Proving that you shouldn’t buy something you can’t smell, Canada’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange has filed for creditor protection since Quadriga founder and boss Gerald Cotten died in December 2018, taking the keys to the company’s bank – and exclusive access to funds of between $140 and $250 million – with him.
According to CNN, Cotten’s wife Jennifer Robertson claims in documents submitted to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that his laptop is encrypted and “I do not know the password or recovery key”. Cotten kept his customers’ inventories in offline remote storage for security purposes, and managed business from that same laptop. As a consequence, approximately 115,000 Quadriga users are now stuck explaining the implications of “unregulated industry” to their spouses and why they have to sell the house.
More intriguing, however, is speculation on Reddit and other social media that Cotten isn’t even dead, with unverified allegations of that Quadriga’s accounts have recently processed a number of otherwise impossible transactions, rumours of insolvency problems, and the news that Cotten’s will was signed only two weeks before he died, naming his wife as sole executor of his estate and his two chihauhaus the recipients of some $100,000.
This story is bonkers, my dudes. A crypto CEO dies suddenly, unexpectedly. He takes the keys to appx. $200 mil in crypto with him to the grave. Is he really dead though?? I tracked down an old friend of his. #GeraldCotten https://t.co/FTW33v8xCS
— Alissa Fleck (@AlissaFleck) February 4, 2019
The thing is, their story about how he died is a bit fishy. He was only 30, and they’re saying he died from complications due to crohn’s disease while opening an orphanage in India. A lot of people are finding this hard to believe.
— Adam (@ChalicothereX) February 4, 2019
Fascinating article on forensic #blockchain analysis in the #QuadrigaCX case.
Reportedly, “[s]everal outgoing transactions” from QuadrigaCX addresses “have been made since the alleged date of Gerald Cotten’s passing (December 9th, 2018)”.#crypto #lawhttps://t.co/D5wxJmXBmB
— Chetan Phull (@SmartblockLaw) February 4, 2019
Can’t smell it? Don’t buy it.