Number Go Up
Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.22
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dan Bittner
-
Written by:
-
Zeke Faux
About this listen
The “rollicking” (The Economist), “masterfully written” (The Washington Post) account of the crypto delusion, and how Sam Bankman-Fried and a cast of fellow nerds and hustlers turned useless virtual coins into trillions of dollars—hailed by Ezra Klein in The New York Times as one of the “Books That Explain Where We Are”
FINALIST: the Edgar Award (Fact Crime), the Macavity Award (Nonfiction), the Porchlight Business Book Award, the SABEW Best in Business Book Award
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times DealBook, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Globe and Mail, Irish Examiner, Morningstar, The Verge, Wired
In 2021 cryptocurrency went mainstream. Giant investment funds were buying it, celebrities like Tom Brady endorsed it, and TV ads hailed it as the future of money. Hardly anyone knew how it worked—but why bother with the particulars when everyone was making a fortune from Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, or some other bizarrely named “digital asset”?
As he observed this frenzy, investigative reporter Zeke Faux had a nagging question: Was it all just a confidence game of epic proportions? What started as curiosity—with a dash of FOMO—would morph into a two-year globe-spanning quest to understand the wizards behind the world’s new financial machinery. Faux’s investigation would lead him to a schlubby, frizzy-haired twenty-nine-year-old named Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF for short) and a host of other crypto scammers, utopians, and overnight billionaires.
Faux follows the trail to a luxury resort in the Bahamas, where SBF boldly declares that he will use his crypto fortune to save the world. Faux talks his way onto the yacht of a former child actor turned crypto impresario and gains access to “ApeFest,” an elite party headlined by Snoop Dogg, by purchasing a $20,000 image of a cartoon monkey. In El Salvador, Faux learns what happens when a country wagers its treasury on Bitcoin, and in the Philippines, he stumbles upon a Pokémon knockoff mobile game touted by boosters as a cure for poverty. And in an astonishing development, a spam text leads Faux to Cambodia, where he uncovers a crypto-powered human-trafficking ring.
When the bubble suddenly bursts in 2022, Faux brings listeners inside SBF’s penthouse as the fallen crypto king faces his imminent arrest. Fueled by the absurd details and authoritative reporting that earned Zeke Faux the accolade “our great poet of crime” (Money Stuff columnist Matt Levine), Number Go Up is the essential chronicle, by turns harrowing and uproarious, of a $3 trillion financial delusion.
©2023 Zeke Faux (P)2023 Random House AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
He loves SBF too much
- By Samuel Carvalho on 2023-10-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
The Fund
- Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
- Written by: Rob Copeland
- Narrated by: Rob Copeland, Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio does not want you to listen to this audiobook. Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles.
-
-
Searing
- By Mia Cara Cosco on 2024-10-21
Written by: Rob Copeland
-
Easy Money
- Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
- Written by: Ben McKenzie, Jacob Silverman - contributor
- Narrated by: Ben McKenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a famous actor and an experienced journalist, a wildly entertaining debunking of cryptocurrency, one of the greatest frauds in history and on course for a spectacular crash.
-
-
Detailing A Crash
- By Gerry Corcoran on 2023-09-25
Written by: Ben McKenzie, and others
-
Finish What We Started
- The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy
- Written by: Isaac Arnsdorf
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021, a growing movement of grassroots activists began plotting around the country to pick up where the insurrection left off, laying the groundwork to succeed next time where Donald Trump had failed to keep himself in power. Inspired by Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, this nationwide groundswell quickly moved beyond rhetoric and into action. Election deniers began capturing local party committees, elevating like-minded insurgents, and developing a new way forward.
Written by: Isaac Arnsdorf
-
The Siege
- A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the American hostage crisis in Iran boiled into its seventh month in the spring of 1980, six heavily armed gunman barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed over the next six days was an increasingly tense standoff, one that threatened at any moment to spill into a bloodbath.
-
-
Excellent
- By Mike on 2024-12-06
Written by: Ben Macintyre
-
Tracers in the Dark
- The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
- Written by: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money.
-
-
A very engaging read
- By Shep on 2024-10-18
Written by: Andy Greenberg
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
He loves SBF too much
- By Samuel Carvalho on 2023-10-07
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
The Fund
- Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
- Written by: Rob Copeland
- Narrated by: Rob Copeland, Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio does not want you to listen to this audiobook. Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles.
-
-
Searing
- By Mia Cara Cosco on 2024-10-21
Written by: Rob Copeland
-
Easy Money
- Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
- Written by: Ben McKenzie, Jacob Silverman - contributor
- Narrated by: Ben McKenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a famous actor and an experienced journalist, a wildly entertaining debunking of cryptocurrency, one of the greatest frauds in history and on course for a spectacular crash.
-
-
Detailing A Crash
- By Gerry Corcoran on 2023-09-25
Written by: Ben McKenzie, and others
-
Finish What We Started
- The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy
- Written by: Isaac Arnsdorf
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021, a growing movement of grassroots activists began plotting around the country to pick up where the insurrection left off, laying the groundwork to succeed next time where Donald Trump had failed to keep himself in power. Inspired by Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, this nationwide groundswell quickly moved beyond rhetoric and into action. Election deniers began capturing local party committees, elevating like-minded insurgents, and developing a new way forward.
Written by: Isaac Arnsdorf
-
The Siege
- A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the American hostage crisis in Iran boiled into its seventh month in the spring of 1980, six heavily armed gunman barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed over the next six days was an increasingly tense standoff, one that threatened at any moment to spill into a bloodbath.
-
-
Excellent
- By Mike on 2024-12-06
Written by: Ben Macintyre
-
Tracers in the Dark
- The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
- Written by: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money.
-
-
A very engaging read
- By Shep on 2024-10-18
Written by: Andy Greenberg
-
Blockchain Revolution
- How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies Is Changing the World
- Written by: Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The technology likely to have the greatest impact on the future of the world economy has arrived, and it's not self-driving cars, solar energy, or artificial intelligence. It's called the blockchain. The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet of information. The second generation - powered by blockchain technology - is bringing us the Internet of value: a new, distributed platform that can help us reshape the world of business and transform the old order of human affairs for the better.
-
-
One of the worst books I've ever read.
- By Ev Haus on 2018-01-10
Written by: Don Tapscott, and others
-
Kings of Crypto
- Written by: Jeff John Roberts
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An expert, story-driven account of how Coinbase won the cryptocurrency game and set itself up to lead the future of banking and blockchain-based trading. This is the story of the people who made Coinbase, per PitchBook, “one of the most valuable startups in the US,” including the stoic, preppy founder and CEO Brian Armstrong and the bitcoin-obsessed former lumberjack Olaf Carlson-Wee, who turned their backs on the first generation of wild-eyed Bitcoin prophets to build something more profound and practical.
-
-
Enjoyed from start to finish
- By Oliver on 2020-05-17
Written by: Jeff John Roberts
-
Breaking Twitter
- Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
- Written by: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
BREAKING TWITTER takes readers inside the darkly comic battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time—Elon Musk—and the company that represents our culture’s dearest hope for a shared global conversation. From employee accounts within Twitter headquarters to the mission-driven team Musk surrounded himself with, this is the full story from all sides.
-
-
Writing style was interesting.
- By MyPublicName on 2024-01-29
Written by: Ben Mezrich
-
Rinsed
- From Cartels to Crypto: How the Tech Industry Washes Money for the World's Deadliest Crooks
- Written by: Geoff White
- Narrated by: Geoff White
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money laundering has been around for centuries. For as long as people have been stealing money, there's been an industry ready to wash it. But recent tech innovations have created vastly complex new systems for laundering that threaten to overwhelm authorities, destabilise economies and disrupt societies. Ranging from the flamboyant luxury of Dubai hotels to quiet coastal Ireland, from the UK to Nigeria and from Indonesia to North Korea, Rinsed is a truly global relevatory investigation into the new army of innovative launderers ... and the consequences for all of us.
-
-
interested on a broad level but alot of assumption
- By jesse on 2024-07-21
Written by: Geoff White
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- Written by: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Transistor, transistor, transistor.
- By Vitalii on 2022-11-30
Written by: Chris Miller
-
The Bitcoin Standard
- The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking
- Written by: Saifedean Ammous
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a pseudonymous programmer introduced “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party” to a small Online mailing list in 2008, very few paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally-accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks. The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of Bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications.
-
-
Author writes like a fanatic religious
- By Sergio Nunes on 2020-12-18
Written by: Saifedean Ammous
-
Elon Musk
- Written by: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
Future King of Mars, Inventor of Car Farts!
- By michael smith on 2023-09-12
Written by: Walter Isaacson
-
Liar's Poker
- Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
- Written by: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, before Michael Lewis became the best-selling author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and Flash Boys, he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to New York- and London-based bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years - a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business.
-
-
Great Story
- By Geoff on 2024-08-11
Written by: Michael Lewis
-
Extremely Hardcore
- Inside Elon Musk's Twitter
- Written by: Zoë Schiffer
- Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter. It’s the next best thing to being there, and you won’t have to sleep in the Twitter office to get the scoop.
Written by: Zoë Schiffer
-
Raw Dog
- The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
- Written by: Jamie Loftus
- Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog. Raw Dog is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today.
-
-
Excellent
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-07-18
Written by: Jamie Loftus
-
Barbarians at the Gate
- The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- Written by: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A number-one New York Times best seller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date 20 years after the famed deal.
Written by: Bryan Burrough, and others
-
Extremely Online
- The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet
- Written by: Taylor Lorenz
- Narrated by: Emily Tremaine, Taylor Lorenz
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over a decade, Taylor Lorenz has been the authority on internet culture, documenting its far-reaching effects on all corners of our lives. Her reporting is serious yet entertaining and illuminates deep truths about ourselves and the lives we create online. In her debut book, Extremely Online, she reveals how online influence came to upend the world, demolishing traditional barriers and creating whole new sectors of the economy. Lorenz shows this phenomenon to be one of the most disruptive changes in modern capitalism.
-
-
dont waste your time
- By Steve on 2024-02-26
Written by: Taylor Lorenz
What the critics say
“Journalism schools will be able to use Going Infinite, Michael Lewis’ new book about the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the fall of its boss, Sam Bankman-Fried, as a textbook. . . . Fortunately, readers interested in the story of the cryptocurrency scam and Bankman-Fried’s rise and fall can turn to a much more convincing (and more entertaining) book. That’s Number Go Up. . . . In telling this story, Faux has one major advantage over Lewis: Almost from the start, he had crypto’s number.”—Los Angeles Times
“Faux’s boisterous, masterfully written book is worth a read. . . . Faux’s cast of misfits and con artists never fails to entertain.”—The Washington Post
“Number Go Up offers a shrewdly skeptical view of crypto where Going Infinite is stubbornly credulous.”—The New York Times
What listeners say about Number Go Up
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Áine Davis
- 2024-09-30
very interesting lesson
I've never been able to really understand crypto, but this book breaks it down so well. the narration is incredible; sassy and pissed off. maybe that's how I learn best when someone is perpetually annoyed. I had a blast listening to it, will probably listen again, and I have recommended it to many people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian Hendel
- 2024-01-07
Love this exploration
Great title. Love the depth of exploration here. The author is obviously well-connected in that space. 
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Derek
- 2023-10-11
Amazing Listen, I Don't Understand the 1 Star
Probably a former crypto investor I guess. Anyway, truly captivating, I went in with what I thought was some knowledge of the crypto collapse as I'd followed it on youtube for years but Zeke Faux makes a personal connection and seems closer and thus more insightful to the scene, which is a rollercoaster of absurd, hilarious, and downright dark and disturbing. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- pinkmarshmellow
- 2023-10-31
A masterpiece investigative reporting well narrated
Having listened to both number go up and going infinite, I love the former so much more in its thorough research. It took not just hard work but also tremendous bravery to do the reporting that the author did. The story is well written and the audio version is well narrated. Highly recommend!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jordan ivey
- 2023-10-22
A wild trip
This was a hell of a book and a great summary of the last several years in the crypto world
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- rmack
- 2023-10-07
Not for me
I'm probably not the best person to write a review of this book as I found it a depressing comment on human nature. But this is not the fault of the author who is only reporting on what he uncovered about these frauds.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful