Cold Wallet

There's a big gap between desperation and greed that a lot of Americans are seeing play out in 2025, and Cold Wallet is a tight crypto-thriller that both reflects and narrows that divide.

"Based on a slightly true story," it's a movie that expresses the desperation and frustration a lot of Americans feel today with financial institutions and the super-rich.

Cold Wallet is a heist / home invasion movie with a bit of a tech twist. Three Reditors lose everything in a cryptocurrency scam and band together to track down the kingpin in hopes of getting their money back. Tphis is probably a topic many viewers are unfamiliar with, yet director Cutter Hodierne does a great job guiding us through the world of Bitcoin, meme coins and other make-believe money. Cryptocurrency is presented as essentially a new form of gambling, appealing to bigshot "traders" making millions and regular people looking for quick ways out of desperate life situations.

We follow Billy (Raul Castillo) a blue-collar guy who wants to provide the American Dream for his shared-custody daughter. He imagines a day when she will be a princess visiting him in his mansion, and she believes it. For Billy, living a comfortable life isn't enough; the pendulum needs to swing from insolvent to multi-millionaire; there is no in-between. The top players in this game are making millions overnight trading in air, so why can't he? The line between desperation and greed becomes fuzzy.

One day, while riding high on his "Tulip" coin profits, everything crashes. Not only is his account drained, but he's now in debt for more $40,000. It seems Charles Hegel (Josh Brener), the creator of Tulip, has cashed out and scammed everyone who bought it.

Eva (Melonie Diaz), Billy's friend on a crypto subreddit, has managed to locate Hegel and proposes they go to his secluded mansion and force him to return their money. Joining the two of them is Dom (Tony Cavalero), Billy's spiritual friend who also sees this as a Robin Hood opportunity to give money back to all the victims of Charles Hegel.

Side note: kudos to Cutter Hodierne for using the actual Reddit, YouTube, and other websites. I have no idea what the rules are about this sort of thing, but it always takes me out of the moment when I see Hollywood OS.

This is sort of a five-man-band story with each character serving a different archetype. Eva is the brains of the operation, Dom is the heart and brawn, while Billy represents the everyman leader caught up in events he never anticipated. Hegel may be the evil, greedy villain, but it's not that simple.

All the characters are all motivated by greed to some extent. Cold Wallet asks us to decide if there is a degree of greed that's okay, even honorable. We all move that bar to justify our own actions. At what point does greed define you? We seem to have no difficulty recognizing and condemning it in other people.

Charles Hegel is a horrible person who represents the worst kind of sleazy crypto bro. In a recent interview, I asked Josh Brener about creating a delicious a character we love to hate. He reminded me that every villain is a hero in his own story and that even Hegel might have been motivated by more than simply greed.

Is home invasion and holding a man hostage at gunpoint justified? Do some people just deserve what's coming to them? Cold Wallet asks us to confront our own biases and moral compasses.

Aside from all this, Cold Wallet is a thrilling adventure taking place mostly in a single location. The script is tight, full of surprises, and kept me constantly wondering what would happen to each of these four people. There are also some very funny and ironic moments, mostly from Dom, the lovable new-age wall of meat who reminds Billy to find his spiritual center before pulling a trigger. If you've seen The Righteous Gemstones, Tony Cavalero played a very similar character and I love it

I'm not a huge consumer of heist movies so I'm not sure how this will be received by superfans of Mission Impossible or Ocean's Eleven. It's not full of action and it's certainly not a big budget Hollywood production, in fact, the film was shot in a very cold and snowy Massachusetts.

Bottom line: Cold Wallet is a tense thriller worth seeing, even if you're not into heist flicks. I had a lot of fun with this story and these distinct characters because the performances were so good. Cutter Hodierne has crafted a well shot movie that zips along and tells a compelling story that balances tension, action, and character depth with social commentary. The ending is a little sad, yet equally satisfying. Is it justified? Check your moral compass.

Cold Wallet is loosely based on the QuadrigaCX Scandal, after the supposed death of CEO Gerald Cotten in India.

Like in the film, many suspect that Cotten had purchased a death certificate from Indian authorities; faked his death; and ran away with the proceeds of the exchange, where all of Quadriga user's crypto assets were said to be locked in a cold wallet that he held the only key to.

Obviously, here, they switched India with Kenya...and took artistic liberties with the aftermath of the whole ordeal.

With, at least some of, the storyline harkening back to SBF's FTX ponzi scheme that permanently tarnished the reputation of the crypto realm in the eyes of the average person.

The plot, here, revolves around a rag-tag team of reddit vigilantes, who have set out to expose the truth about the culprit...and, ultimately, gain access to the millions of dollars he has locked away in his cold wallet (an offline wallet designed to hold crypto assets).

While the culprit tries to play the vigilantes against one another, in a thrilling battle of wits.

The film does a pretty decent job of keeping itself open to laypeople who aren't privy to the jargon and intricacies of the crypto space.

Though, having knowledge of the realm will surely lead you to appreciate the story a little more.

It's certainly not a great film, by any means.

But it's entertaining enough of a crime-thriller to sit through and enjoy.

Though, one might argue it's a case of the truth being more intriguing than fiction.

So you might be encouraged to check out one of the documentaries on the subject as well.

Because the true story behind this film is actually pretty wild.

4 out of 10.

No pun intended - I am not in the whole crypto business ... but the movie is not tough to follow or understand. Including the title ... which is referencing something that ... well I don't want to bore you, but it has to do with money ... a lot of it in this case ... and an excuse of a human being who is really mean and evil ... aren't they all you may ask ... and you wouldn't be too wrong when it comes to money and power.

But our three main characters are trying to do something good ... or are they? Because how well do we really get to know them? Are there other goals they may try to achieve? We will find out of course ... a bit of suspension of disbelief is necessary ... or a lot.

This will be about rich vs poor and how you feel about it ... and about vigilante justice ... and of course karma ... one of the characters is so funny ... but he doesn't think so ... he has his believes and I like him for it ... even if he sometimes acts against some whatever it is he preaches ... still the mixture and the story move on wonderfully ... this works ... if you believe in it ... the fakeness that is ... fake money ... fake life ...

I liked it. It was well filmed and kept my attention throughout. It uses a lot crypto techi language but it's actually easy to follow because it's a straight forward script that focuses on the heist part of the movie for the most part. The characters are well thought out and it uses known but not high profile actors that overall did a good job. The topic is relevant with crypto being at the forefront of the news on a daily basis. So it was nice to have a grasp of what's at stake for these redditors who are out of their league. I don't know if this happens in real life, but if it does, watch out because it's going to get crazy out there.

I like movies and shows that make me think about them in the days and weeks following. This one did that. Some allegorical themes on capitalism coming from the rich tech guy. I really didn't like him... a testament to a job well done. I especially liked the music... silent night was a nice touch. There were well placed funny moments of levity to keep my heart rate down. Was giving me some serious wtf's... in a good way! I'm going to watch again to catch any little foreshadows or fun correlations that might come from knowing the ending. Checked all of the boxes of a "crypto-heist thriller" I guess Steven Soderbergh knows good movies. Ha!