From BitConnect to FTX, it seems like the words “cryptocurrency” and “scam” constantly find themselves in the same sentence, and with it feeling like a new NFT scandal or crypto-game scam being exposed every week now, skepticism around anything Web 3.0 is at an all-time high. 

And from an outsider's perspective – and the privilege of hindsight – it sounds ludicrous to give any of these companies a single dollar. The way they act, the way they look, and the things they say all seem so… fake. Yet people still decide to invest with their unwavering support and hard-earned cash. 

But it was only a few years ago, during the immense rise in the value of Bitcoin, when people heard the word “crypto” they didn’t think “scam” or “lies” but rather “future” and “wealth”. The idea of a digital currency free of the state and able to be used across all borders enticed the public, but cryptocurrency was just beginning to enter the mainstream and the majority of people had no idea how the technology worked. 

But any environment which constantly circulates ideas of getting quick and easy money and being able to achieve one’s dream of financial independence is where the con artist thrives. And one such plot managed to pull a scam so big that it rivaled that of Madoff and Stanford.

Telling the story of Ruja Ignatova and the company she founded, OneCoin, would be  very interesting for a few reasons: Not only would it be a cautionary tale of the consequences of believing in things that sound too good to be true, but it would also allow us to go into detail about the life of Ruja, and to do a deep-dive on her mysterious family and network. From the research I’ve done, it seems like Ruja has managed to filter her companies and bank accounts through a variety of different bodies, all of which are owned by people she likely has close ties to and is possibly aware of what she is doing. There are also a plethora of people who can be interviewed, both big and small, which is something that other YouTubers who’ve covered this topic were not willing to do. 

People like Bjørn Bjercke, Jennifer McAdam, and Crypto Xpose would all be great people to interview on the subject matter and they will be able to provide us with a unique and richer insight on the matter. All three of these people seem like they are relatively easy to get in touch with, and all three can provide expertise on what the three main parts of the story should be: 

Bjørn would be able to talk about not only the technology behind cryptocurrency but also what aspect of OneCoin’s technology (or lack thereof) makes it a scam.

Jennifer was, for a time, convinced that all of the sweet nothings that Ruja and her team constantly pushed onto her and other investors would come to fruition. Hearing her story about what led her to invest in OneCoin, what made her believe in OneCoin, and what eventually got her to see OneCoin for what it was, would allow the audience to see not only how somebody like Jennifer can fall for scams like OneCoin, and how she convinced her friends to join too, but also showcase what kind of people OneCoin prey’s on; Andrea O’Sullivan talks about in her article for James Madison about how OneCoin is far more insidious than many other high-profile investment scams, like Theranos and WeWork. These companies relied on extremely wealthy firms and individuals to receive funding, but OneCoin was instead targeting the everyman/everywoman.

And finally, Crypto Xpose’s channel shows that the OneCoin problem reaches far beyond Ruja and more information about just how big Ruja’s network is could be obtained by Crypto Xpose.  

At the very least, all three of these individuals have videos in which they already cover said topics, however, they are yet to be talked about by other content creators, especially in the amount of detail that has been provided.

Overall, this topic has the potential to tell an engaging story with highs, lows, wins, and losses. And there is just so much “lore” to this topic that it feels like answering one question on the matter just opens up four new ones. 

Part 1: What made OneCoin a scam? This section, or chapter, would focus more on the OneCoin cryptocurrency itself. As previously mentioned, the first main chapter not including a short introduction would be where it is explained clearly why OneCoin is a scam; what aspect of its design makes it virtually worthless? Showing clips of Bjørn Bjercke, or having an interview with him where he talks about the design of blockchains and why an absence of one should be a very big red flag. 

Part 2: How did OneCoin operate? This chapter would focus on OneCoin as a business. How does it operate, and what was its strategy for making money? What kind of people was OneCoin trying to attract and what tactics did they use to do so? This section would be a good time to talk with – or include clips of – Jennifer McAdam, as she seems to be a prime example of the kind of people OneCoin was looking for as an investor. Additionally, the MLM aspect of OneCoin’s strategy can be talked about in this section. 

Part 3: Who was behind OneCoin? This part is the most interesting and deepest part of the story in terms of investigative work, which is why it’s left for last. This chapter is where we start to talk more about Ruja and her network of Lawyers, public speakers, and MLM gurus. It would allow the audience to see just how deep the OneCoin rabbit hole goes (and this section is also what will be teased at the beginning of the video). 

A hook into the video

Interviews with individuals (as mentioned above)

A montage of all the different speakers and gurus which are up on stage

A section that talks about the rise of crypto scams (likely at the beginning of the video) 

Juxtapose the fantasy that Ruja was trying to present with reality by having these two play after the other:

Dr. Ruja Ignatova: The Blockchain (skip to 35:40)

Maybe even images of her FBI Most Wanted page overlapping. Of course, editing and sound effects are also needed. 

Jamie Bartlett & Georgia Catt, hosts of the Missing Cryptoqueen Podcast

Crypto Xpose, is a man dedicated to exposing OneCoin and similar scam coins.

Bjørn Bjercke, a Norwegian blockchain specialist, who found out that OneCoin had no blockchain (note, his Twitter, and website were also discovered)

Victims of the OneCoin scam. Can be found on the OneCoin Victim Support and Information Facebook Group

Coghlan, Jesse. “$4B OneCoin scam co-founder pleads guilty, faces 60 years in jail” Cointelegraph, 19 December 2020. https://cointelegraph.com/news/4b-onecoin-scam-co-founder-pleads-guilty-faces-60-years-jail

Madeira, António. “OneCoin: A deep dive into crypto’s most notorious Ponzi scheme” Cointelegraph, 1 September 2020. https://cointelegraph.com/news/onecoin-a-deep-dive-into-crypto-s-most-notorious-ponzi-scheme

Anonymous. “OneCoin lose Hong Kong bank account in 2 weeks” Behind MLM, 20 October 2016. https://behindmlm.com/mlm/regulation/onecoin-lose-hong-kong-bank-account-in-2-weeks/

Anonymous. “OneCoin lose Cyprus bank account, Bank of Africa & UOB remain” Behind MLM, 8 November 2016. https://behindmlm.com/companies/onecoin/onecoin-lose-cyprus-bank-account-bank-of-africa-remains/

Anonymous. “OneCoin lose last bank account, unable to accept wires” Behind MLM, 15 November 2016.

Stier, Frank. “Das Verstummen der Cryptoqueen" (translated) Telepolis, 6 December 2017.

“Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then vanished” BBC, 24 November 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50435014

Zimwara, Terence. “Jailed Onecoin Mastermind Accused of Using Contraband Mobile Phone to Move $20 Million” Bitcoin.com, 25 November 2021. https://news.bitcoin.com/jailed-onecoin-mastermind-accused-using-contraband-mobile-phone-to-move-20-million/

 

O’Sullivan, Andrea. “Reason Magazine: The Missing Cryptoqueen Details the Rise and Fall of Ruja Ignatova’s OneCoin con” The James Madison Institute, 8 August 2022. https://jamesmadison.org/the-missing-cryptoqueen-details-the-rise-and-fall-of-ruja-ignatovas-onecoin-con/ 

“One Coin – Scam cryptocurrency impact on the financial market” Technium Social Sciences Journal

Vol. 16, 274-282, February, 2021. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/techssj16&div=23&id=&page=

Scharfman, James “Cryptocurrency Ponzi, Pyramid and MLM schemes”, 17 January 2023. 

Helmore, Edward. “Fraud, cons and Ponzi schemes: did Sam Bankman-Fried use Madoff tactics?” The Guardian, 17 December 2022.

 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/17/sam-bankman-fried-bernie-madoff-fraud-ftx

Marr, Bernard. “A Short History Of Bitcoin And Crypto Currency Everyone Should Read”, 6 December 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/12/06/a-short-history-of-bitcoin-and-crypto-currency-everyone-should-read/?sh=f3e031d3f279