Actor and crypto critic Ben McKenzie sat down with comedian and commentator Hasan Minhaj for a conversation about fraud in the cryptocurrency market. When the topic turned to Donald Trump, McKenzie did not hold back.
During the interview, the former The O.C. star explained how Trump’s relationship with cryptocurrency shifted dramatically over time.
“Trump as recently as 2019 called Bitcoin a scam,” McKenzie told Minhaj, before offering his own theory about the reversal. “My personal theory is that that’s because he was cutting in on his core business. You know, Trump is a real estate guy and there’s a lot of money laundering in real estate and I think he was kind of jealous that crypto, he wasn’t getting his cut,” he said.
McKenzie then described how that stance changed heading into the 2024 election cycle.
“And then in 2024 in the summer, he really embraced it fully,” he said. “There were rumors before, but he like spoke at the Bitcoin conference. He obviously doesn’t know anything about it, but he knows he can figure out a way to make money off of this.”
When Minhaj asked how Trump and his family were profiting from cryptocurrency, McKenzie walked through what he described as the mechanics behind their ventures.
“There’s the meme coins that he did and Melania did,” he said. “Those are, think of those as Ponzi schemes effectively. You’re going to try to release the coin, you own 99% of it or some huge percentage of it. If people put money into it, then the price goes up and at a certain point you just sell all of it and take whatever money you can get.”
McKenzie also pointed to what he described as a larger and more troubling arrangement involving a stable coin company.
“If the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, is selling people on this product and they’re buying it, why are they buying it?” he said. “Well, one reason they’re buying it is for access.”
He elaborated further, describing a dinner Trump allegedly held for top investors in his coin at one of his country clubs. “He’s literally pay to play, paying for access to the most powerful man in the world,” he said.
McKenzie also connected the stable coin to a $500 million investment from Abu Dhabi, noting what he believed the investors received in return.
“They got AI chips. They got Nvidia chips through this circuitous deal with Trump and his family. And they got a pardon for the guy from Binance,” he said, referring to Changpeng Zhao. Zhao had pleaded guilty to money laundering and served four months in prison before receiving a pardon. “That’s corruption. That’s a cri me. Should be a cri me,” McKenzie added.
McKenzie then delivered his most direct warning to anyone considering putting money into Trump-backed cryptocurrency projects.
“If you’re putting money into something that Trump is backing because you think you’re going to make money out of it, just know that he’s a convicted fraudster,” he said. “He’s been convicted of 34 counts, 34 felonies in the state of New York by a jury. So just bear that in mind.”
