The Missing Cryptoqueen

Get in the xigxag app
This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }}
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

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

Critics Review

  • 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

  • A great story and a spectacular con

    The Spectator

  • Outrageously entertaining… populated with the kind of gaudy crooks, ambitious crackpots and tragically hopeful hustlers we’d expect from a Coen brothers comedy. One can only hope this shocking, compulsively readable story serves as a cautionary tale

    Irish Times

  • A story of a very modern scam full of intrigue

    The i

  • A gripping read. Jamie Bartlett races through this compelling tale of corruption, ambition and intrigue

    Irish Independent

More from the same

Author

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.