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Ep07- Moneyland – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

What’s Moneyland? That’s what the first half of this “The Missing Cryptoqueen” episode is about. The second part is about Frankfurt, the city where Jamie and Georgia think that Dr. Ruja might be hiding. In any case, Moneyland is that mythical place where the money that millionaires and corporate entities want to disappear goes. The concept comes from british journalist Oliver Bullough, who “has spent many years investigating the ways illicit money flows around the world, including in Eastern Europe.” He’s this episode’s star guest.

The Frankfurt part, however, is the most exciting segment of the whole podcast so far. The production team really stepped up their investigative game and got closer to Dr. Ruja than any police department ever will. We know our summaries are phenomenal, but we recommend that everyone listens to that second part at least.  

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

In any case, let’s go to Moneyland!

About “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Seven – “In Plain Sight”

Is Dr. Ruja alive? Before even mentioning Moneyland, producer Georgia Catt confirms a possible Dr. Ruja sighting to presenter Jamie Bartlett. The staff of an Athens restaurant remembers someone with Dr. Ruja’s characteristics as part of a party of six. What they’re not sure about is exactly *when* did this happen. Interesting. The possibility of a Dr. Ruja running around Europe might’ve been the catalyst for the Frankfurt part of the episode. But first, let’s get to Moneyland.

After hearing the basic facts of the OneCoin case, journalist Oliver Bullough tells Jamie that once upon a time “Albania descended into anarchy because of a pyramid scheme.” As the crypto world has confirmed lately, these scams can be dangerous. Then, Bullough explains what Moneyland is. Rich and smart people can construct their “assets in such a way that they become invisible.” They can still use them to “buy political influence and nice houses and yachts.” 

When it comes to other people trying to find those assets, though, they turn invisible. So, “that’s what Moneyland is, Moneyland is the place where these assets go.” This breaks Jamie, who asks if there’s zero chance of finding them. Bullough tries to cheer him up by saying “It’s not zero chance. It’s, yeah. I mean, it’s been very well hidden, right?” And that’s not the most depressing part of the episode. After that, they inform us that the UK has stopped their investigation into OneCoin. They just gave up.

FTTUSD price chart - TradingView

FTT price chart for 11/18/2022 on FTX | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

Moneyland Leads To Frankfurt

When things look darker, “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” production team gets into high gear. They turn their investigating arm up a few notches and focus on the Internet. “We put so much online now, and that information can betray us. And that’s what took us to somewhere we think Dr. Ruja might be.“ That somewhere is Frankfurt. Our heroes determine that Dr. Ruja’s ex-husband and her hidden daughter live in the city. Plus, her best friend seems to have visited Frankfurt recently.

They get there and they find nothing, not a single trace. This part is excruciating. However, it leads Jamie and Georgia to a high-luxury neighborhood that feels like the place Dr. Ruja would live. This is where Monelyland leads to. In there, they find a charismatic but annoying postman that might remember the name Ignatova. They leave that storyline open and “The Missing Cryptoqueen” returns to England. 

To finish the episode off, Jamie has a very interesting discussion with Cameron, “a UK-based OneCoin promoter.” Is he a true believer or is he just defending an extremely lucrative business? Cameron goes all in and carries the OneCoin party line to the very end. Wow. This might be the most surprising part of the whole episode. 

Quotes From Episode Seven of “The Missing Cryptoqueen”:

Oliver Bullough, explaining how money can disappear:

“If you are rich enough and well advised enough or clever enough, you construct your assets in such a way that they become invisible. They still exist, you can still use them to buy things, you can still use them to buy political influence and nice houses and yachts. But when it comes from someone trying to find them, whether that’s a journalist or a police officer, the assets are invisible. And so that’s what Moneyland is, Moneyland is the place where these assets go.”

Jamie Barlett on what led them to Frankfurt:

“There’s one place we haven’t looked, not really looked. And it’s probably the most obvious place of all, the Internet. We put so much online now, and that information can betray us. And that’s what took us to somewhere we think Dr. Ruja might be. Not Athens, Frankfurt. It took weeks of extremely boring internet research and painstakingly going back through everything we’ve learned so far.”

Extra Material, about “Moneyland”: 

In The Guardian’s review of Oliver Bullough’s “Moneyland,” they quote a metaphorical definition of the novel term:

“He conceives of it as a secret, parallel world, almost like something from a fairytale: “The very wealthiest people … have tunnelled into this new land that lies beneath all our nation states, where borders have vanished. They move their money … and themselves wherever they wish, picking and choosing which countries’ laws they wish to live by.”

The Guardian also says:

“He is surprisingly successful at getting some of the architects of the offshore world to open up, and is sensitive to the fact that some of its users have good reason to avoid governments, such as rich dissidents fearing the politically motivated confiscation of their assets. He also accepts an argument frequently put to him in notorious tax havens: that wealthier, less criticised countries such as Britain have been equally involved in building and maintaining Moneyland.”

Episode Credits

Presenter: Jamie Bartlett
Producer: Georgia Catt
Story consultant: Chris Berube
Editor: Philip Sellars
Original music and sound design: Phil Channell
Original music and vocals: Dessislava Stefanova and the London Bulgarian Choir

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 04 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep04-onelife-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 05 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep05-mlm-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 06 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep06-dealshaker-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Featured Image: The Missing Cryptoqueen’s logo, from the BBC | Charts by TradingView

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“The United States Is Already Mining” Bitcoin… “Maybe,” Says Compass Mining CEO

Does the Compass Mining CEO know something we don’t? Is The United States mining Bitcoin? Whit Gibbs was a guest in a recent episode of Anthony Pompliano’s “The Best Business Show” and spilled the beans… or did he? The host cleverly disguised his question by talking about other countries following El Salvador’s footsteps and starting mining Bitcoin. He also mentioned Venezuela and other not-friendly to the U.S. countries already doing it. Then, he asked point-blank, what would it take for their country to start mining?

Related Reading | Will Bitcoin Mining Backed Volcano Bonds Be Enough To Ward Off The IMF?

“The United States is already mining,” Gibbs answered. And then softened the blow with a “Maybe.” If true, this is huge. And the implications are even greater. “They might have like 10 or 20 watts running somewhere in the midwest to test it out. Maybe. It’s hypothetically speaking. But, it’s a matter of national security.” Was that hypothetical? Or was the Compass Mining CEO giving us inside information? That’s what we’ll try to figure out.

But first, here’s the video: 

What Does The Compass Mining CEO Know?

Well, for starters, he knows Bitcoin is the hardest asset ever created. “When it comes to mining, when you’re talking about what Bitcoin is, whether it’s a store of value, it’s a medium of exchange. It’s the future financial instrument that many, many things are going to be built on top of. Nations would have to be absolutely out of their mind to not be getting some exposure to the underlying infrastructure which supports it.” 

So, it’s safe to say that the Compass Mining CEO is bullish on Bitcoin. Why do we think he might know something the rest of the world doesn’t, though? Gibbs continues, “So, the US I think is on the front foot. We’ve had a lot of conversations with the government in DC, state governments, to help educate them, but they are very forward-thinking when it comes to supporting this.”

So, does the Compass Mining CEO know something we don’t? Is The United States mining Bitcoin already?

Gibbs completes the idea by saying that El Salvador is showing the way to countries that are not at the forefront and, historically, have been hurt by the current system. They now know that being early to Bitcoin can make a huge impact and “get them there.”

BTC price chart for 12/03/2021 on FTX | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Other Countries That Are Already Mining Bitcoin

Story Time With Pomp And Gibbs. The host senses that the guest knows something and tries to get it out of him. Pompliano shares a story with him: he knows that in 2012-2013 a Federal law enforcement agency was mining Bitcoin. The rationale was that they couldn’t get a budget approved to buy Bitcoin at exchanges to fund black/ undercover operations. So, they filled papers to get computers instead and started mining. The Bitcoin they got was untraceable, it had no history. And they used it to run operations.

Then, it was Gibbs’ turn. “So, this is how you get in trouble,” the Compass Mining CEO answered. Cleverly, he shifted the focus from the U.S. to other countries. According to Gibbs, a North African country that’s a hotspot for the United States is getting into Bitcoin Mining. This is happening at the presidential level.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining In The U.S.: 4 States Attract The Most Miners

Also, he lives in Latvia. A very close neighbor of Latvia, “that may have stopped a plane no too long ago, to remove a journalist,” is already mining Bitcoin with nuclear power. The Compass Mining CEO closes his stellar presentation with, “I don’t believe that they’re mining Bitcoin to skirt sanctions. I believe that they’re mining Bitcoin because they see it as the future, and they want to boost their economy, they want to grow.”

You read it here first, Bitcoin is the future and many world leaders know it.  

Featured Image by Christopher Skor on Unsplash – Charts by TradingView