Quadriga Exchange: The Plot Thickens

There are hundreds of crypto wallets out there which contain millions of dollars worth of digital currency which was emptied months before the QuadrigaCX exchange’s founder sadly passed away. An investigation is currently underway.

The 30-year-old founder of the online crypto exchange site was reported to have died in December and unfortunately took the passwords of the wallets to the grave with him. It is estimated that the wallets contain around $137m.

The multinational professional service that is Ernst & Young has conducted an investigation into the matter and has found that the wallets were emptied months before Gerald Cotten died.

By using public blockchain records, the team found that all the Bitcoin that had been transferred out of five identified wallets by April 2018. This was also the last time deposits were reported to have been made.

In order to buy cryptocurrency, users will need a digital wallet which will effectively serve as a blockchain bank account which can be opened for free. There are several cryptocurrencies that are available to buy on crypto exchanges such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and many more.

The last transaction was made on 3rd December 2018. This was just six days before it was reported that Cotten had died due to complications from Chron’s disease.

Ernst & Young said that it had contacted several crypto exchanges in an effort to identify potential accounts controlled by Quadriga or Cotten.

The crypto exchange is the second biggest one in Canada and according to Cottens widow, Jennifer Robertson, he held “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins.”

According to files documented with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Robertson was unsuccessful in finding the password or recovery key to the laptop that Cotten used for work on the exchange which was protected by encryption.

When it comes to the blockchain, the complex and intricate system is used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in order to record the value of the currency while protecting it from theft and masking the owner’s identity.

Despite Cotten’s death, Quadriga continued to accept funds until it was paused by directors on 26th January.

The fact that wallets had been emptied just days before Cotten passed is a strange occurrence but could just be a coincidence.