Hollywood’s cautious embrace of cryptocurrency stories
Netflix has started production on “One Attempt Remaining,” a romantic comedy centered around cryptocurrency themes. This marks what might be the first mainstream Hollywood film to focus directly on digital currencies as a primary plot element. For years, crypto mostly appeared in smaller indie films or as brief references in larger productions, often just to add a futuristic touch.
Cutter Hoderine, director of the indie thriller “Cold Wallet,” mentioned that crypto still feels more fringe in film than it actually is in real life. He pointed out the contrast between on-screen portrayals and the current reality where U.S. government interest in digital currencies has grown, and Bitcoin serves as a financial indicator.
The challenge of explaining complex technology
Leo Matchett from Web3 film fund Decentralized Pictures suggested that crypto’s slow adoption in mainstream cinema partly stems from public understanding. He compared it to how films in the late 90s and early 2000s rarely featured the internet prominently. Only when internet use became widespread did hacker movies and online activity stories become common.
Matchett thinks crypto follows a similar path. Films reflect daily life, he said, and since crypto isn’t yet a regular part of most people’s routines, it hasn’t found its way into mainstream art. In “Cold Wallet,” crypto simply functions as a payment method—a “device of value” that could have been gold bars or cash in another film.
The production team worked to simplify concepts like wallets and seed phrases for general audiences. They stuck to familiar genre conventions, making the film essentially a heist thriller about a crypto CEO and the investors he defrauded.
Negative portrayals and cultural perceptions
Crypto’s on-screen history hasn’t been particularly flattering. Most appearances link digital currencies to criminal activity—money laundering in films like “Crypto” and “Money Plane,” or shady deals in big-budget action movies. Even when not directly criminal, crypto characters often represent obnoxious wealth or serve as modern versions of 1980s yuppie antagonists.
Viviane Ford, who created the web series “Crypto Castle,” suggested the crypto community contributed to this image. Meme culture, Lamborghinis wrapped in Doge imagery, and public perception of crypto as gambling haven’t helped, she thinks. The collapses of FTX and Terra further damaged crypto’s reputation by causing significant financial losses.
Interestingly, despite these portrayals, crypto firms haven’t pursued much product placement in films. Matchett noted that “Cold Wallet” featured a crypto wallet without any sponsorship money. He suggested the mismatch between crypto’s volatile market cycles and film production timelines makes such partnerships difficult.
Shifting perspectives and future possibilities
There are signs of change, though. “One Attempt Remaining” reportedly uses wallet mechanics and seed phrases as actual plot elements rather than just background details. Ford’s “Crypto Castle” attempts a more nuanced look at crypto communities, based on her four years living in a San Francisco house with crypto enthusiasts.
Ford wanted to create likable characters despite portraying what she calls “crypto bros.” She acknowledged the original ideals behind blockchain technology—decentralized power, cross-border payments—but noted that what often captures public attention are memes and sensational stories.
Matchett believes crypto holds real potential that hasn’t been properly showcased in film yet. The challenge, he thinks, is finding a simple way to explain the technology quickly within a narrative structure. He predicts that as crypto becomes more integrated into the global economy over coming decades, it will naturally appear more frequently in heist and adventure films.
Perhaps the most telling observation comes from the industry professionals themselves: they’re still figuring out how to portray this technology that exists somewhere between revolutionary financial tool and cultural curiosity. The stories might be changing, but they’re changing slowly, much like public understanding of the technology itself.
