‘Dead Man’s Switch: A Crypto Mystery’ Review: He Took Their Fortunes to the Grave

Where writer-producer-director Sheona McDonald is led during what is essentially an investigation of an investigation is hardly a big surprise—not regarding Cotten himself, at any rate. But what she does reveal, concisely and with the aid of journalists and entrepreneurs fluent in crypto, is clarifying information about the vagaries of alternative currencies—the possibility of counterfeiting, for instance, and the nature of one’s Bitcoin fortune. Simply put, if you lose the numbers you lose the money. But it’s not quite that simple, either.

Ms. McDonald is at a disadvantage common to filmmakers interested in data-based documentaries: They’re not inherently film-friendly. In fact, they resist visual interpretation. How do you make Bitcoin cinematic? Ms. McDonald resorts to some rather standard practices—fleeting graphics, subtitles and numbers—but the strength of the movie is its interviewees, including journalists Joe Castaldo, Alexandra Posadzki (“There was no plan. Why was there no plan?”) and Amy Castor, as well as Taylor Monahan of the crypto service MyCrypto. All are fluent in the subject and adept at making the world of, say, Bitcoin much more accessible and digestible. It’s a Canada-based film—Cotten was Canadian, as was his company, QuadrigaCX, which became the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the country. But borders and national currencies seem to have had little bearing on the QuadrigaCX MO or cryptocurrency generally, except perhaps as a way of better laundering assets and hiding accounts.

The entire subject of cryptocurrency is one that many find a puzzlement and yet perhaps vaguely alluring. “How does Joe Shmoe get involved?” some unseen interviewer asks Cotten during an archival interview. After watching “Dead Man’s Switch,” Mr. Shmoe may be pursuing other financial strategies.

Dead Man’s Switch: A Crypto Mystery

Thursday, Discovery+