James Craig and Louis Giles’ recent documentary, Code Is Law, takes a closer look at notorious crypto hacks and the ethical dilemmas faced by their perpetrators.

The film, set to release on October 21 on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube Movies, narrates the interconnected tales of hacking incidents and the mindset of those behind them.

The documentary emphasizes the aftermath of the 2014 Mt. Gox hack, alongside the infamous DAO hack of 2016, where Ethereum’s first decentralized organization faced a devastating breach.

“A world where ‘the market’ runs free and the ‘evil’ of government is defeated would be, for them, a world of perfect freedom.” — Lawrence Lessig, Code: Version 2.0

After the DAO’s fundraising of $160 million was altered by a significant hack, the narrative exposes broader discussions surrounding the legality and morality of such actions.

The film also explores a less-publicized hack by a teenager known as Andean Medjedovic, painting a picture of a cyber landscape where the boundaries of legality are often blurred.

The ethical debate: When money is extracted from a smart contract due to its internal logic being exploited, should this act be condemned or is it merely a game of strategy?

As the film illustrates, the question of whether ‘code is law’ stands tall in the discussions of freedom and regulation in an unconstrained digital domain.

In the end, Craig’s work aims to provoke thought regarding the fragile equilibrium between security and the inherent inclination towards freedom in the evolving world of cryptocurrency.