Key takeaways
- 24 verified scripted references: 15 TV entries and 9 films, from 2012 to 2026, with one more series (The Altruists) scheduled for November 19, 2026.
- The earliest verified entry is The Good Wife’s “Bitcoin for Dummies” (January 15, 2012), where the question of who created Bitcoin drives the case.
- Fiction often invents its own coin: Frinkcoin, PiedPiperCoin, Ecoin and the TPC token each let a story set its own rules.
- NFTs dominate the 2021–2024 entries (South Park, The Simpsons, Futurama and Lift), while the newest entries dramatize real collapses such as FTX.
- 18 entries are marked Confirmed (two or more sources agree on the work and the crypto element) and 6 are marked Reported (one source, or some details inferred).
This is a living directory of crypto, bitcoin and NFT storylines in scripted television and film. We list a title only when we can identify the episode or release and confirm the crypto element in at least one source, we paraphrase rather than quote dialogue, and we mark how well each entry is supported. Documentaries are not included. If you know of a reference we have missed, see how to reach us.
| Title | Year | Type | Coin or asset | Role in the story | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Good Wife | 2012 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Person of Interest | 2014 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin | Supporting element | Reported |
| CSI: Cyber | 2015 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Mr. Robot | 2015–2019 | TV series | Fictional: Ecoin | Recurring plot element | Confirmed |
| Chicago Med | 2017 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin (one recap) | Major plot thread | Reported |
| The Big Bang Theory | 2017 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Silicon Valley | 2018 | TV series | Fictional: PiedPiperCoin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| The Simpsons: “Frinkcoin” | 2020 | TV series | Fictional: Frinkcoin, Burns Coin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Billions | 2020 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin (named in press coverage) | Opening storyline | Confirmed |
| Ted Lasso | 2021 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin | Passing joke | Confirmed |
| South Park (Paramount+ specials) | 2021 | TV special | NFTs; Bitcoin gag (one source) | Subplot | Confirmed |
| Futurama: “How the West Was 1010001” | 2023 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin, Dogecoin nod | Central plot | Confirmed |
| The Simpsons: “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token” | 2023 | TV series | NFTs (no real coin named) | Central to the segment | Confirmed |
| Futurama: “The One Amigo” | 2024 | TV series | NFTs (parody collection) | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Steal | 2026 | TV series | Real: Bitcoin (one source) | Plot element | Reported |
| Horrible Bosses 2 | 2014 | Film | Real: Bitcoin | Passing mention | Reported |
| Dope | 2015 | Film | Real: Bitcoin | Central subplot | Confirmed |
| Bitcoin Heist (Siêu trộm) | 2016 | Film | Real: Bitcoin | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Unfriended: Dark Web | 2018 | Film | Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin per one review) | Minor plot element | Reported |
| Crypto | 2019 | Film | Generic cryptocurrency | Central plot | Confirmed |
| Silk Road | 2021 | Film | Real: Bitcoin (one source); cryptocurrency (Wikipedia) | Central plot (based on real events) | Confirmed |
| Crypto Boy | 2023 | Film | Fictional firm: CryCore Capital | Central plot | Reported |
| Lift | 2024 | Film | NFT (plot device) | Heist setup | Confirmed |
| Cold Wallet | 2024 | Film | Fictional: TPC token, Tulip exchange | Central plot | Confirmed |
| The Altruists | 2026 | TV series | Real events: FTX | Based on real events | Upcoming |
Confirmed: two or more sources agree on the work and the crypto element. Reported: the crypto detail rests on one source, or part of the entry is inferred. Upcoming: not yet released, so not counted in the totals. Sources for every entry are listed below.
TV series and specials
15 entries, in order of first appearance.
The Good Wife 2012
Season 3, episode 13, “Bitcoin for Dummies” (Jan. 15, 2012)
A legal case centers on a lawyer who will not reveal the identity of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, while the Treasury Department presses him to. It is the earliest episode we have verified in which Bitcoin drives the plot.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia: season 3, SiliconANGLE, The A.V. Club review
Person of Interest 2014
Season 3, episode 13, “4C” (Jan. 14, 2014)
A guest character runs an online black market that operates on bitcoin and draws professional killers to his site. The crypto element is a supporting piece of one episode, not a series-long theme.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Supporting element
Sources: The A.V. Club recap, Fandom wiki, Wikipedia: episode list
CSI: Cyber 2015
Season 1, episode 12, “Bit by Bit” (May 13, 2015)
A jewelry-store robbery during a Detroit power outage turns out to be aimed at bitcoin. Investigators trace the coins on the blockchain, and a “bitcoin bounty hunter” joins the chase before the coins are recovered.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia: season 1, Coinspeaker review
Mr. Robot 2015–2019
Season 2, episode 11, “eps2.9_pyth0n-pt1.p7z” (Sept. 14, 2016); Season 4, episode 2, “Payment Required”
The show’s world runs on Ecoin, the digital currency of the fictional mega-corporation E Corp. In the Season 2 episode the company uses bailout money to prop up Ecoin, and in Season 4 characters discuss how to break into a dead woman’s Ecoin wallet. Reporting at the time noted that Bitcoin does not appear in Season 1.
Coin or asset: Fictional: Ecoin · Role in the story: Recurring plot element
Sources: Wikipedia: S2E11, Vice: S4E2, Cointelegraph
Chicago Med 2017
Season 2, episode 19, “Ctrl Alt” (Apr. 6, 2017)
A hacker locks the hospital’s computer systems and demands a ransom of 30 bitcoins, which the administrator refuses to pay. Only one recap names bitcoin as the currency; others describe an anonymous ransom payment.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin (one recap) · Role in the story: Major plot thread
Sources: Fandom wiki, Episode recap, netzwelt recap (German)
The Big Bang Theory 2017
Season 11, episode 9, “The Bitcoin Entanglement” (Nov. 30, 2017)
The gang tries to recover bitcoin they mined for fun in 2010, which sends them on a flashback-driven hunt for a lost flash drive.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Fox News recap, Wikipedia, Den of Geek review
Silicon Valley 2018
Season 5, episodes 7 and 8, “Initial Coin Offering” (May 6, 2018) and “Fifty-One Percent” (May 13, 2018)
Pied Piper plans a cryptocurrency network funded by an initial coin offering, and the season finale turns on rivals trying to take control of more than half of that network. A professor quoted by Cointelegraph said the show embellishes how such attacks work.
Coin or asset: Fictional: PiedPiperCoin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia: season 5, Cointelegraph, Fandom wiki
The Simpsons: “Frinkcoin” 2020
Season 31, episode 13, “Frinkcoin” (Feb. 23, 2020)
Professor Frink invents a cryptocurrency and becomes Springfield’s richest resident, Mr. Burns schemes to launch a rival coin and crash his, and Frink ends up losing his fortune.
Coin or asset: Fictional: Frinkcoin, Burns Coin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia
Billions 2020
Season 5, episode 1, “The New Decas” (May 3, 2020); Season 5, episode 3, “Beg, Bribe, Bully” (May 17, 2020)
The season opens with the prosecutor going after a cryptocurrency-mining operation and questioning what the miners’ computing work is really worth. Two episodes later, a character’s son sets up a mining farm at his boarding school (that detail rests on a single source).
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin (named in press coverage) · Role in the story: Opening storyline
Sources: Cointelegraph, Decrypt, Wikipedia: episode list
Ted Lasso 2021
Season 2, episode 12, “Inverting the Pyramid of Success” (Oct. 8, 2021)
A one-line joke: a character mentions that he bought Bitcoin back in 2009. Included as an example of how casually Bitcoin now shows up in mainstream scripts.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Passing joke
South Park (Paramount+ specials) 2021
“Post COVID: The Return of COVID” (Dec. 16, 2021); “Post COVID” (Nov. 25, 2021)
In “The Return of COVID,” Butters deals in NFTs, which gets him institutionalized before he later convinces the others to invest. A separate gag in “Post COVID” showing a Bitcoin-only future is reported by one outlet only.
Coin or asset: NFTs; Bitcoin gag (one source) · Role in the story: Subplot
The NFT storyline is confirmed; the Bitcoin gag in the first special is not independently confirmed.
Futurama: “How the West Was 1010001” 2023
Hulu-era season 8, episode 3 (Aug. 7, 2023)
Professor Farnsworth loses his money in Bitcoin and owes the robot mafia, so the crew travels to Doge City, a town forced back into Old West life by the power demands of crypto mining.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin, Dogecoin nod · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia: season 8, Blockworks
The Simpsons: “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token” 2023
“Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” season 35, episode 5 (Nov. 5, 2023)
In a Halloween segment, Bart is accidentally digitized into an NFT and Marge travels into the blockchain to rescue him, after which the NFTs turn out to be worthless. The segment nods to the Bored Ape collection and the artist Beeple.
Coin or asset: NFTs (no real coin named) · Role in the story: Central to the segment
Futurama: “The One Amigo” 2024
Hulu-era season 9, episode 1 (July 29, 2024)
The crew turns Bender’s image into NFTs that a museum buys, which triggers an identity crisis for Bender, and a museum NFT heist follows. The collection parodies the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Coin or asset: NFTs (parody collection) · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia: season 9, Cointelegraph, TheWrap
Steal 2026
Season 1, six episodes (released Jan. 21, 2026)
Two employees of a London pension firm are paid in Bitcoin for handing their logins to robbers, and the stolen funds and hidden wallets figure in the plot. Only Wikipedia names Bitcoin; one review mentions offshore accounts and cryptocurrencies without naming a coin.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin (one source) · Role in the story: Plot element
Sources: Wikipedia, Micropsia Cine review
Films
9 entries, in order of release.
Horrible Bosses 2 2014
U.S. theatrical release, 2014
A character says he bought untraceable prepaid phones with bitcoin. The purchase is not shown; it is a cameo-level mention.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Passing mention
Dope 2015
U.S. theatrical release, 2015
A teenage hacker sets up an online drug market that accepts Bitcoin, then has the Bitcoin converted to cash and uses it as leverage. Separately, the studio let moviegoers buy tickets with bitcoin (announced June 16, 2015), which was a marketing tie-in rather than part of the story.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Central subplot
Sources: Wikipedia, Boston.com
Bitcoin Heist (Siêu trộm) 2016
Vietnamese release, 2016
A cybercrime agent assembles a crew of thieves to break into a fortress and reach a Bitcoin vault while hunting a money launderer. Plot synopses disagree on the lead character’s exact job title.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Video Librarian, Wikipedia: Ham Tran
Unfriended: Dark Web 2018
SXSW premiere March 2018; U.S. release July 20, 2018
In this screen-based horror film, a hacker drains a large sum from a victim’s crypto account, and an alternate ending shows him extorting another hacker with his own bitcoin.
Coin or asset: Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin per one review) · Role in the story: Minor plot element
Sources: Wikipedia, Moria review
Crypto 2019
U.S. release, 2019
A bank anti-money-laundering analyst uncovers a laundering scheme tied to Russian mobsters, while a friend mines cryptocurrency to keep his liquor store afloat and the hero later mines it on the family farm.
Coin or asset: Generic cryptocurrency · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia, HackerNoon
Silk Road 2021
Lionsgate release, Feb. 19, 2021
A crime thriller based on real events that dramatizes Ross Ulbricht and the darknet marketplace Silk Road, with a fictional composite agent. The site’s anonymous trades ran on cryptocurrency.
Coin or asset: Real: Bitcoin (one source); cryptocurrency (Wikipedia) · Role in the story: Central plot (based on real events)
Sources: Wikipedia, Austin Chronicle
Crypto Boy 2023
Netflix streaming debut, October 2023
A young Amsterdam courier joins a crypto day-trading startup run by a charismatic founder, and the scheme’s promise of daily returns draws comparisons to a Ponzi scheme.
Coin or asset: Fictional firm: CryCore Capital · Role in the story: Central plot
Release year and country are inferred from October 2023 articles and the Dutch setting.
Sources: Netflix Tudum, Roger’s Movie Nation
Lift 2024
Netflix, Jan. 12, 2024
A heist crew steals gold from a plane, but first stages the fake kidnapping of an NFT artist and steals a painting to inflate the value of his NFT. The NFT scheme is the setup; the main heist is gold.
Coin or asset: NFT (plot device) · Role in the story: Heist setup
Sources: Wikipedia, Variety review
Cold Wallet 2024
SXSW premiere Mar. 8, 2024; U.S. release Feb. 28, 2025
After a crypto exchange collapses and a rug pull wipes them out, Reddit investors plot to abduct the financial influencer they blame. Reviews note echoes of real collapses such as QuadrigaCX and FTX, but it is not based on a single real event.
Coin or asset: Fictional: TPC token, Tulip exchange · Role in the story: Central plot
Sources: Wikipedia, Decrypt review
Upcoming
The Altruists 2026
Eight episodes, scheduled to stream Nov. 19, 2026
A scripted limited series dramatizing the rise and collapse of FTX, with Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried, inspired by New York magazine reporting. It has not been released yet, so it is not counted in the directory totals; we will review it after it streams.
Coin or asset: Real events: FTX · Role in the story: Based on real events
Sources: Netflix Tudum, Wikipedia
How crypto has shown up on screen
The early entries, from about 2012 to 2017, treat Bitcoin as a novelty or a criminal tool: a legal puzzle in The Good Wife, a black market on Person of Interest, a ransom demand on Chicago Med, a drug market in Dope. From 2018 to 2020 the stories move to the money side, with initial coin offerings and network attacks in Silicon Valley, mining on Billions and invented coins such as Frinkcoin and Ecoin. The 2021–2024 entries are dominated by NFTs, from South Park and The Simpsons to Futurama and the heist film Lift, and by crashes and rug pulls in Cold Wallet. The newest entries, such as Silk Road and The Altruists, dramatize real events rather than inventing them.
How we verify entries
Each entry needs a specific episode or release that we can identify in an episode guide or reference page, plus a source that describes the crypto element. We prefer episode guides, contemporary reviews and trade or crypto press over fan wikis, and we treat a single fan-wiki claim as not enough on its own. Where two sources agree, the entry is marked Confirmed; where we rely on one source or infer a detail, it is marked Reported, and we say which detail is thin. We describe scenes in our own words and do not reproduce dialogue. Marketing tie-ins, such as a studio accepting bitcoin for movie tickets, are noted but do not count as an entry on their own.
Often cited, not yet confirmed
Other lists online mention the episodes below. We could not find the crypto reference in the episode summaries we checked or in a second independent source, so they are not in the directory. We will add them if we can confirm them.
- Parks and Recreation, “New Slogan” (2014)
- House of Cards, “Chapter 15” (2014)
- Almost Human, “Arrhythmia” (2013)
- The Simpsons, “Clown in the Dumps” (2014)
Announced or in development
These projects have been reported but are not released, and we have not found recent updates on them.
- An Amazon limited series about FTX from the Russo brothers’ AGBO, announced in November 2022. We found no release date, cancellation or later update.
- A TV drama based on the OneCoin story and the BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen, for which New Regency reportedly won the screen rights in 2020. We found no network, cast or release.
- Hold On for Dear Life, a crypto comedy series from Beacon Pictures announced in 2021 (it planned to release one episode as an NFT). Its status is unknown.
- An Amazon MGM film about the Bitfinex hack and the couple known as Razzlekhan, reported to be in development with no title or release date.
Frequently asked
What was the first TV show to feature bitcoin?
The earliest episode we have verified is The Good Wife’s “Bitcoin for Dummies,” which aired January 15, 2012, and built a legal case around the question of who created Bitcoin. We cannot rule out an earlier passing mention somewhere, so treat it as the earliest verified, not a proven first.
Which movies are actually about crypto?
Films where crypto drives the story include Cold Wallet (2024), Crypto (2019), Bitcoin Heist (2016), Crypto Boy (2023) and Silk Road (2021). In others, such as Dope and Lift, crypto or NFTs set up part of the plot, and Horrible Bosses 2 only mentions bitcoin in passing.
Which shows invented their own cryptocurrency?
Satire and thrillers often make up a coin so they can invent the rules. Examples in this directory are Frinkcoin and Burns Coin on The Simpsons, PiedPiperCoin on Silicon Valley, Ecoin on Mr. Robot and the TPC token in Cold Wallet.
Are there TV shows or films about real crypto events?
Yes. Silk Road (2021) dramatizes the real darknet marketplace and Ross Ulbricht, and Netflix’s The Altruists, scheduled for November 19, 2026, dramatizes the FTX collapse. Cold Wallet echoes real collapses but is not based on one.
Does this directory include documentaries?
No. It covers scripted TV and films only. Crypto documentaries are a different list, and we may publish a separate directory for them.
How often is this page updated, and can I suggest an addition?
It is a living page: we add entries and revise existing ones as we verify them, and the “last updated” date and the change log below show what changed. To suggest an addition, send us the title, episode or release date and a source through our LinkedIn page, linked on our contact page.
Change log
- October 29, 2026: Launched with 24 verified entries (15 TV, 9 films) and one upcoming series, The Altruists.