Jake Adelstein, THE DEVIL TAKES BITCOIN

Investigative journalist and author of Tokyo Vice and The Last Yakuza, Jake Adelstein, visits the store to discuss his latest book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Crimes and the Japanese Connection, the wild, true story of cyber-era commerce, crime, cold-hard cash, and one of the greatest heists in history.

Even in hell, Bitcoin talks. This modern take on an old Japanese saying still holds true. Cryptocurrency was supposed to do for money what the internet did for information, but it didn’t work out that way. Its virtual existence unleashed real-world chaos—especially in the homeland of its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Tokyo was the center of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, until that company collapsed with nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin gone missing. It might be the greatest heist in history. If it was a heist.

So what really happened? The Devil Takes Bitcoin tells the true story of the humble-to-hot commodity, from the former geek website that launched the boom to an inside world of absent-minded CEOs, hucksters, hackers, cybercrooks, drug dealers, corrupt federal agents, evangelical libertarians, and clueless techies. You’ll discover Bitcoin’s connection to the infamous Silk Road, learn why hell has nothing on Japan’s criminal justice system, and get the lowdown on the high cost of betting with the Devil’s dollars. All of this for less than the price of a single Bitcoin.

Jake Adelstein has been an investigative journalist in Japan since 1993, reporting in both Japanese and English. From 2006 to 2007 he was the chief investigator for a US State Department-sponsored study of human trafficking in Japan. He has been writing for The Daily Beast, The Japan Times, Unseen Japan, ZAITEN (Japan) Tempura Magazine (France) and other publications since 2011, and was a special correspondent for The Los Angeles Times. Considered one of the foremost experts on organized crime in Japan, Adelstein has appeared on CNN, The Daily Show, NPR, the BBC, France 24, and other media outlets as a commentator on social issues in Japan, as well as its criminal justice system, politics, and nuclear industry giant, TEPCO. He is the author of the book Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter On The Police Beat in Japan, which became a hit series with two seasons on HBO Max, and also The Last Yakuza: Life And Death In The Japanese Underworld (2023). He co-hosted and co-wrote the award-winning podcast about missing people in Japan, The Evaporated: Gone With The Gods in 2023. His latest true crime podcast, Night Shift, investigating a series of mysterious patient deaths at the VA Hospital in his Missouri hometown in the 1990s, was released by Sony Music on September 1, 2024. Adelstein’s book, Tokyo Noir: In and Out of Japan’s Underworld, a memoir and sequel to Tokyo Vice which further sheds light on the dark side of Japan, came out on October 1, 2024. His latest book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Crimes and the Japanese Connection, will be released on October 14, 2025.

Purchase your copy of The Devil Takes Bitcoin here.

Host or Publisher Elliott Bay Book Company