When the young CEO of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is reported to have died while honeymooning in India, it sets off a cataclysmic chain of events that would leave about 76,000 people out of a quarter of a billion dollars and a trail of conspiracy theories around whether Gerald Cotten is dead or alive. A Death in Cryptoland is an original podcast series about a crypto-tycoon, his secret past, his sudden demise, and an online sleuth’s obsession to unravel the truth behind QuadrigaCX. Hosted by Takara Small. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces | The Expert Witness
Host Sam Mullins interviews experts about AI's role as a witness in the criminal justice system and its implications for accountability.
24 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces: Deepfake Porn Empire
Deepfake porn is a billion-click industry built on stolen faces, while the people making it hide theirs behind screens. Hosted by journalist Sam Cole, Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire traces the decades-long rise of synthetic porn, the targets who are fighting back, and the global investigation that led to its Canadian kingpin.
Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet — we explore the stories that define our digital age with hosts and characters embedded in the heart of the action.
More episodes of Deepfake Porn Empire are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/DPExDC (https://link.mgln.ai/DPExDC)
15 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces: The Making of Musk
Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? In search of clues we return to his sheltered youth in apartheid South Africa, a world engineered for white supremacy. Along the way, we connect the dots between a bizarre White House ambush of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to teenage Elon’s ego-powered quests in video games. Finally, was his “draft dodge” from military service a moral act or an opportunist’s exit?
Know more, now. Understood is an anthology podcast from the CBC that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. You can find Understood wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CryptolandxMoM (https://link.mgln.ai/CryptolandxMoM)
15 Sept 2025
A Death In Cryptoland Introduces: Dirtbag Climber from Uncover
A murder victim with multiple identities. A criminal on the run from his past. Dirtbag Climber from Uncover is a five-part podcast series investigating the unsolved homicide of “Jesse James,” a “dirtbag” rock climber found dead in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. Local reporter Steven Chua dives into the case, determined to find answers. Along the twisted way, he tracks a stranger-than-fiction story that criss-crosses North America, unveiling a stunning portrait of an enigmatic con artist — a troubling victim whose twisted life story foreshadowed the darkest digital undercurrents of our time. More episodes of Dirtbag Climber are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/dc-cyrptoland (https://link.mgln.ai/dc-cyrptoland)
30 Jun 2025TRANSCRIPT
Introducing: The Outlaw Ocean S2 and The repo man of the seas
Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Urbina interviews Max Hardberger, a maritime repo man, about his daring exploits recovering ships seized in hostile foreign ports using subterfuge and stealth.
12 May 2025TRANSCRIPT
A Death In Cryptoland Introduces | Understood: Who Broke the Internet
It's not you — the internet really does suck. Novelist, blogger and noted internet commentator Cory Doctorow explains what happened to the internet and why you're tormented by ads, bots, algorithms, AI slop and so many pop-ups. Spoiler alert: it wasn't an accident.
In Understood: Who Broke the Internet, Doctorow gets into the decisions made by powerful people that got us here, and most importantly, how we fix it. More episodes of Who Broke the Internet are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/jBaUeU
1 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT
A Death In Cryptoland Introduces: Agent Pale Horse
FBI undercover agent Scott Payne’s job was to infiltrate the most dangerous gangs of our times: outlaw bikers, drug cartels and the international neo-Nazi networks hellbent on inciting a race war.
He was taking down these groups from within. And Scott was good at it — people confided in him their most audacious plans for mass violence and domestic terrorism.
In the second season of White Hot Hate, host Michelle Shephard gives you an unvarnished view of a life undercover. Because after a 28-year-long career pretending to be somebody else, Agent Payne is ready to tell his side of the story.
This series was produced alongside a book co-written by Scott Payne and Michelle Shephard titled Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis.
More episodes of White Hot Hate: Agent Pale Horse are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/bkXg16 (https://link.mgln.ai/bkXg16)
21 Jan 2025
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces | The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby
Kaitlyn Braun, a pregnant young woman in crisis, takes dozens of birth workers through an escalating series of disasters – rape, baby loss, and even a coma. One by one, the doulas struggle to support her and grieve with her, and even save her life as they’re led down a distressing path. And then the truth comes out.
In this six-part true crime series, Sarah Treleaven untangles a complex web of lies and deception to ask who Kaitlyn really is and why she did the things that she did. Cases like these puzzle legal experts and raise intricate moral and ethical questions. This is not your average con. Kaitlyn is not your usual scammer.
Kaitlyn's Baby is Season 2 of The Con — a podcast exposing the art of deception — from CBC and the BBC World Service. Season 1 - the critically acclaimed catfishing quest, Love, Janessa, launched in January 2023.
Content warning: The latest season of The Con contains references to medical emergencies, including baby loss. We also deal with sexual assault and there is some strong language.
More episodes are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/ioH2wt (https://link.mgln.ai/ioH2wt )
1 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT
A Death In Cryptoland Introduces | Split Screen: Thrill Seekers
A TV crew offers 12 ordinary people the chance to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. But there’s a catch. The audience knows everything but the contestants are kept in the dark. As the cameras roll, no questions are allowed. Split Screen: Thrill Seekers is a new 6 part series that exposes how a TV show left contestants struggling to trust what’s actually real.
Host Nick van der Kolk (Love + Radio) asks: does reality TV only succeed when it exploits those involved? He talks to the set designers, crew, and the contestants themselves to learn what it took to permanently distort their sense of reality.
Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted.
More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/yPG-Os7E (https://link.chtbl.com/yPG-Os7E)
13 May 2024TRANSCRIPT
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces: Introduces: Understood Season 3: Modi's India
In the latest season of Understood, Mumbai-based journalist Salimah Shivji examines how Modi went from being barred from the US, to becoming one of the most powerful men in the world. And asks the pressing question: what’s at stake if he wins again? Season 3: Modi's India.
About Understood: Know more, now. From the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, to the rise of Pornhub, Understood is an anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Over a handful of episodes, each season unfolds as a story, hosted by a well-connected reporter, and rooted in journalism you can trust. Driven by insight and fueled by curiosity…The stories of our time: Understood. More episodes of Understood are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Q_v_ydN2 (https://link.chtbl.com/Q_v_ydN2)
15 Jun 2021
Episode 6: The End Game
The revelation that Gerry’s house of cards had been falling apart — just as he’s reported dead in India — leaves people wondering: is this an exit scheme? Could Gerry still be alive? From buying a death certificate to Haitian zombie powder, people talk about the conspiracy theories.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
8 Jun 2021
Episode 5: Where’s the Money Gerry?
As financial investigators struggle to find any of the missing quarter of a billion dollars, they begin to make some bizarre discoveries around how the exchange had operated — finding funny business from the very start.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
1 Jun 2021
Episode 4: Voleur
Despite Michael Patryn’s denials that he’s a fraudster named Omar Dhanani, customers aren’t buying it. They’re demanding proof. A mugshot. A secret service agent, a felon-turned podcaster, and a childhood friend tell the story of Omar, the man Michael insists he’s not.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
1 Jun 2021
Episode 3: Cracks in the Empire
Gerald Cotten and his business partner, Michael Patryn, launch QuadrigaCX on Boxing Day, 2013. There’s hype in the budding Bitcoin community and the small exchange seems to have a meteoric rise. But cracks begin to appear, problems with the banks, a software bug, and delays in paying back customers. Meanwhile, online rumours of a criminal past dog Michael Patryn.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
24 May 2021
Episode 2: Hunting Ghosts
QuadrigaCX collapses and there’s widespread panic. An online sleuth searches for answers through a tangle of websites, hidden identities and a trail of emails. He uncovers a pattern of deception that predates his exchange, linking Gerry to a shadowy underworld of fraudsters.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
24 May 2021
Episode 1: The Body
Upon checking into a luxury resort in India, Gerald Cotten complains to staff he’s feeling ill. He and his wife are taken to a hospital and within 24 hours the young CEO is declared dead. A month passes before word gets out to customers that QuadrigaCX’s CEO is gone — along with their money.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/a-death-in-cryptoland-transcripts-listen-1.6035764
13 Apr 2021
A Death In Cryptoland: Trailer
When news spread that Gerald Cotten, CEO of QuadrigaCX, died on his honeymoon in India — and had been dead for a month — it set off a series of events that shook the cryptocurrency world. A quarter of a billion dollars worth of customer funds was gone. Two years on, conspiracy theories persist, leaving many asking, is he really dead?
A Death in Cryptoland launches May 25.
Inside a recent episode
A Death in Cryptoland Introduces | The Expert Witness
Published 19 May 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Or maybe you know it as Rubber City. Through Don's window, you can see a 12-foot bronze statue of a rubber worker. The city of Akron used to be known for its innovation. It was a place where you could witness things no one had seen before. It was the first city to ever use a police car, an electric one, no less. The Goodyear Blimp made its maiden voyage above the city in 1899. And in 1938, Akron hosted the world's first women's mud wrestling event. So it's with all of this in mind that we watch Don at his desk in his office start to call around to try and get a handle on this latest new thing that had shown up in Akron. […]
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