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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Besides the executive orders, pardons, and other moves,

Trump and his family have started selling a brand new cryptocurrency coin, featuring an image

of Trump drawn from the assassination attempt he experienced during the

presidential campaign. It's a venture that by some accounts could make the president billions of

dollars, though we'll discuss what that actually means. The new coin, which has drawn criticism from

government ethics lawyers, is just one of several moves Trump has made to embrace

cryptocurrency. He plans to replace the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,

who sued many crypto companies. Trump's nominee to head the commission is Paul Atkins,

a pro-crypto executive. And Trump's nominee for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik,

heads an investment bank that's deeply involved with the cryptocurrency that's been used by arms dealers, scam artists,

and drug traffickers, among others. If you find the whole subject of cryptocurrency confusing,

fear not. Our guest today, Bloomberg investigative reporter Zeke Fox, has written a fascinating and

accessible book about crypto, and he's reported on Trump's newfound enthusiasm for the industry.

We'll talk about Trump's crypto moves as well as the nature of cryptocurrency, its role in the economy,

and what the future holds for digital currency.

Zeke Fox's book is Number Go Up, Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.

We recorded our conversation earlier this week.

Zeke Fox, welcome to fresh air.

Thanks, Dave.

So let's start with a simple understanding of what cryptocurrency is, right?

...