'Bitcoin Billionaires'
Ben Mezrich, Flatiron Books, 278 pages, $27.99. At the end of 2017, Bitcoin mania was at a frenzy. And then, just as you would expect of an asset whose value had increased exponentially in the blink of an eye, the bubble burst. Many who put their faith in the digital currency saw their fortunes erased. In "Bitcoin Billionaires," Ben Mezrich chronicles the dizzying rise of the digital currency, through the eyes of two of its biggest boosters: the celebrity twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. He doesn't get around to detailing the nausea-inducing fall. The Winklevoss brothers are best known for their public brawl with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. That story is well known thanks in part to Mezrich's previous book, "The Accidental Billionaires." "Bitcoin Billionaires" picks up with the Winklevoss brothers prying a lucrative settlement out of Zuckerberg, whom they had claimed stole their idea for a social network. They soon plow a chunk of that into the Bitcoin circus, where they encounter shameless hucksters, hapless computer geeks and shadowy criminals. Mezrich caricatures the Winklevii — as the brothers are collectively nicknamed — as grumpy geniuses but still sympathetic underdogs. He also treats the brothers' Bitcoin binge as something profound, as if they are the visionaries who created the cryptocurrency rather than the rich gamblers who wagered on it. Mezrich is a talented storyteller, but Mezrich's tale is hampered by his reliance on the brothers as his main sources — and the fact that he doesn't bother with the consequences of the bitcoin plunge on the twins' fortunes.
NEW YORK TIMES
