LMAX

Some of most powerful people on Wall Street have derided cryptocurrencies as a "fraud," "bleeding edge," and as a "bubble."

But it might be cryptocurrency-companies that have the last laugh, according to David Mercer, the chief executive of LMAX Exchange, a UK-based forex trading technology company. 

During an interview with Business Insider, Mercer said he wouldn't be surprised if crypto-companies, specifically crypto-exchanges, start snapping up traditional financial-services companies and break into new markets. 

"We all better listen up," Mercer said. 

"GDAX, Kraken, and Bitfinex, all these guys could get big enough to the point where they don't even need to stay in crypto."

Crypto-exchanges, which helped shepherd the nascent digital coin market into the mainstream during 2017's crypto boom, facilitate approximately $20 billion worth of trading on a given day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

That's tiny compared to the $5 trillion forex market, Mercer says, but it's still a 4,000% increase from where the market was in the Spring of 2017.

Exchanges have made a killing from that boom, raking in as much as $3 million from fees a day, Bloomberg estimates. Coinbase, which is valued at over $1.6 billion, crossed $1 billion in revenues in 2017. 2017 net revenues for Nasdaq, one of the largest exchange operators in the world, were $2.4 billion, by way of comparison. 

Crypto-exchanges are sitting on a lot of cash. And some appear to be flexing their muscles. Coinbase recently hired an executive from LinkedIn to lead an acquisition spree as its merger and acquisition boss. The company also snagged an executive from the New York Stock Exchange. Kraken, another exchange, is prepared to hire at least 800 people in 2018. 

"They can move into the mainstream and guess what banks and brokers, the guys that you are kind of looking at like they're fly by night, they've got 25 million of your customers," Mercer said. "How long before they start offering, equities, FX, wealth management? It's not impossible. These guys need to take note."

Richard Johnson of consultancy Greenwich Associates recently published an op-ed on Business Insider in which he made the case for why it would make sense for a crypto company to buy the Chicago Stock Exchange. Coinbase, Kraken, and Circle, which recently bought crypto exchange Poloniex for $400 million, are among the companies Johnson thinks could acquire CHX. 

"Future token issuances will need to be compliant with securities regulations, some existing tokens may be restructured for regulatory purposes, and marketplaces for these tokens may need to become compliant under the Exchange Act of '34," Johnson wrote. 

"Thus the exchange license that the CHX owns is now a potentially valuable asset for a crypto exchange."

And according to Bloomberg, crypto-companies have expressed an interest in acquiring the exchange. 

Mercer said one exchange, which he declined to name, offered to buy his company after it helped the exchange with trading issues. The exchange told Mercer they were set to make $200 million for the year. 

"This is where they are going," he said. 

Get the latest Bitcoin price here.>>

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Getty

Facebook removed a new Android app from the Google Play store on Friday, after critics say that it unfairly collected app usage data from users and sent it back to the social network.

Earlier in the day, Gizmodo itself had called the app 'deceptive', with some cybersecurity experts urging users not to install the app.

The app in question is Bolt Lock App, a security app made by Facebook's Onavo subsidiary, that billed itself as a way to protect third-party apps containing sensitive information. The app was discreetly released on the Google Play store Monday, and was first reported by TechCrunch on Friday.

The app was then removed from the Google Play app store later on Friday. A spokesperson for Facebook told Gizmodo that it was "a small, brief test."

With Bolt Lock App, users can lock other apps on their phones, like a payments or budgeting app, by requiring a fingerprint or passcode to open them. But buried in the app's description is a disclaimer — which can only been seen you tap the "read more" button — that says Bolt Lock App collects how and when users open those apps and sends that data to Facebook.

Both Facebook and Onavo were criticized last month after it started telling users to download Onavo Protect, the company's VPN service. Onavo Protect helps users protect the privacy of their web browsing, but it also collects data on which apps you use and when, and sends that information back to Facebook. Bolt Lock App contained a similar disclaimer in the fine print, before it was removed.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Facebook used Onavo's VPN data to gain a competitive edge. For example, The Journal reported that Facebook used Onavo to see that Snapchat usage declined after Facebook introduced the competing Instagram Stories feature. It was also data from Onavo that reportedly inspired Facebook to launch a group video chat feature to its Messenger app— stymying a smaller app called Houseparty, which provided a very similar feature.

According to app analytics company SensorTower, Bolt Lock App had under 5,000 downloads before removal. Neither Facebook nor its Onavo subsidiary responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Thought Catalog

Millennial-focused publisher Thought Catalog is the latest media company to suffer collateral damage from Facebook's latest News Feed algorithm change.

The company has let go of "a handful" of editorial staffers, according to people familiar with the matter. Thought Catalog publisher Chris Lavergne confirmed the layoffs to Business Insider, saying fewer than 10 staffers who focused on producing social content were let go.

"Unfortunately, we had to tell Facebook-oriented staff that their content wasn't economically sustainable," said Lavergne. "And that we had to focus on growth areas of the business."

The layoffs come at a time when the online publishing industry faces increasing headwinds, with companies trying to figure out sustainable business models in a digital ad market ecosystem dominated by Facebook and Google.

Specifically, it comes on the heels of Facebook announcing that it would prioritize "meaningful interactions" on the News Feed, effectively deprioritizing publisher content. The move sent shockwaves through the industry, and even led to some casualties, such as the shuttering of publisher Little Things.

But Lavergne was quick to point out that Thought Catalog had been weaning itself off of Facebook for a while.

"We've been saying that our focus hasn't been Facebook — or even the trend of social publishing for a long time," said Lavergne. "Facebook content peaked in late 2015 and in 2018, it really isn't our core focus; just one of many tools."

Instead, Thought Catalog has shifted its focus to retail, real estate, and multimedia content production. Last year, for example, it launched a social network called Collective World and acquired a photo agency called God & Man. It continues to double down on e-commerce as well, through Shop Catalog.

And while it may have pumped the brakes on Facebook content, it continues to publish and distribute through other mediums. Thought Catalog publishes and sells books as well as the advice columns it has become known for, pushing them out through a variety of distribution channels including other social platforms as well as its ownCollective World network and print magazine.

"We aren't going leave Facebook. We still think Facebook is a good tool, and really love Instagram," he said. "However, at the current moment, Facebook isn't growing like are other lines of business are."

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Apple has an idea to fix the MacBook keyboard that seems to break as soon as it's exposed to dust or crumbs.

Engineers at the company have considered including special crushing components inside each key that would pulverize crumbs before they became a problem.

That's one of the new concepts in an Apple patent application published on Friday describing a keyboard that uses a mechanism to keep "direct contaminants" away from the keys.

The invention, dryly named "Ingress Prevention for Keyboards," would be more impervious to what actually breaks keyboards, like spilled drinks, dust, dirt, and food crumbs.

The patent application is actually a series of ideas to make more indestructible keyboards. One concept is a "heating element" that would "liquefy" the sugar left over under your keyboard when you spilled your soda, for example. Another concept the engineers were playing with includes a new kind of key that includes "brushes, wipers, or flaps" to block crumbs from ending up underneath the keys.

And if the crumbs do make it inside the keyboard, Apple wants to crush them.

"If contaminants such as chip crumbs reach internal areas of key assemblies, the contaminants may be broken down by the crushing components during motion of the key assemblies," Apple wrote in the application. "This may prevent the contaminants from blocking key motion."

Apple files thousands of patents per year, and an application is no guarantee that the idea will ever become an actual product.

But Apple should consider fast-tracking this idea, because it could address one of the biggest consumer complaints facing the company right now: an inconsistent and unreliable MacBook keyboard that users say easily breaks when faced with crumbs or other particles.

The patent was first filed for in 2016 and lists 11 different people as inventors.

A widespread problem

The "butterfly" key mechanism.AppleRecent laptops from Apple, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook, use a custom key design that allows the laptop to be thinner without sacrificing a big, accurate keyboard. Apple's "butterfly" keyboard made its first appearance on the MacBook in 2015.

But Apple's quest for thinness also came with a downside: dust or other small particles can get stuck under the spacebar or other keys and make it unresponsive.

The problem is widespread. Since Business Insider covered the issue in October, we've received scores of reader emails with the same problem. Fixing it can cost hundreds of dollars at an Apple store.

A sampling from readers in the past months:

There's even a parody song about the problem:

An absurd fix

Lots of computers have problems, including with their keyboards. But other brands have keyboards with removable keys — which means anyone with basic computer fixing skills can pop a traditional key off a keyboard in an attempt to solve the issue.

Not so with Apple's butterfly keyboard. It feels like if you remove a key, you'll break the keyboard forever.

So Apple's recommendation for fixing the problem at home is a little bit, say, unusual: It recommends you take your laptop and turn it nearly vertical, and then make three passes with a can of compressed air. Like so:

Apple

Or like this:

Apple

While this solution works for some, it didn't fix the problem on my personal MacBook Pro when I tried it. Plus, I felt really silly holding my computer like that.

But for now, that's the state of Apple's laptop keyboards — you can bring it into the shop, and if it's not under warranty, pay hundreds of dollars to get it fixed, or you can take a can of compressed air and blast your keyboard and hope it improves the issue.

Apple hasn't said if it will redesign its keyboards, partly because Apple never comments on future products. But a lot of Apple fans are hoping for a new keyboard that's more durable, and the ideas in Thursday's patent are some potential paths to get there.

Apple executives certainly hear the clamor.

"Absolutely, all of your feelings and feedback around the MacBook you use, we couldn't want to listen to more," Apple's head designer Jony Ive said in December. "And we hear — boy, do we hear."

Netflix

When video watchers hear Netflix is behind a movie or TV show, they most often conclude that it has to be good, or at least worth the minimal investment of time to check it out.

That positive association with Netflix's brand could be hard for competitors to beat, and could help justify its estimated $12 billion investment in original content.

"The positive brand association Netflix has created among its members provides a positive halo for its content, giving Netflix a huge advantage because members are pre-disposed to think they will 'like' Netflix content, which usually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy," wrote Todd Juenger, a Bernstein analyst.

With some of its recent successes, such as "Bright," featuring Will Smith, the German production "Dark," and the Oscar award-winning documentary, "Icarus," Netflix has proven that it produces original content that will keep driving new and loyal subscribers back to its platform.

This is also helping the video streaming company draw some key Hollywood talent such as Ryan Murphy, the man behind "American Horror Story" and "Glee," and Shonda Rhimes, the producer behind such hits as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal." The fact that Netflix is able to pull such high-profile names also keeps them away from competitors, Juenger notes.

"While the price tag is high, the value of a 'hit show' for Netflix is also high, and it's nice to have your $12 billion in capable hands," Juenger said.

Netflix plans to spend billions of dollars on roughly 700 new original TV shows in 2018 as part of its strategy to build "a global moat" that would widen its competitive advantage, according to another Wall Street analyst.

In fact, investor confidence was so high for Netflix that a Stifel analyst downgraded the stock, claiming the "share price may have sprinted ahead of fundamentals in the short-term."

Netflix was up 3.78% on Friday at $328.84 per share. It was up 63.62% for the year.

Markets Insider

Mita Stock Images/Shutterstock

Daylight Saving Time in the US takes effect in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 11.

After that, there will be at least a few miserable mornings where the work alarm feels even more invasive than normal.

But it's more serious than that — Daylight Saving Time is literally killing us. On Monday, there will likely be a 24% spike in heart attacks and a short-term increase in car crashes, strokes, and potentially even suicides.

In a way, the negative trends associated with the clock-change are a large-scale illustration of how bad for us it can be to lose even an hour of sleep. (As the parent of a small child, this is especially distressing to me.)

There's nothing you can do to fully compensate for the sudden change that's being forced on us, but you can take advantage of what scientists have learned about body clocks to adapt as quickly as possible.

We all have a natural internal clock of sorts, our circadian rhythm. It's what makes us feel tired when it's time to sleep and wakes us up in the morning, provided we're on a fairly regular schedule.

As a species, humans' clocks have evolved to mostly match the 24-hour natural light/dark schedule. (Our internal clock is actually a little longer than 24 hours, but gets naturally re-synchronized by environmental cues.) Exposure to light or darkness generally causes our bodies to produce hormones, particularly melatonin, that tell us when we should be alert or asleep — though artificial lighting can wreak some havoc on that system. Most of us are drowsiest around 5 a.m.

Suddenly changing the clocks throws off our internal body clock. You won't naturally suddenly feel tired an hour earlier at night. In the morning when the alarm rings, it's still going to feel like you should be asleep.

But we can manipulate our internal clocks to some degree: the most effective strategy is to get exposed to light at the right time.

Shutterstock/solarsven

According to one study, the most effective way to reset your natural sleep schedule is to go camping. Even in the winter, there's enough natural light to shift your internal rhythm.

But it's a little late for a last-minute weekend camping trip (and it's still very cold in much of the US). A less planning-intensive method is to take in some bright sunlight early in the morning for the next few days. It will also help to avoid light in the evening, making sure you are in a dark environment by bedtime.

"Full spectrum lighting is probably optimal in terms of the management of all these clockwork hormones that direct the complex physiology we have," Richard Rosen, director of retina services at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, previously told Business Insider. Even wearing sunglasses when you are trying to get your body ready for bed might help.

Morning exercise may be beneficial too, according to some research, though the data on how effective it is at shifting circadian rhythms is not conclusive. (Late-evening exercise has been shown to push our natural bedtime cues a bit later, however.)

Those who really feel the pain of the spring-forward clock change could also follow the lead of Florida residents, who are pushing to move clocks forward this Sunday and then never switch them back.

"Black Panther." Disney

"Black Panther" is proving that in China the Marvel Universe is more powerful than The Force.

The box-office sensation hit theaters in the second-largest movie market in the world on Friday and is on pace to outgross the latest "Star Wars" movie, "The Last Jedi."

Early estimates have "Black Panther" taking in $22.7 million on its first day, according to Deadline. That's almost as much as "The Last Jedi" earned in its entire opening weekend in China ($28.7 million).

This is no surprise for comScore box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, who told Business Insider earlier this week that "Black Panther" would preform better than "Last Jedi."

"The 'Star Wars' brand doesn't have the built in audience that Marvel has developed over the years," he explained.

Though "Star Wars" has been branded into the minds of North Americans (and other regions of the world) for generations, China has been behind on its access to the saga.

It's only been showing "Star Wars" movies since the late 1990s, when the prequels were the first-ever "Star Wars" films shown in theaters (outside of piracy). The original trilogy wasn't released in China until "A New Hope" opened in 2015.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, on the other hand, has been getting plenty of attention in China.

Outside of "The Force Awakens," all the recent MCU titles performed stronger in China than the recent "Star Wars" releases — $109.1 million for "Doctor Strange," $100 million for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," and $116.2 million for "Spider-Man: Homecoming." In fact, none of the "Star Wars" movies have broken the $100 million mark in China since "The Force Awakens" ($124.1 million).

"The Last Jedi" earned $42.5 million in China.

"Black Panther" looks to be on its way to be in that company. And it's tracking to hit the $1 billion global box office milestone by the end of this weekend.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Facebook sent some of its users a bizarre survey asking whether they would like child grooming to be allowed on the social network.

Selected users were asked how they think Facebook should set the rules on whether adults can ask minors for sexually explicit photos (a crime), and whether, if they controlled Facebook, they would let such messages be allowed (also a crime).

The Guardian's Jonathan Haynes posted screenshots of the survey on Twitter, and The Times also previously reported on its contents.

In one question, Facebook asked: "In thinking about an ideal world where you could set Facebooks' policies, how would you handle the following: a private message in which an adult man asks a 14 year old girl for sexual pictures."

The multiple choice answers include "this content should be allowed on Facebook, and I would not mind seeing it" and "this content should not be allowed on Facebook, and no one should be able to see it." Such messages would clearly be illegal throughout the US, the UK, and elsewhere in the world, and there is no option to say they should be reported to the police.

In another question, it asked: "When thinking about the rules for deciding whether a private message in which an adult man asks a 14 year old girl for sexual pictures should or should not be allowed on Facebook, ideally who do you think should be deciding the rules?"

Possible answers include "Facebook decides the rules on its own," "External experts decide the rules and tell Facebook," and "Facebook users decide the rules by voting and tell Facebook."

Again, there is no mention of what role the law might play in deciding these rules.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that child grooming is banned on Facebook and it has no plans to change that.

"We sometimes ask for feedback from people about our community standards and the types of content they would find most concerning on Facebook," they said. "We understand this survey refers to offensive content that is already prohibited on Facebook and that we have no intention of allowing so have stopped the survey."

The social network has been criticised over the survey. Labour MP and chairwoman of the home affairs select committee Yvette Cooper told The Times: "This is a stupid and irresponsible survey. Adult men asking 14-year-olds to send sexual images is not only against the law, it is completely wrong and an appalling abuse and exploitation of children.

"I cannot imagine that Facebook executives ever want it on their platform but they also should not send out surveys that suggest they might tolerate it or suggest to Facebook users that this might ever be acceptable."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Getty

Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

1. Buzzy augmented reality startup Magic Leap accused an employee of stealing $1 million (£726,000) over several months, after allegedly colluding with an external recruitment agency. Magic Leap has raised $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion) since 2011 but has yet to release its promised augmented reality glasses.

2. A former recruiter for YouTube is suing Google, claiming the company stopped hiring white and Asian men in order to boost diversity. Arne Wilberg said he was fired in November for complaining about Google's practices.

3. Rovio, the Finnish gaming firm behind 'Rovio' is closing its London studio after less than a year and axing the 7 staff who work there. The firm reported worse than expected results for the fourth quarter of 2017.

4. A Columbia University researcher has discovered that millions of users may have been following Instagram accounts connected to a Russian troll factory, the Internet Research Agency. Facebook has said it doesn't know how many people followed Russian trolls on Instagram, but Jonathan Allbright found 27 accounts had almost 2.2 million followers.

5. Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that Apple will offer a more affordable 13-inch MacBook Air this year. Kuo expects there'll be a new MacBook Air with a "lower price tag" some time in 2018.

6. Google-owned Nest will stop selling its smart home devices on Amazon, after Amazon reportedly refused to sell the firm's updated products. The change will heighten the fierce competition between Google and Amazon, which just acquired smart doorbell speaker Ring that competes directly with Nest.

7. Analysts expect Samsung to cut its investment in OLED technology by as much as half, according to the Financial Times. Samsung expected high demand for OLED screens after the iPhone X, but weak sales of the phone have left the firm with too much product.

8. Uber described an MIT study which suggested drivers earn less than $4 (£3) as flawed. MIT will revisit the study after CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described the university as "Mathematically Incompetent Theories."

9. Cryptocurrency exchanges Circle, Kraken, and Coinbase plan to hire around 1,000 staff collectively as demand for currencies booms. Most of the staff will work on preventing the outages that were wide-spread in 2017.

10. YouTube said it has no plans to ban Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist who runs YouTube channel InfoWars. Jones has claimed the channel is on the verge of being deleted after making false claims about the survivors of the Parkland shooting, but YouTube said it has no plans to terminate the outlet.

Startup bank Monzo's iconic 'hot coral' cards.Monzo

LONDON — British people are going off the idea of entrusting their finances to a digital-only startup bank, according to new data.

A survey by business intelligence provider RFi Group found a decline in appetite among UK consumers between the first half of 2017 and the second half of the year. People's willingness to bank with a digital-only startup fell from 78% at the start of 2017 to just 54% at the end of the year.

RFI surveyed over 1,000 people from the UK and said the group made up a "nationally representative sample of the banked population."

Britain has experienced in a boom in app-only, startup banks in recent years, including Monzo, Atom, and Starling Bank. These companies have raised hundreds of millions of pounds in funding and grown quickly to attract hundreds of thousands of customers. However, their client numbers are still dwarfed by traditional banks.

The decline in the UK's willingness to bank with digital startups mirrors feelings globally. RFI Group found the global appetite for digital-only main bank provider decreased from 50% to 44% between the first and second half of last year.

Despite the mood change, RFI found the proportion of consumers using digital banking globally rose from 58% to 68% across 2017. RFI Group said consumers appear to be preferring digital offerings from existing banks rather than turning to startups.

Charles Green, CEO of RFi Group, said in a statement: "The findings suggest that traditional banks which continue to 'up their game' in engaging consumers digitally will likely be the ones to benefit in the near future.

"Consumers are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to digital banking, their needs will continue to change and while this happens we are seeing them lean towards a model that provides channel choice which includes both the traditional and more recent offerings."

Virgin Money announced last week that it has spent almost £40 million so far developing its own digital bank.

NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

Local China Q&A app Zhihu has been temporarily banned from app stores following intense censorship in China over the country's plan to scrap presidential term limits.

The Quora-like app ran afoul of the Beijing Cyberspace Administration for "lax supervision and the spread of illegal information" and was ordered to be removed from app stores for seven days.

The administration did not clarify what the illegal information was. However, last week censorship flared up across popular platforms Weibo and WeChat as netizens criticized Xi Jinping's plan to rule the country indefinitely. Dozens of words were censored, including, at times, Xi's name and even the letter 'N.'

Editors at China Digital Times did find one example of a censored post on Zhihu that asked, "If the driver keeps going in spite of fatigue, without changing shifts, what should the passengers do?"

It appears the order against Zhihu, which is expected to last until 3pm on March 9, could have long-term consequences.

The China-focused website Sixth Tone reported that a Zhihu spokesperson was not authorized to speak on the record said the company will soon "make adjustments." It is not clear what those changes are set to be.

The decision also comes as China begins its two week-long National People's Congress (NPC), a legislative meeting that will vote on a proposal to eliminate presidential term limits.

Censorship around the NPC is not unusual. In 2016, China's propaganda department released a set of rules for covering the NPC that include: "do not report on security," "do not report on smog," and "do not report on delegates' personal wealth."

DB+co is a career and leadership coaching firm.

I'm a total morning person. I like to get up whenever the sunlight hits my bedroom window. But I always set my alarm for at least 7 a.m., just in case.

The first thing I do is I check my inbox, just to make sure that there aren't any major needs or questions or outreach from clients. Within the first 30 minutes of every day, I scan the news. I read the "Most Popular" section of The New York Times, theSkimm, and since I'm a New Yorker, The New York Post.

Then I'll have breakfast, which is always the same thing: lemon water, cinnamon-raisin toast, and a latte. Over breakfast, that's my time for creative exploration. It might be looking at Pinterest. It could be things about design. It could be career tips and tricks.

Some days I work out, some days I don't. It's just how my body feels. I'll either do a run in Central Park, or my husband and I will do a walk. Sometimes we'll do yoga at home, or I'll do Pilates.

Bryan Fogel in the Netflix documentary, "Icarus." Sundance Institute

Bryan Fogel became one of the biggest success stories at Sundance in 2017, when his doping scandal documentary "Icarus" sold to Netflix for a staggering $5 million (unheard of for a documentary sale). And then on Sunday, it won the best documentary Oscar.

But his journey actually goes back 14 years, when his claim to fame was being the creator of an off-Broadway hit show.

Struggling to get into the business as an actor, writer, or director, Fogel co-wrote the stage play "Jewtopia" with Sam Wolfson in 2003. It's a comedy about two friends navigating the Jewish and Gentile dating scenes. It became a surprise hit, with Fogel and Wolfson starring as the male leads during runs in Los Angeles, and then off-Broadway for three and a half years.

That play then had a touring production, was put into book form, and even spawned a movie version starring Jennifer Love Hewitt in 2012 directed by Fogel.

But that's when the party stopped. The movie barely got a theatrical run, and was thrust into streaming limbo following its 10% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Following that disappointment, and known around town only as "The Jewtopia Guy," Fogel was stuck in the bubble Hollywood likes to put people in.

"There was nothing coming at me that was exciting," Fogel told Business Insider. "In a way, I would call it director's jail."

"Icarus." Netflix But there was one thing that gave him comfort: cycling.

Fogel constantly rode his bike, sometimes even riding and doing competitions alongside pros. Around the time of accusations running wild in 2012 that Lance Armstrong was doping throughout his seven consecutive wins of the Tour de France, Fogel, who idolized Armstrong, began to wonder if the blame should be put on Armstrong or the entire system. Armstrong wasn't the only one doping, though he finally admitted to doing it in 2013.

That led to Fogel to an idea.

"I like to make films and I like to ride my bike, so I set out on this journey to evade positive detection," Fogel said. "Show on a bigger level how this anti-doping system essentially doesn't work and hopefully make a cool movie in the process."

In 2014, Fogel used $350,000 given to him by a friend and began to make "Icarus." He hired a team of nutritionists and trainers to chart his progress, and through that he befriended the man who would be in charge of his doping process, a Russian scientist named Grigory Rodchenkov.

It took years to find what the movie was. Fogel admitted that the first two years of material hardly even made it in the finished version of the movie. But his "Super Size Me"-like journey to see how performance enhancing drugs bettered his cycling led to a friendship with Rodchenkov, which inevitably became his movie.

As shown halfway through "Icarus," Fogel begins to realize through his Skype conversations with Rodchenkov that he's a major player in Russia's doping of its athletes. In fact, he's the guy.

It turns out Rodchenkov is the director of the Moscow laboratory, the Anti-Doping Centre, which does the complete opposite on a daily basis of what its name says it does. The lab, as Rodchenkov shows in the movie, doped the athletes and then carried through methods to make sure they got through the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 undetected.

Grigory Rodchenkov and Bryan Fogel in "Icarus." Netflix Around the time Fogel got this bombshell from Rodchenkov, producer Dan Cogan and his team at Impact Partners joined the movie, and gave Fogel the financing and support to complete it. This included Fogel's trip to Moscow to see Rodchenkov at his lab for the final stage of his doping.

But then the movie took a drastic turn.

Doping allegations toward Russian Olympic athletes begin to come out in the news, with involvement tracing all the way up to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Fearful for his life, Rodchenkov devised a plan with Fogel to get him to the US.

"I had so many sleepless nights in that period," Fogel said. "I had a responsibility. This story had to come out, and Grigory was the only person on planet earth who had this evidence."

Fogel and Rodchenkov's faces were suddenly plastered all over Russian television, and Fogel claiming his Facebook and email were constantly trying to be hacked into. This led to the movie's most dramatic moment, Rodchenkov getting in touch with the New York Times in May 2016 to deliver the whistle-blowing story that rocked the sports world. Fogel was there to capture it all on camera. In fact, some of that footage has only recently been included in the movie, as Fogel didn't have enough time to get it into the Sundance cut.

"The movie has the same running time, but we lost 20 minutes of material that was in the Sundance cut, and replaced that with 20 minutes of material that is bringing this story together emotionally. Showing and not telling," Fogel said, who adds that the story also now goes quicker into Rodchenkov's story. "So at Sundance we had a lot of [text] cards because we didn't have the time to put that together." Also different from the Sundance cut, there's now animation in the movie.

Many will likely connect the events in "Icarus" to the allegations that Russia interfered in the US 2016 presidential election. And Fogel is 100% on board with that thinking.

"You think to yourself, if they have been doing this to win gold medals and they had this entire laboratory that was basically a front for this spectacular criminal operation, is there any question what else they're capable of?" Fogel said. "Whether they hacked our election or whether there was collusion, I think the writing is right there on the wall. How much more evidence do you need?"

"Icarus" is available on Netflix.