A month ago, I spent the evening drinking and hanging out with Charlie Shrem, the Bitcoin millionaire, at his nightclub in New York City.

 

Later in the the night, we went up to his apartment, where I spotted a couple of bongs. At some point, Shrem told me, “I won’t hire you unless I drink with you or smoke weed with you—that’s a 100 percent fact.” As a reporter, it’s always great to get quotes like these. You don’t hear too many CEOs talk about their love of weed. I stuck it in my story.

 

After Vocativ published my profile, which included a few mentions of the pot smoking, Shrem sent me a barrage of text messages, begging me to remove any mention of weed smoking. He claimed he no longer smoked weed, and that he was not a proud stoner. He told me it would end his career.