CRYPTO BROS QUIETLY bought the world, a new documentary reveals. 一部新紀錄片揭露，加密貨幣兄弟們已悄悄地買下了全世界
Big oil famously used to own the US administration, along with weapons firms and lobby groups like AIPAC. Today, cryptocurrency tycoons are the biggest donors, it says.
As a result of the rise of these digital-finance gods, the world’s money distribution system has become wildly distorted, with just 12 people, generally techies, having the same wealth as 50% of the humans on planet Earth, says Matt Shea’s new BBC 2 documentary, The Tech Billionaire Takeover.
The entanglement of politics with cryptocurrency is the key, he says.
QUIET REVOLUTION
It’s fascinating: While the world debates whether adversarial western democracy (US, UK) is superior or inferior to cohesive but nanny-ish Asian democracy (Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong), a different revolution has quietly taken place.
There has been a global takeover by tech billionaires, many using alternative forms of currency, Shea argues.
His thesis sounds wild at first, but then think about it.
- US President Donald Trump, from day one of his current presidency, has been deeply entangled with crypto finance ventures.
- In the UK, the richest party is Reform, which has received tens of millions of GBP, including £25 million from Thai crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and £4 billion from Hong Kong cryptocurrency magnate Ben Delo.
- Crypto seems more powerful than the law. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, jailed founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, was pardoned in October 2025. This is despite the fact that he had previously pleaded guilty.
- Donald Trump Junior and Eric Trump are launching and backing multiple massive ventures that operate across decentralized finance and Bitcoin mining. Many more are in the pipeline, and they stretch across the world.
- In the US, venture capitalist Tim Draper (in the accompanying image), wants to create a digital country, Draper Nation, using bitcoin as its currency.
RUNNING A COUNTRY
But can tech bros govern a physical country?
Shea’s documentary includes a visit to a small Danube peninsula adjoining Serbia which has been relaunched as Liberland, a new tiny country with no tax system and purchasable voting power. It’s a muddy field with a few tents.
The nominal prime minister is Justin Sun, a well-known Chinese crypto currency giant familiar to us in Hong Kong.
Sun’s philosophy is eyebrow-raising: “Blockchain technology we have today is empowering individuals, rather than organisations. I think that’s very important. I think that’s also why I believe the government will be useless: because of technology’s evolvement. Everyone can use technology to do anything they want in the world, and there is no way to stop them.”
THIS IS BAD
That’s a good thing? Surely all this is bad news for the people of planet earth?
In a word, Yes: it’s a bad thing. Traditional governments and tech billionaires don’t have the same aims: there’s really no overlap at all.
One has an obligation to make sure that you get basic amenities from food and drink to roads and schools and hospitals and garbage collection.
The other is focused on amassing wealth for themselves, getting everyone addicted to their products, and making sure their investments in weapons firms and AI companies continue to rise. And these people have way too much access to the ears of political leaders in the UK, US, EU, Australia and so on.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD
One bright spot: The assumption is made that corporations have been more powerful than governments for decades now.
But remember how Chinese leader Xi Jinping slapped down Ant Group’s attempted mega-listing in late 2020? That shows it’s possible.
At the time, the global financial community was horrified. But today, most people surely believe that mega-corporations have way too much power, and there just hasn’t been enough effort made to rein them in.
And the EU is openly jealous of China’s Great Firewall, which enabled the Chinese to develop their own, thriving, creative tech industry sector.
With the current business-friendly administration in the White House, the problem in the west is not going to be easily solved.
The Tech Billionaire Takeover has just been launched on BBC iPlayer and will be available on other channels in the near future.
Johnson Choi Biz 