On Saturday afternoon at SXSW, at the same time as a featured conference session about cryptocurrency and financial democratization was happening at the JW Marriott in Downtown Austin, across town, filmmaker and actor Garrett Patten was debuting an action thriller set against the backdrop of bitcoin.
In Self Custody, Patten directs and also stars as a man who, in the middle of financial troubles, learns he has millions in bitcoin that he received from an old job, but it is trapped in a cryptocurrency wallet. Unable to access the wallet without a password, which he doesn’t remember, he turns to his former friend and boss (Adrian Grenier), who sets him up with a clandestine outfit that helps break into crypto wallets, all of which leads to disastrous consequences.