The search for the Cryptoqueen

When Dr. Ruja Ignatova launched OneCoin in 2014, she promised a revolution in finance — a cryptocurrency "for the people." Within three years, her company had drawn billions from investors across 190 countries, turning her into an icon of wealth and intellect. Then she vanished. The Search for the Cryptoqueen follows that disappearance across borders and years of investigation. Drawing on Europol reports, U.S. court filings, leaked correspondence, and interviews with insiders, Naila Oto reconstructs how Ignatova engineered one of the greatest deceptions of the digital age. The book exposes the hidden networks of shell companies stretching from Sofia to Dubai, the political and banking intermediaries who enabled her rise, and the global manhunt that failed to bring her to justice. Written in a clear investigative style, it also explores the psychology of belief and ambition — why millions trusted a system without code, and how the myth of the Cryptoqueen continues to influence new financial schemes worldwide. At once a financial thriller and a work of documentary nonfiction, The Search for the Cryptoqueen is both case study and cautionary tale — a chronicle of modern trust, technology, and the seductive power of illusion.