There are several well-known individuals in the crypto world. Crypto investors hold high regard for people like Vitalik Buterin, Changpeng Zhao, and Elon Musk. Also, their pronouncements have the ability to affect markets. However, there are some personalities that fall on the other extreme of the scale. These individuals are talked about just as often and find themselves in the news, but for all the wrong reasons. Let’s examine a few of these individuals and the actions they took to engender unfavourable feelings in the community.
Ruja Ignatova
Ruja Ignatova is perhaps the most infamous personality on this list. Often referred to as the Crypto Queen, Ignatova is a convicted Bulgarian-German fraudster who orchestrated the OneCoin Ponzi scheme, one of the biggest scams in crypto history.
OneCoin’s main business model revolved around the sale of course materials. In many ways, it resembled a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme where those who purchased the course material were paid to recruit new buyers. The OneCoin project ran successfully between 2014 and 2016. During this period, it is believed to have syphoned upwards of $4 billion from innocent investors.
The project’s co-founder, Sebastian Greenwood, was apprehended and sentenced to jail in the US. Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, was also arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering. However, by the time authorities started cracking down on the company, Ignatova had already…
