Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall

by Zeke Faux

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, True Crime, Business

304 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

About the author

Zeke Faux is an investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News. He’s a winner of the Gerald Loeb Award and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and a National Magazine Award finalist. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the time Cryptocurrency became broadly talked about I could not wrap my mind around the people buying into it. I’ve now listened to several podcasts on the subject and finally this book. I come away believing it is yet another huge scam where in money is being syphoned away from the little people and hoarded by a select few. It is not some new means of money not tied to the government, less so now with Trump in office. And no group has benefitted more from this stuff then criminals; the drug trade, human traffickers, and those who practice the “art” of scamming the unsuspecting out of their hard earned money. And then, of course there are the white collar criminals like SBF and others. This book ended with the crash in 2022, yet since then crypto has grown yet again. If anything, crypto currency is yet the latest testimony of the bankruptcy of the soul of humanity in our current age. It is jaw dropping, depressing and utterly terrifying.

[Dan Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened on Audible with an above average narrator.

Somehow I missed this book previously and is an in depth investigation of the crypto world circa 2020-2024. The author moves through the various crypto products and schemes from currency to tokens to stable coins to NFTs and interviews a comically ridiculous cast of characters along the way.

An entertaining read but one with a dark side as well with an exploration of money laundering and the human trafficking enabled by the crypto ecosystem.

His white whale is the stable coin Tether and while he doesn’t actually land it, he does spend significant time on the case of Sam Bankman-Fried complete with exclusive interviews before and after his fall. Michael Lewis, who also wrote a book on SBF called Going Infinite doesn’t come out so well and the author’s reporting of the trial is both more straightforward and his conclusions more direct.

My interest in the book was spurred by the ever growing profits in crypto by the Trump family and their myriad conflicts of interest in this space. Suffice it to say that the Trump family and their associates fit right in with the cast of characters in this book.

Definitely recommend.

[Erik André Jakobsen]

Om crypto bros kunne lese ville jeg ha anbefalt dem denne boken

[Nell M · Rating 3 out of 5]

the author of this book both seemed to hate everyone involved in crypto and also desperately wanted their approval. the actual story of it was interesting but it’s hard to position this story when you’re still in the middle of it.

[Dallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a good snapshot of the crypto era and how crazy stuff was. A period piece.

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazingly insightful book and a pleasant read. 3 stars because the author’s opinions on crypto, finance, what works and doesn’t work in the financial system are not well thought out.

Read with caution as he makes a lot of mental shortcuts based on conventional wisdom and clearly does not understand bitcoin, in particular.

Highly entertaining otherwise!

[Fábio Fortkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already knew that crypto was weird, but I had no idea that is was as much lunacy as reported by Zeke Faux in this great book.

I was expecting some third-party explanation of what in the world are cryptocurrencies, but what we get in this book is a first-person saga to investigate several phenomena behind the craze: Bitcoin, NFTs, Tether, crazy people (and there are a lot of them), human slavery. All this woven together in a great *story* that raises a little bit our understanding of the modern world.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written and as good an intro to crypto as I imagine a layman could get but tough to get through since I read this more out of feeling like I should know more about what crypto is than because I have a real interest in it. I thought I would be struggling with this for far longer and might have even tapped out when I was unknowingly close to the end but turns out it has so many end notes that you finish the actual ebook around the 60% mark. once I figured that out I was able to power through.

[Paul Grijincu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ride! The book begins with only suspicion of some reclusive characters in the crypto world, and meets some of the (seemingly) world's most brash, then watches as their little world is burning to ashes as crypto's biggest fraud is revealed. Yet, crypto survives along with the reclusive characters from the beginning. I thought I understood crypto a bit, and saw behind the veil, but this book shows how the magic is so strong, that it can survive massive shocks to its core. Crypto is soaring again, as I am writing this review.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never understood the attraction of crypto, and it's juvenile slang, and I hoped this book would enlighten me. It did, but not in a good way. Get rich quick schemes have been with us since time immemorial, crypto is just another in a long line. This is a well-written, easy to follow guide to the first crypto bubble. Alas, there will be more.

[Natalie Vaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book several times and each time something new gives me pause. SBF, Musk, and other crypto bros in the mainstream have overshadowed how messy this weird subculture is.

I hope this isn't the last book from Zeke Faux.

[Emanuele Dalla Longa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written investigative journalism, captivating. Takes the reader on a journey throughout the world and does a good job investigating the biggest players, characters, and some of the dynamics underlying the crypto boom.

[Zeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast read and easy to navigate for the uninitiated. Crypto world explained, with anecdotes about the debauchery and criminal underpinnings.

[Tyler Poole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biased from page 1 which unfortunately made even the interesting research the author did hard to give any credence to.

[Jamal Rizvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Straightforward story that has quite a predictable plot & tone. I didn't have the motivation to carry on till the end

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, Crapto. Where the greedy and the gullible meet. As I told Warren once "If you can't explain it to your dog, give it a wide berth."

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read, even if I still have no better an idea about what crypto actually IS.