Gabriel Haines is no stranger to the cryptosphere’s wildest corners. Known for his shirtless, machete-wielding rants on X (formerly Twitter), the comedian and podcaster has built a reputation for pulling back the curtain on the bizarre world of digital currencies. Now, Haines is channeling that energy into something even more ambitious: a dark comedy TV pilot called "The Max Extractor," which promises to blend the chaotic drama of the crypto industry with the addictive storytelling of shows like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos.
As reported by Decrypt, Haines has successfully raised $150,000 to fund the creation of the show’s first episode. The project, still in its early stages as of October 1, 2025, is inspired by real-life events that have rocked the crypto world this year—most notably, the meme coin crisis that swept up Argentine President Javier Milei and the now-infamous Libra token back in February. For Haines, the drama surrounding Libra and its rapid collapse offered a perfect backdrop for a story about ambition, deception, and the sometimes absurd stakes of the crypto market.
The protagonist of "The Max Extractor" is loosely modeled after Hayden Davis, the 28-year-old CEO of Kelsier Ventures. Davis isn’t just a fictional muse—he played a central role in helping First Lady Melania Trump launch a meme coin and advised President Milei on the ill-fated Libra token. According to crypto research firm Nansen, traders lost a staggering $251 million on Libra, sparking outrage and controversy that has yet to fully subside. While President Milei has distanced himself from the token, the fallout continues: Argentina’s anti-corruption unit cleared him of wrongdoing in June, but a congressional commission pressed on with its own investigation as recently as September 30, 2025, according to ámbito.
The legal drama doesn’t end there. Hayden Davis, along with other key players, is currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit spearheaded by Burwick Law in New York. The case, which centers on the financial damage inflicted by the Libra collapse, has only added to the intrigue and complexity of the story Haines seeks to tell.
So what exactly is "The Max Extractor" about? At its core, the series follows an entrepreneur who loses everything trading cryptocurrencies on leverage. Desperate to maintain the illusion of success, the protagonist makes a series of increasingly regrettable decisions to pay off debts owed to shady characters. It’s a tale that feels ripped from the headlines—because, in many ways, it is.
Haines is clear about his intentions for the show. He wants it to feel authentic, offering viewers a realistic look at how scams and hacks propagate within the crypto industry. "If you want to say that cryptocurrency is this shining horse, ‘an angel from on high,’ you’re bullshitting," Haines told Decrypt. "You have this permissionless open platform that has a lot of different things going on that most people do not understand."
Despite some pushback from prospective backers who may have preferred a more sanitized portrayal of crypto, Haines remains undeterred. He believes that the industry’s complexity—and its capacity for both innovation and disaster—deserves to be captured in all its messy glory. In his view, documentaries have tried (and often failed) to make blockchain technology accessible and entertaining. He hopes "The Max Extractor" will succeed where others have struggled, much like Margot Robbie’s now-famous bathtub explanation of subprime mortgages in The Big Short.
To bring his vision to life, Haines has enlisted Sullivan Slentz as director. Slentz previously collaborated with Haines on a commercial for a decentralized finance (DeFi) project, demonstrating a knack for blending humor and technical detail. The cast is still being assembled, but both Haines and Slentz are optimistic that the pilot episode will be ready by February 2026.
This isn’t Haines’ first foray into crypto-themed entertainment. In recent years, he served as an announcer for Karate Combat, a fighting league powered by digital currencies. Back in 2022, in the wake of the FTX exchange’s dramatic collapse, Haines crowdfunded $10,000 through Juicebox to hunt for the disgraced CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas—a campaign that drew over 60 supporters and showcased Haines’ knack for turning crypto chaos into compelling content.
The current "Max Extractor" project is being bankrolled by about a dozen supporters, including some notable names in the crypto space. Among the backers are Gabriel Shapiro, CEO and founder of MetaLeX (a crypto governance advisory firm), Anil Lulla, CEO of the research outfit Delphi Digital, and DeFiTuna, a Solana-based automated market maker. The show is also sponsored by genzcash, which describes itself as the "memetic warfare division" of the privacy-focused coin Zcash. This eclectic group of supporters reflects the show’s embrace of both the serious and the surreal sides of crypto culture.
Haines isn’t shy about the challenges ahead. Unlike established networks such as HBO, he doesn’t have the luxury of a guaranteed audience or a massive production budget. But he’s banking on the community that has followed his antics online to help spread the word and generate buzz. To that end, Haines plans to document the making of the show with behind-the-scenes vlog content, giving fans a window into the creative process and the hurdles of independent TV production.
"The bottom line is, unless there is an audience for this, there’s no future," Haines said candidly. "I'm not an expert in almost anything, but there’s one thing that I can say I have at least a little bit of knowledge in, and that’s video. I’ve made so many."
For Haines, "The Max Extractor" represents more than just another crypto project—it’s an attempt to capture the spirit of an industry that’s equal parts innovation, risk, and outright absurdity. Whether the show will resonate with mainstream audiences remains to be seen, but if nothing else, it’s bound to offer a wild ride through the world of digital money, scams, and the colorful personalities that keep the cryptosphere spinning.
As the pilot moves toward completion, all eyes will be on Haines and his team to see if they can turn crypto’s strangest headlines into must-watch television. For now, the only certainty is that in the world of crypto—and in the world of Gabriel Haines—anything can happen.
