Actor Ben McKenzie, known for his role as Jim Gordon in Fox’s superhero crime drama series Gotham, listed issues with the crypto market in response to podcaster Jon Favreau’s Pod Save America cryptocurrency episode.
McKenzie, who holds an undergraduate degree in economics and foreign affairs, claimed Favreau’s guest speaker Kevin Roose didn’t have the full picture regarding the fundamentals of money when he discussed the role of crypto in modern markets. “Money is a public good, as well as a social construct,” McKenzie explained on Twitter. “The first part is pretty self-explanatory: we all rely on money for our modern economies to function effectively.” The actor argued that money was a social construct and it only existed because the public trusted in its perceived value. McKenzie further questioned the viability of a “trustless” currency.
It should be noted that the Favreau being discussed from Pod Save America is not the same Favreau from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. “Private money is something we tried in the 19th century. It was an abysmal failure,” he continued in a subsequent tweet. “When people lost faith in the banks that issued these monies, the ensuing runs on them caused the ‘currencies’ to become worthless.”
McKenzie also discounted cryptocurrency as an example of a decentralized currency. The Gotham star claimed crypto markets were actually heavily centralized. He explained cryptocurrencies were under the control of market makers, who used the currencies for transactions with broker-dealers, clearinghouses and their own exchanges.
“The truth is that these ‘cryptocurrencies’ are not in fact currencies at all, because they don’t function like them: they are a poor medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value,” he said. McKenzie believed cryptocurrencies were closer to securities, with the only difference being cryptocurrencies currently lacked regulation. “We tried this in the 1920s before we had securities laws in this country. It did not go well,” McKenzie concluded.
This isn’t the first time the Gotham star criticized influencers involved with the crypto market. McKenzie previously advised celebrities who profited from cryptocurrency to issue an apology and donate their proceeds to victims of crypto fraud. “Oh, and given enough time we’re probably going to find out how much you [celebrities] were paid anyway,” the actor said at the time. “Just in case you want a little extra motivation to do the right thing.” McKenzie also announced he was collaborating with journalist Jacob Silverman for a book titled Easy Money, which will investigate the effects of the cryptocurrency market.
McKenzie starred in Gotham for the five seasons it aired on Fox between 2014 to 2019. In 2021, fans rallied around the hashtag #SaveGotham in an effort to get the series renewed for a sixth season, to know avail.
All five seasons of Gotham are available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Twitter