Ruja Ignatova was behind one of the most notorious scams in the frequently treacherous world of crypto currencies.

A Bulgarian woman dubbed the “Crypto Queen” after she raised billions of dollars in a fraudulent virtual currency scheme has been placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday put up a $100,000 reward for Ruja Ignatova, who disappeared in Greece in October 2017 around the time US authorities filed a sealed indictment and warrant for her arrest.

The 42-year-old, who is also a German citizen, was behind one of the most notorious scams in the frequently treacherous world of crypto currencies.

In 2014, she launched OneCoin, ostensibly aiming to replace Bitcoin as the world’s leading virtual money.

Tapping a global network to market the coin to friends and family in exchange for their own payouts, she and co-conspirators pulled in at least $3.4 billion and possibly over $4 billion, according to court documents.

Ruja Ignatova is the newest addition to the #FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. She's #wanted for allegedly leading a fraud scheme that affected millions of investors worldwide. We're offering a reward of up to $100,000 for info leading to her arrest. https://t.co/5mk0NccE7x pic.twitter.com/xKoj0RN6BZ

— FBI (@FBI) June 30, 2022

Classic Ponzi scheme

Officials said that OneCoin was not backed by any secured, independent blockchain-type technology as other crypto currencies are.

Instead, they said, it was a classic Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are encouraged to find others and then paid out by receipts from later investors.

“OneCoin claimed to have a private blockchain,” said FBI Special Agent Ronald Shimko in a statement.

“This is in contrast to other virtual currencies, which have a decentralized and public blockchain. In this case, investors were just asked to trust OneCoin,” he said.

Rewards for information

Ignatova disappeared in 2017 as international investigators began to close in on her group.

“Investigators believe Ignatova may have been tipped off that she was under investigation by US and international authorities,” the FBI said Thursday.

“She travelled from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, on October 25, 2017, and has not been seen since.”

On May 11, Europol announced it had added Ignatova to its most-wanted list, and offered a 5,000 euro ($5,200) reward for information on her whereabouts.

But on Thursday she was no longer on the list. It was not clear why or when she came off it, and authorities in Europe and the United States have not shown evidence of whether she is alive or dead.

The new chips will be more powerful and efficient and will be used in high-performance computing applications before being put into gadgets such as mobile phones.

Samsung Electronics has become the first chipmaker in the world to mass-produce advanced 3-nanometre microchips as it seeks to catch up with Taiwan’s TSMC.

“Compared to 5nm process, the first-generation 3nm process can reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent, improve performance by 23 percent and reduce area by 16 percent,” Samsung said in a statement on Thursday.

The South Korean conglomerate last month announced a five-year plan to invest 450 trillion won (US$356 billion), saying it would “bring forward the mass production of chips based on the 3-nanometre process”.

The vast majority of the world’s most advanced microchips are made by just two companies – Samsung and Taiwan’s TSMC – both of which are running at full capacity to alleviate a global shortage.

READ MORE: Samsung’s blueprint features $356B investment, 80,000 jobs

Smaller, more powerful

The new chips will be smaller, more powerful and efficient, and will be used in high-performance computing applications before being put into gadgets such as mobile phones.

Samsung is the market leader in memory chips but it has been scrambling to catch up with TSMC in the advanced foundry business.

TSMC dominates more than half of the global foundry market, with clients including Apple and Qualcomm, while Samsung trails with around 16 percent market share, according to TrendForce.

TSMC plans to begin volume production of 3-nanometre technology in the second half of this year, and entered the development stage of 2-nanometre technology last year, according to the company’s 2021 annual report.

READ MORE: Apple becomes first US company to hit $3 trillion market cap