169 million $ is blocked after the death of QuadrigaCX boss
President and CEO of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Canada, Gerald Cotten died in India on Dec. 9 at the age of 30 due to complications from Crohn's disease. The case could have been a simple private drama, except that the deceased was the only one to know the passwords giving access to the wallets containing the virtual currency, making any attempt to recover the funds impossible.
The site, named QuadrigaCX has filed for bankruptcy protection because the site owes over $ 250 million Canadian, or more than 169 million to 115,000 customers. Some funds have been recovered, but the majority is held in portfolios in form, including 26,500 Bitcoin, 430,000 Ether, as well as millions of dollars in Bitcoin Cash SV, Bitcoin Gold and Litecoin. That's a total of around 125 million euros.
Money gone in smoke?
The problem is that these funds are stored in "cold" portfolios, ie offline. They are thus protected against all forms of piracy online, and thus impossible to recover without the codes. These are on the computer of P.-D.G. which has been encrypted. And he was the only one to know the password.
Rumors are rife about the truth of the facts, so much so that the CoinDesk site has published Gerald Cotten's death certificate. Cryptocurrencies are impossible to trace, and some sites have mounted scams to leave with the loot. If the site obtains legal protection, the account owners will lose any opportunity to sue the company in court. For now, QuadrigaCX has obtained a 30-day protection order to try to recover the funds.