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Review
Boisterous and masterfully written . . . Faux’s cast of misfits and con artists never fails to entertain ―
Washington PostAn excoriating attack on crypto and all who sail in her . . . It’s enough to drive the observer slightly nuts. You can find that energy in Faux’s funny, furious book — John Lanchester ―
LRBOffers a shrewdly sceptical view of crypto where [Michael Lewis’s]
Going Infinite is stubbornly credulous ― New York TimesDefinitely
the best book to read for anyone who wants to understand what happened with SBF and FTX; I’d argue it’s also the best book to give any general-interest reader who wants to learn more about why crypto has crashed and burned ― WIRED, ‘The 16 Best Books of 2023’ Number Go Up is a globe-trotting nonfiction picaresque that’s as much fun as you can have reading about financial malfeasance and blockchain scams. It’s a crisp primer that effortlessly ties the overinflated promise of bitcoin not just to the fraudsters like Sam Bankman-Fried who peddle it, but to the places in the Global South, like the Philippines and Cambodia, that are steamrolled by the fallout when that promise dies, often in spectacular fashion. It’s scathing; it made me snort rage chortles aloud as I read. I would have finished it in a single sitting if I didn’t have to sleep. ― LA Times, ‘The 10 Best Tech Books of 2023’Of all the books you could read about the pandemic-driven crypto and NFT pyramid-scheme madness, this is the one. It is fantastically funny, sceptical, thoughtful and he’s willing to pursue every part of the story. The chapter in which he investigates the effects of crypto-based gaming in the Philippines is devastating. The sequence where he risks his savings by buying an extremely ugly Bored Ape in order to get into a party is laugh-out-loud hilarious. — Naomi Alderman
An appalled, Wolfe-ian look at the barely concealed cynicism and grift that fuelled and continue to fuel cryptocurrency’s vast speculative bubble . . . No one comes out of this well, from Tony Blair and Bill Clinton cosying up to Bankman-Fried to an endless parade of celebrities shilling for crypto . . . Recount[s] the end of an era ―
SpectatorFaux demonstrates his incisive grasp of the story with the very first words of his prologue . . . In telling his story, Faux has one major advantage over [Michael] Lewis: almost from the start, he had crypto’s number ―
LA TimesFunny, enraging, racy and profound. We were waiting for the first great crypto book and Zeke Faux has written it — Oliver Bullough, author ―
Butler to the WorldThe superior guide to understanding the FTX debacle and Bankman-Fried himself . . . This is the strength of
Number Go Up: it doesn’t pretend there’s something inside, just beyond our reach. Instead, Faux explores how flimsy the whole crypto industry really is ― WiredEssential reading for anyone who wants to understand the mass delusion that was crypto — Bethany McLean, bestselling co-author ―
The Smartest Guys in the RoomLaugh-out-loud funny . . . An often hilarious courtside view of the recent mania – and a useful reminder to blockchain evangelists about the many, many sleazy characters who inhabit their realm. Well worth a read — Jeff John Roberts ―
FortuneThis often funny, often tragic analysis of the rise and fall of cryptocurrencies and their champions shows human vanity and weakness at their most destructive . . . It is hard to think of any book or film with a cast as odious, as indifferent to the consequences of their shakedowns, as arrogant, or as voracious as the hustlers launching one ICO ‘opportunity’ after another . . . This well-written, pacey book is difficult to put down because you wonder how the swizz of the previous chapter might be surpassed – as it nearly always is ―
Irish ExaminerIt’s terrific. Each chapter, each scheme somehow stranger, funnier and more enraging than the last. A whole economy layered like a French pastry of Ponzi schemes — Scott Tobias, The Next Picture Show
The funniest financial journalist in America takes on the funniest story in modern finance — Matt Levine, author of Businessweek’s Money Stuff
Unlike every other crypto book . . . I just couldn’t put it down . . . The real beauty of this book is in the little details. It’s what makes it read like fiction, even though it’s all unfortunately horrifyingly real — Off Topic with Molly Jane ―
Blockworks.co[In his book
Going Infinite, Michael] Lewis reveals little about the inner workings of crypto . . . For those wanting a rollicking – albeit jaundiced – examination of crypto’s underbelly, read Mr Faux’s book ― The EconomistThe best book yet written about cryptocurrency — Patrick McKenzie ―
Bits about MoneyNot only a breath of fresh air but quite possibly the best book ever written about the cryptocurrency industry — Cas Piancey ―
ProtosBoth a serious financial investigation and incredibly entertaining … Faux seems to be the only one asking uncomfortable questions — Sarah Frier, FT/McKinsey award-winning author ―
No FilterLudicrously compelling. I, quite literally, couldn’t put it down – and I don’t even care about crypto. Zeke Faux writes about this world with such clarity, humor, and perspective that the portrait captures something even larger: a moment in time that we can’t afford not to understand — Evan Osnos, author ―
Joe Biden: American DreamerA dizzying safari of the surreal … Zeke Faux takes readers behind the velvet rope and onto the mega yachts and multimillion-dollar tropical compounds of the billionaire crypto schemers, hustlers, and evangelists who may all be headed to prison, but are having a riotously good time — Joshua Green, #1 NYT bestselling author ―
The Devil’s BargainBusiness journalists are not usually lauded for their bravery, but it takes guts to gaze into the abyss of late-stage capitalism, never mind parachute directly into it. [Number Go Up] is a kind of hero’s journey . . . Riveting — Jessica Pressler, special correspondent at Vanity Fair, producer ―
Inventing AnnaAn instant classic:
Liar’s Poker for the era of digital monkey tokens — Kit Chellel, co-author ― Dead in the WaterThe definitive book about crypto and the only one you’ll want to read — Max Chafkin, author ―
The ContrarianFaux does an excellent job [of] digging into the personalities and hype . . . A lot of things about crypto finally clicked into place for me after reading this book ―
The VergeEye popping . . . one of the tensest things I’ve ever read — Jenny Colgan ―
Herald Scotland
R_S_M –
Good old fashioned journalism applied to the mad world of crypto, NFT’s and the associated uncontrolled manias that swept the world these last few years. The links to organised crime are particularly scary.
Kindle Customer –
Forget Michael Lewis, this is the real deal, a cold eyed investigation of the hustlers who turned effectively an excel spreadsheet into a scam that harmed a lot of innocent people around the globe.
tamer –
A superb document detailing the insanity of the crypto bubble and the players involved – this will be the definitive history of another speculative bubble like the South Sea or tulip one
Sean Connolly –
Very engaging investigative journalism. Delves into some dark areas of the crypto world. Reveals some aspects of the industry that one may not have thought about.
doc_wellsy –
The author has clearly gone to a lot of effort in the writing of this book, travelling all over the world and properly getting into crypto in order to gather the information for the book. All in all, pretty impressive journalism.Unfortunately, the author sets out to investigate any incongruities around the stable coin Tether (USDT), and fails to find any evidence that there is anything wrong with the reserves backing the coin.The author does discover a whole seedy underworld of crime in Cambodia, involving torture and imprisonment, with people being forced to run telephone scams, which is genuinely compelling reading. None of it relates to Tether however, except that the criminal organisations accepted payment in USDT. The author suggests that this makes Tether somehow capricious, but fails to give a compelling reason as to why, or how cash is any better. In fact, according to Coin Telegraph, cash is the most common tool for money laundering, and is harder to trace than crypto.Overall, an interesting read, but fails to get to the bottom of any issues that it looks at, and seems to therefore present a fairly baseless argument.
Daniel Bedford-Green –
Interesting book which initially was investigating USDT but ended up commenting on the broader market and the fall of FTX.
Andy Bailey –
Entertaining, intelligent, funny whilst all the time exposing and explaining some of the most egregious shenanigans to have been perpetrated in recent years. Recommended.
Vikram Sai –
Mindblowing work by the author
Must read for crypto proponents and opponents both. This book is not just about2020-21. It’s more like 2017-2023. You’ll get to learn about the darkest side of crypto.
Radek Urban –
Fantastic report
It seems the whole crypto world is one large scam… oh wait, maybe Bitcoin not. A fantastic report, a tour-de-force, a tour-of-the-world, about just everything encircling Bitcoin… and Tether. You want to read more!