What happens when a journalist investigates one of the biggest scams in history? My guest on this episode, Jamie Bartlett is the author of ‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’, which tells the tale of his multi-year investigation into the disappearance of Dr Ruja Ignatova.

Dr Ruja is the founder of OneCoin, a cryptocurrency that sold itself as an alternative to Bitcoin but was instead a pyramid-style scam which relieved people from 175 countries of at least £4 billion.

The Missing Cryptoqueen is also the title of a BBC podcast that Jamie presents which explores the astonishing story behind OneCoin. In our conversation, Jamie explains how the One Coin scam worked, how he came across the story and what happened when he began to investigate it.

We begin our conversation by exploring Jamie’s early research into the Dark Net and how technology impacts our decision-making. He explains to my why, in many respects, algorithms prompt a reaction in us that is not dissimilar to religion.
In that discussion, we talk about the English Defence League. More on them here: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/understanding-the-english-defence-league-life-on-the-front-line-of-an-imagined-clash-of-civilisations/

To hear the BBC podcast on The Missing Crypto Queen - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nkd84

To learn more about Jamie’s book - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/112/1120307/the-missing-cryptoqueen/9780753559581.html