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

Hailed as a best book of the year by The New York Times DealBook and The Washington Post, the “rollicking” (The Economist) account of the crypto delusion, and how Sam Bankman-Fried and a cast of fellow nerds and hustlers turned useless virtual coins into trillions of dollars—with new chapters from the author reflecting on SBF's trial

FINALIST: the Edgar Award (Fact Crime), the Porchlight Business Book Award • Also named a best book of the year by Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, Irish Examiner, Morningstar, The Verge, Wired

In 2021 cryptocurrency went mainstream. Giant investment funds were buying it, celebrities like Tom Brady endorsed it, and TV ads hailed it as the future of money. As he observed this frenzy, investigative reporter Zeke Faux had a nagging question: Was it all just a confidence game of epic proportions? Faux’s investigation would lead him to "ApeFest," an elite party headlined by Snoop Dogg; the Philippines, where a Pokémon knockoff spawns a Ponzi scheme; to Cambodia, where he uncovers a crypto-fueled human-trafficking ring; and ultimately to a schlubby, frizzy-haired twenty-nine-year-old named Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF for short) and a host of other crypto scammers, utopians, and overnight billionaires.

When the bubble suddenly bursts in 2022, Faux brings readers inside SBF’s penthouse as the fallen crypto king faces his imminent arrest. "Funny, enraging, racy, and profound" (Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland), Number Go Up is the essential chronicle of a $3 trillion financial delusion.

Publication History:Currency HC 9/23

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.

Author Residence: Brooklyn, NY

Author Hometown: Somerville, MA