The Crypto Queen has disappeared, and no one knows where she is. This is the story of Ruja Ignatova—a person who organized one of the largest financial scams in the history of cryptocurrencies.

OneCoin—that’s the name of this scheme. From 2014 to 2017, the project was presented as a revolutionary cryptocurrency, allegedly superior to Bitcoin. In reality, it was pure fraud. They deceived more than 3.5 million people and took more than $4 billion. Impressive, right?

Ruja Ignatova was the mastermind behind the entire operation. Did they arrest her? No. Was she put on trial? No. The last time she was seen was in Greece in 2017, and since then—no trace at all. The FBI has added her to its list of the ten most wanted criminals and is offering $5 million for information that will lead to her capture.

The theories about Ignatova’s whereabouts sound like a Hollywood movie plot. Some say she’s hiding on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean Sea. Others are certain that Ruja Ignatova found refuge in Cape Town, South Africa—specifically in the wealthy suburb of Constantia. Interestingly, her brother Konstantin lived there for some time before he was arrested in Los Angeles in 2019.

Konstantin admitted his guilt in his role in OneCoin and was released in March of this year after cooperating with American prosecutors. He even called his involvement in the project “the biggest mistake of his life.” But he told nothing about his sister.

There are also darker versions. Bulgarian media are spreading the theory that Ruja Ignatova was killed in 2018 on the orders of the local drug lord Hristofer Amanatidis. Supposedly, the killer dismembered her body and dumped it into the Ionian Sea. Amanatidis is considered the head of an organized crime group in Eastern Europe and may be connected to OneCoin.

The OneCoin scam itself attracted so much attention that films are being made about it. In one of them, the lead role will be played by Kate Winslet—she will portray a real victim of the scheme who lost about $300,000. The film industry is revealing the details of this fraud to a wide audience.

So where is the Crypto Queen? Does she live in a luxury suburb of Cape Town? Is she hiding somewhere out at sea? Or are those right who believe in a darker scenario? Law enforcement agencies continue the search, but every year without results makes this story more and more mysterious. Ignatova remains one of the most elusive figures in the crypto world—and definitely not for good reasons.