Have you heard the plot of the new blockbuster thriller with Dom Fuse in the lead role as a CIA operative embedded in the crypto world? He’s the tough-talking all-action hero who is called in to the shadowy department, within a department, within a top secret corner of CIA Langley. Dom’s boss sits in semi darkness and briefs him about a mysterious genius at the heart of the dark web, who must be tracked down in order to restore the financial balance of a world being bent out of shape by cryptocurrencies.
So Dom sets off down the highway on a supercharged motorbike (because how else would you investigate crypto irregularities?), and along the way has some highly unlikely romantic encounters, and gets to play with lots of gadgets and guns. I won't reveal all the twists and turns but there's a lot of staring at multiple computer screens, and crashing through firewalls and heavily encrypted sites, usually in a matter of seconds. When this happens Dom’s nerdy hacker sidekick always shouts, “We’re in!”
What Dom discovers is that at the center of a whole spiraling web of deceit is a global conspiracy centered around the creator of the blockchain, bitcoin, and everything which has followed. It was all a mistake which got way out of control. The secret CIA department within a department was set up to penetrate the trade in weapons and drugs, and the whole crypto idea was launched simply as a Trojan horse (in the original non-viral meaning of this) to get deep inside the dark networks.
Crypto was never supposed to actually work, and be adopted by non-combatants around the world. But then people everywhere started cottoning onto this new thing, imagining use-cases, inventing new applications. Wow, you could even do a sort of crowd-funding thing called an ICO for new startups and hey, you could invent your own tokens! The irony was that here was something started by the law-enforcers which was now spinning into lawlessness and anarchy. Decentralization was the name of the game, and like the old myth of Pandora and her box, now the word was out it was proving ever more impossible to shut down the system.
Eventually after many thrills and spills – and here comes a spoiler alert – Dom tracks down the person behind the whole vast conspiracy. Naturally they meet in a dark underground car park. That’s the way it always is – you wouldn’t expect them to meet in a nice restaurant would you? His boss steps from the shadows: “How did you work it all out?” she asks. “We thought we'd covered our tracks, but we needed to confirm for sure before we shut it all down.”
“And now I’m the only person standing in the way of collapsing the whole cryptosystem?” asks Dom, staring down the barrel of a machine pistol held by his boss. “I'm sorry that I figured out your plan, Satoshi.”
Of course this is clearly a fictional screenplay, and nothing like it could ever occur in real life. Could it?
Our Hero Investigates
So Dom sets off down the highway on a supercharged motorbike (because how else would you investigate crypto irregularities?), and along the way has some highly unlikely romantic encounters, and gets to play with lots of gadgets and guns. I won't reveal all the twists and turns but there's a lot of staring at multiple computer screens, and crashing through firewalls and heavily encrypted sites, usually in a matter of seconds. When this happens Dom’s nerdy hacker sidekick always shouts, “We’re in!”
What Dom discovers is that at the center of a whole spiraling web of deceit is a global conspiracy centered around the creator of the blockchain, bitcoin, and everything which has followed. It was all a mistake which got way out of control. The secret CIA department within a department was set up to penetrate the trade in weapons and drugs, and the whole crypto idea was launched simply as a Trojan horse (in the original non-viral meaning of this) to get deep inside the dark networks.
Crypto was never supposed to actually work, and be adopted by non-combatants around the world. But then people everywhere started cottoning onto this new thing, imagining use-cases, inventing new applications. Wow, you could even do a sort of crowd-funding thing called an ICO for new startups and hey, you could invent your own tokens! The irony was that here was something started by the law-enforcers which was now spinning into lawlessness and anarchy. Decentralization was the name of the game, and like the old myth of Pandora and her box, now the word was out it was proving ever more impossible to shut down the system.
Spoiler Alert!
Eventually after many thrills and spills – and here comes a spoiler alert – Dom tracks down the person behind the whole vast conspiracy. Naturally they meet in a dark underground car park. That’s the way it always is – you wouldn’t expect them to meet in a nice restaurant would you? His boss steps from the shadows: “How did you work it all out?” she asks. “We thought we'd covered our tracks, but we needed to confirm for sure before we shut it all down.”
“And now I’m the only person standing in the way of collapsing the whole cryptosystem?” asks Dom, staring down the barrel of a machine pistol held by his boss. “I'm sorry that I figured out your plan, Satoshi.”
Of course this is clearly a fictional screenplay, and nothing like it could ever occur in real life. Could it?