There's something almost missionary about the way Louie O'Connor talks about crypto. Not the evangelical fervor of a true believer hawking digital gold, but the quiet intensity of someone who's witnessed both the profound potential and spectacular failures of an industry that has, in his words, "absolutely shit" media representation.
"I want to change how this industry tell its stories," he tells me from his car in London, sunlight streaming through the window as he prepares for another whirlwind of shoots across the globe. It's not arrogance. It's the kind of confident clarity that comes from seeing a problem so clearly that the solution becomes obvious. "We're on the verge of something bigger: authentic storytelling that cuts through mainstream media noise and lands at film festivals on its own terms."
Within just a few months, Louie’s been behind the lens telling stories and building memories for the likes of NEAR Protocol, MetaMask, Zerion, WalletConnect, Ethereum Foundation, and is tapping into crypto’s core. More importantly, he's doing something that few others have managed: making crypto feel human.
Louie's path to becoming crypto's most in-demand cinematographer wasn't planned. After seven years in the space (long enough to witness multiple cycles of boom, bust, and the gradual maturation of an industry that's still figuring out what it wants to be), he found himself frustrated by the same problem that plagues every crypto conference, every product launch, every attempt to explain why any of this matters to people outside the echo chamber.
"We haven't even got to a stage where we've spoken about how we've changed lives," he says. "All of the good. Like, how important this is. The world still thinks that this industry is shit."
The problem, as Louie sees it, isn't the technology. It's the narrative. Or rather, the complete absence of one that resonates beyond the converted. While crypto has produced genuinely revolutionary financial infrastructure, borderless payments, and new models of organization, its public face remains dominated by what he calls "a bunch of d*cks running around talking about trading and memecoins."
This disconnect between crypto's potential and its presentation drove Louie to make a career pivot that would have seemed insane to anyone else: leave behind years of industry experience to become a filmmaker, with no formal training, no film school background, just an overwhelming conviction that stories matter more than smart contracts.
"I left school with no grades at 15 years old, and no one saw me, no one listened to me," he reflects. "I think I've worked very hard to be seen, but being seen has been expedited because of the industry that I work in. I finally feel like I'm around my people."
Louie's approach to client work is unlike anything else in crypto marketing. Where others focus on features and benefits, he digs for emotional truth. When working with WalletConnect, he doesn't explain technical protocols. He captures the voices of people who've been touched by the technology, building a narrative around ubiquity and human connection.
This approach (finding the human story within the technological framework) reflects Louie's broader philosophy about what crypto desperately needs. The industry has built impressive infrastructure but failed to build compelling narratives around why it matters. The result is a massive disconnect between crypto's potential impact and public perception.
What gives Louie his edge isn't technical mastery (though he's obsessively meticulous about every frame, every cut, every piece of typography). It's something rarer in crypto: genuine emotional intelligence.
This emotional radar serves him well in an industry populated by engineers who can explain zk snarks but struggle to articulate why anyone should care. Louie's gift is finding the human story within the technical abstraction: the single mother in Argentina who relies on stablecoins, the developer who's building the financial infrastructure for a more equitable future, the founder whose personal journey illuminates larger truths about technology and society.
"I think what's way more important is to work with the legacy brands that have their finger in every pie, but refuse to listen," he explains. "Because every nerd loves movies. Every nerd loves films. I think every nerd loves art, because I think in many ways, being a developer is a form of art."
Louie's ultimate vision extends far beyond crypto twitter. He's playing a longer game, one that involves fundamentally changing how the world sees an industry that's been defined by its worst actors and most speculative excesses.
"The stages to get there are, A, we need to tell every important story that exists in this space," he explains. "And what do we deem to be important? I think there's so many nuances to important stories. And I think in order to get to where we need to be and change the narrative, we have to tell stories of people that we do not expect to enjoy."
His roadmap is methodical: first, establish credibility within crypto by telling the stories of builders and contributors. Then, expand to the stories that matter most. People in Argentina, El Salvador, Cambodia, and other places where crypto represents genuine financial inclusion rather than speculative opportunity.
"There are very important stories out there, I don't think that they can be told first because like who's paying, who's funding the production, but once we manage to tell the stories well enough in this industry, well enough in terms of contributors, that's the catapult to telling the stories that humans actually really give a shit about."
The ultimate goal? Legacy media recognition. Netflix documentaries. A fundamental shift in how crypto is perceived and discussed in mainstream culture.
"Once we change the narrative about them," he says, referring to crypto's public perception, "that's when we need to work with Sony. That's when we need legacy media to say, holy shit, this is it."
For all his confidence about crypto's future, Louie wrestles with a more personal challenge: reconciling his identity as a creative with an industry that doesn't always know what to do with creativity. "The journey of being a creator and being accepted and seen as one has actually been quite painful to accept," he admits. "Because I just wanted to build tech and products.”
This tension (between the technical and the creative, between building and storytelling) reflects crypto's broader identity crisis. An industry built by engineers for engineers is slowly recognizing that widespread adoption requires more than technical excellence. It requires emotional connection, cultural relevance, and stories that resonate beyond the already converted.
"I think we're three months away from this whole industry changing," Louie says, with a kind of relaxed certainty.
Whether that timeline proves accurate, his broader thesis feels increasingly urgent. Crypto has reached a point where technical innovation alone isn't enough. The infrastructure is largely built; the regulatory environment is slowly clarifying; institutional adoption is accelerating. What's missing is the kind of storytelling that transforms niche technology into cultural phenomenon.
Louie isn't just betting his career on this thesis. He's actively trying to prove it. Every video he produces, every story he tells, every moment he captures is part of a larger project to demonstrate that crypto deserves better representation than it's gotten.
"I think thinking like an artist is very important," he says. "As long as the person... that's creating, is thinking about nothing apart from their products. In other words, like don't care about competitors. And like the next three months for the studio is about unwinding, being meticulous, and hand selecting the narrative, because I think we’re moments from change, now we just need to tell the best stories. As crypto matures from a speculative curiosity into genuine financial infrastructure, it needs storytellers who can bridge the gap between technical possibility and human impact. Louie may be betting everything on becoming that bridge, and given the alternatives, the industry should hope he's right.
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