The Crazy True Story of How Jake Adelstein Cracked a $500 Million Crypto Heist

Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

IRONCLAD

Society & Culture

4.9 • 648 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jake Adelstein is a journalist and writer, known for works including Tokyo Vice (adapted into an HBO Max series), The Last Yakuza, and Tokyo Noir. In his latest book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin, he pulls back the curtain on crypto’s criminal underworld, linking Bitcoin’s rise to dark web marketplaces like Silk Road, the collapse of Japan's Mt. Gox exchange, and the figures moving money through it all. It’s a deeper look at how organized crime, fraud, and digital currency collided behind the scenes.Change Agents is an IRONCLAD OriginalSponsors: Watch Pressure in theaters starting May 29th.Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/Norwood Sawmills:Learn more about Norwood Sawmills and how you can start milling your own lumber at https://norwoodsawmills.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=ironclad&utm_campaign=ironcladSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf/id1677415740Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3SKmtN55V2AGbzHDo34DHI?si=5aefbba9abc844ed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
0:03.0	Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion
0:07.7	dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story.
0:13.5	Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.
0:18.2	Changes in sexual performance are more common than most people realise, and support doesn't need to feel awkward.
0:24.3	With MedExpress, everything happens privately online.
0:27.6	Start by completing a short consultation reviewed by UK registered clinicians.
0:31.8	If eligible, treatment is delivered discreetly to your home with ongoing support whenever you need it.
0:37.2	You're not alone in this.
0:38.7	Visit medexpress.co.combe.ukest to learn more. Mount Gux was indeed hacked by this Russian hacker
0:47.6	and Bitcoin exchange operator named Alexander Vinnik, another guy named Yuchenko. And both of these
0:54.0	guys are heavily connected to
0:56.5	Putin's inner circle. So they're doing money laundering for oligarchs connected to Russia. Now,
1:02.1	they're not state-sponsored terrorist. I mean, these guys are just making their profits and
1:05.8	stuff. In this case of Mount Gox, which is eventually solved, not by the Japanese police, but by the IRS in the
1:12.7	United States.
1:20.9	Welcome to change agents in Ironclad original, presented by Firecracker Farm.
1:25.3	Today we have a repeat guest.
1:29.3	Jake Adelstein returns.
1:34.6	He is an American journalist and author. His work includes Tokyo Vice, which was adapted into an HBO Mac series, The Last Yakuza and Tokyo Noir. In his latest book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin,
1:40.6	he pulls back the curtain on crypto's criminal underworld, linking Bitcoin's rise
1:45.1	to dark web marketplaces like the Silk Road, the collapse of Japan's Mount Gox Exchange,
	...

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