The death of Canadian crypto exchange, QuadrigaCX’s CEO, Gerald Cotten has sparked outrage within society, as Cotten was the only one to have access to nearly $137M in cryptocurrencies.
Said amount evidently belonged to the crypto exchange’s 115,000 users. According to Markets Insider’s reportings, the cryptocurrencies were housed in cold storage, which was where the access problem stemmed.
Many started creating assumptions as to how things might have played out, with a popular belief being that Cotton falsified his death in order to escape with the millions. Eventually, an auditor from Ernst & Young was hired to the case, and upon unlocking the laptop, it was found that all the funds were emptied eight months prior to his death.
According to CBS News, this issue was publicized nearly a month ago where the number of users who have potentially lost their funds amounted to 100,000.
Another assumption made was that this number has since increased because the crypto exchange supposedly continued to accept funds after Cotten’s death because the company was unable to stop/ cancel the process. As for the case itself, the auditor reported that:
“The remaining bitcoin in the Identified Bitcoin Cold Wallets [were] transferred out bringing the balances down to nil.”
While one might think of this as being a complete shock, it actually does not as the firm has been known for downplaying their books and failing to provide clear financial statements.
As per the claims made, QuadrigaCX has accumulated nearly $190 million in debt, which naturally forced them to file for “creditor protection” reports Markets Insider.
