guarantees, and cold-calling. Before you sign on to any investment, do some basic research, starting with a simple Google search of the opportunity. The Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission provide information on common and emerging trends in investment scams, and scam victims will often share details of their experiences online. Just searching online for the investment may be enough to identify it as a scam. If you're still not sure, consider whether you're feeling pressured to invest. Take at least 24 hours (but consider taking longer) to do more digging into the investment and talking with knowledgeable friends and colleagues before deciding.
The Verge
3 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Netflix's series about the FTX fiasco has found its leading effective altruists
Like Amazon and Apple, Netflix is also looking to cash in on the story of how Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison managed to steal billions from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Variety reports that Anthony Boyle (Tetris, Manhunt) and Julia Garner (Ozark, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) have been cast in Netflix's upcoming drama series, The Altruists, as Bankman-Fried and Ellison. Executive produced by Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt (who will also showrun the series), The Altruists will recount how Bankman-Fried, FTX's former CEO, and Ellison, the former head of FTX's sister cryptocurrency trading firm, Alameda Research, enriched themselves by defrauding FTX's investors. Netflix has ordered eight episodes for the series, and James Ponsoldt (Shrinking, Running Point) is attached to direct the premiere. Netflix describes the series as being about 'two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye — and then seduced, coaxed, and teased each other into stealing $8 billion,' which sounds accurate, if a bit aggrandizing. Presumably, the show will cover how both Bankman-Fried and Ellison ultimately plead guilty, and wound up being sentenced to 25 and 2 years in prison, respectively. And if The Altruists really wants to be seen as a serious, thoughtful piece of storytelling that isn't just mythologizing its central felons, it should probably touch on how hard Bankman-Fried is now pushing for Donald Trump to give him a pardon.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
TV series on Sam Bankman-Fried and crypto firm FTX heads to Netflix
Netflix is getting into the cryptocurrency business, with a limited series produced by the Obamas on the rise and fall of crypto exchange FTX and its disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. The Altruists, from Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Grounds Productions, will focus on the eccentric entrepreneur and his business – and sometimes personal – partner Caroline Ellison. The show will feature 'two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye – and then seduced, coaxed, and teased each other into stealing $8 billion', according to the official logline. Northern Irish actor Anthony Boyle will play Bankman-Fried, with US actor Julia Garner signed to play Ellison. Graham Moore, writer of the 2014 film The Imitation Game, and Jacqueline Hoyt, an executive producer of the Prime Videos series The Underground Railroad, will serve as co-showrunners of the eight-episode series. The Circle and Shrinking director James Ponsoldt will direct. 'For nearly three years now, Sam and Caroline's story has been my daily obsession,' Moore told the Hollywood Reporter. 'I'm so grateful to my friends at Netflix and Higher Ground for loving this story not only as much as I do, but in the same way that I do. And we can't wait to show all of you why.' FTX, one of world's best-known cryptocurrency exchange platforms with an A-list roster of celebrity proponents, collapsed in spectacular fashion in 2022 after a run on customer withdrawals revealed a missing $8bn in customer funds. Bankman-Fried, a leading proponent of the movement known as 'effective altruism' and a major donor to both political parties, was convicted in November 2023 on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy; he was ordered to forfeit $11bn in assets and spend 25 years in prison. Ellison, who was CEO of FTX's associated hedge fund Alameda Research, as well as Bankman-Fried's on-and-off girlfriend, served as the star prosecution witness after pleading guilty to other charges. The Altruists marks a return for Garner to Netflix – she played another notorious scammer, Anna Delvey, in the 2022 series Inventing Anna, and won three Emmys for her role on the Netflix hit Ozark. Boyle's credits include FX's Say Nothing, on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and Apple's Masters of the Air and Manhunt. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The series is one of several projects in the works on the high-profile financial saga. It was announced in November that Girls creator Lena Dunham will write a movie based on Michael Lewis's 2023 bestseller Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon for Apple and A24. Amazon Prime Video has a limited series in the works from Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writer David Weil. There are also multiple competing nonfiction projects: one from Vice Media and the Information on effective altruism, another from studio XTR and director David Darg that promises 'unprecedented access to key players at FTX and the cryptocurrency community' in SBF's home base of the Bahamas. A third documentary from Fortune and Mark Wahlberg's company Unrealistic Ideas will focus on the relationship between Bankman-Fried and one of his most vocal critics, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao. Bloomberg has already aired a nonfiction special on the debacle, titled Ruin: Money, Ego & Deception at FTX.
