QuadrigaCX crypto exchange founder takes $147 million to the grave

Here's the curious case of QuadrigaCX. This cryptocurrency exchange owes its clients over $190 million but is unable to access most of the funds. Coindesk writes most of the company's cryptocurrency reserves were stored in cold storage. QuadrigaCX has 115,000 users and the exchange held $70 million CAD in fiat and $180 million CAD in crypto. The vast majority of the crypto holding were kept in cold storage, and access to this offline wallet was reportedly lost after founder Gerald Cotten passed away of Crohn’s disease in Jaipur, India in early December 2018. Cotten was the only one with access to the cold wallet and Jennifer Robertson, his widow, does not have a password or recovery key.

It was not clear what portion of the exchange’s crypto holding were kept in cold storage, versus its hot wallet. In the affidavit, Robertson explained that “only a minimal amount of coins” were stored in the hot wallet, but specifics were not provided.

Robertson added that:

“The normal procedure was that [QuadrigaCX founder and CEO Gerald Cotten] would move the majority of the coins to cold storage as a way to protect the coins from hacking or other virtual theft.”

She added that Cotten held “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins,” and the remaining team members have had no luck accessing the exchange’s cold wallets since.

What a strange story.