Matt Shea's documentary The Tech Billionaire Takeover is bookended by two stark facts. One is that the wealth of the world's 12 richest people equals that of the poorest 50% of humanity. The other is that in recent US election cycles, cryptocurrency has replaced the fossil fuel industry as the biggest political donor.
Entertaining Yet Terrifying Exploration
In an hour that manages to be more entertaining than terrifying, Shea explores how a fresh breed of tech billionaires are looking to make a bold new move. He shows that in traditional Western democracy, the principle of equal votes and equal accountability is heavily compromised by a tiny minority of rich citizens. These individuals influence elections by bankrolling politicians, owning media companies, and using wealth to ensure rules don't apply to them. But plutocrats still find this system frustrating due to elections and the rule of law.
Shea meets people who have made enormous wealth from cryptocurrency—a sector claiming dedication to freedom and transparency but notoriously resistant to accountability. First, he observes Justin Sun, a Chinese tech entrepreneur with personal wealth of around $8.5bn, getting his crypto trading network Tron listed on Nasdaq via a “reverse merger” with a failing company. Sun buys the already-listed business and changes its name to Tron Inc., a perfectly legal but telling maneuver.
Liberland: A Crypto Utopia?
Next, Shea travels to a muddy peninsula in the Danube between Croatia and Serbia, claimed by crypto bros as Liberland, a “micronation” supposed to become a hi-tech utopia with no tax and no regulatory red tape. Currently, it's a few tents regularly raided by Croatian police. Shea meets President Vit Jedlicka, who struggles to control his acolytes. One acolyte stumbles when arguing that Liberland's electoral system—where purchasing more crypto “merits” gives more voting power—means liberty is available to few. The elected prime minister? Justin Sun.
Shea jousts with writer Curtis Yarvin, who believes democratic governments are inferior to rule by corporate boards headed by CEO “monarchs.” The program gets wackier at Token 2049 in Singapore, a conference for those who believe crypto is the future and governments can't be trusted. A man with bitcoin logos on his suit babbles about a “new world order” implementing satanic global dominion.
Trump Family and Crypto Ties
One main sponsor of Token 2049 is Tron, and the keynote speaker is Donald Trump Jr., there on behalf of World Liberty Financial, the crypto company co-founded by the Trump family, estimated to have made over $2bn from cryptocurrency ventures. Several investors in World Liberty—including Justin Sun before a spectacular fallout with the Trumps—have subsequently benefited from favorable legal or regulatory decisions by the US government. Trump has denied any link between investments in his family companies and government decisions. His representative calls it “the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed … for a decade. … There are no conflicts of interest.” When Shea raises the issue with Sun, a PR adviser heckles from behind the camera and shuts the question down.
Faltering Thesis
Shea's thesis falters slightly: replacing governments with digital hegemonies might make sense to crypto billionaires who don't need reliable infrastructure or a healthy workforce—they just want machines to turn money into more money. But taking over countries is unnecessary thanks to the Trump regime, which already offers frictionless routes to greater wealth. Either way, none of this is good, and all of it is to be monitored, albeit from a position of helpless impotence. The rich keep getting richer, and the powerful keep finding ways to help them do it.
