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The Missing Cryptoqueen

byJamie Bartlett, Jamie Bartlett (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.

175 countries, four billion dollars, one scam: the inside story of the world's biggest crypto con and the woman who got away with it.


In 2016, on stage at Wembley Arena in front of thousands of adoring fans, Dr Ruja Ignatova promised her followers a financial revolution. The future, she said, belonged to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. And the Oxford-educated, self-styled cryptoqueen vowed that she had invented the Bitcoin Killer. OneCoin would not only earn its investors untold fortunes, it would change the world.

By March 2017 more than $4 billion had been invested in OneCoin in dozens of countries, from the USA to Pakistan, Hong Kong to Yemen, and the UK to Brazil. But by October 2017, Ruja Ignatova had disappeared, and it slowly became clear that her revolutionary cryptocurrency was not all it seemed.

In The Missing Cryptoqueen, Jamie Bartlett tells the unbelievable story of the rise, disappearance and fall of Dr Ruja Ignatova, setting out on a globe-crossing investigation into the criminal underworlds, corrupt governments and the super-rich. Along the way, he reveals a very modern tale of intrigue, techno-hype and herd madness that allowed OneCoin to become a million person pyramid scheme - where, at the top, investors were making millions and, at the bottom, people were putting their livelihoods at risk. It's the inside story of the smartest and biggest scam of the 21st Century - and the genius behind it, who is still on the run.

© Jamie Bartlett 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

The Missing Cryptoqueen investigates a con that made Theranos look like small fry... The tragic account of how it happened is an astonishing read, plunging you into a toxic world of Insta-wealth, betrayal and ruthless ambition

The Telegraph

About Jamie Bartlett

Jamie Bartlett is one of the UK’s leading technology writers and thinkers. His previous books include The Dark Net and The People vs Tech, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. His Ted Talk about buying drugs on dark net markets has been watched nearly six million times. He has written and presented several hit BBC podcast series, including the smash hit The Missing Cryptoqueen, which reached number 1 in the podcast charts all round the world. In 2010, Jamie founded a research centre specialising in designing and applying artificial intelligence software to understand social trends.
Details
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • ISBN: 9781473599093
  • Length: 500 minutes
  • Price: £13.00
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