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Tales from the cryptocurrency: Investors may lose $190m after 30-yo founder dies of Crohn's Disease without revealing password

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By clapclapclap
in Daily Texan

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 8,998

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Posted (edited)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/04/quadrigacx-canada-cryptocurrency-exchange-locked-gerald-cotten

Cryptocurrency investors locked out of $190m after exchange founder dies

QuadrigaCX, Canada’s largest exchange, was unable to access password or recovery key after Gerald Cotten died last December

About $190m in cryptocurrency has been locked away in a online black hole after the founder of a currency exchange died, apparently taking his encrypted access to their money with him.

Investors in QuadrigaCX, Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, were unable to access their funds after its founder, Gerald Cotten, died last year.

According to a court filing first reported by CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency news and events company, Jennifer Robertson, identified as Cotten’s widow, said the exchange owes its customers roughly C$250m (US$190m) in cash and cryptocurrency held in its “cold storage”.

“Quadriga’s inventory of cryptocurrency has become unavailable and some of it may be lost,” Robertson wrote in the filing.

Cotten, 30, died in India last December from complications from Crohn’s disease, according to the company. He was in India “opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need”.

The news followed a decision by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) to freeze $28m of assets held by Quadriga after saying it was unable to identify the real owners of the funds.

Robertson was not involved in the business. In the filing she noted that there had been a “significant amount of commentary on Reddit and other web based platforms about Quadriga, Gerry’s death (including whether he is really dead) and missing coins”. She said she had also received threats and slanderous comments.

Robertson has access to Cotten’s laptop but writes that she is unable to open it. “The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the companies’ business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere.”

Robertson has retained an expert to try to access the funds but he has so far not been able to do so.

The platform continued to accept funds after Cotten’s death but was paused by directors on 26 January.

On 31 January, QuadrigaCX filed an application for creditor protection with the supreme court of Nova Scotia, after months of transaction delays.

At a court hearing on 5 February the company is seeking to appoint Ernst & Young as an independent monitor.

muore-a-30-anni-il-re-dei-bitcoin-324268

Edited by clapclapclap
Have they tried "Rosebutt"?
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Lhorn

Lhorn 4,862

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

Lolz. Find some other way to pay for your drugs stoners.

Is that a big thing, using it to pay for drugs?  Got a fishing email the other day asking $800+ ransom in bitcoin or some such shit in exchange for not revealing photos to my family of me enjoying a porn site. Not saying it hasn’t happened, just calling bullshit on webcam photos actually existing. 

Seems like the crypto currency has a lot of shitty uses 

Edited by Lhorn
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13,267

Posted
Posted

Lot of speculation on this story.  No one believes that ever had $190m in crypto currencies.   And that it’s believed that there have been withdrawals since this guy died.  

And then of course the stories that this guy didn’t really die, which who knows.

assuming he did die, this could all be a scam by the remaining owners to attempt to hide embezzlements or hacks into their system.  Blame it on the dead guy and hope they are just accused of bad practices and not theft.   

 

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ztejas

ztejas 42,744

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, Lhorn said:

Is that a big thing, using it to pay for drugs?  Got a fishing email the other day asking $800+ ransom in bitcoin or some such shit in exchange for not revealing photos to my family of me enjoying a porn site. Not saying it hasn’t happened, just calling bullshit on webcam photos actually existing. 

Seems like the crypto currency has a lot of shitty uses 

Dude you need to send him that money right now. Think about what it would do to your family. 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 53,625

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Lhorn said:

Is that a big thing, using it to pay for drugs?  Got a fishing email the other day asking $800+ ransom in bitcoin or some such shit in exchange for not revealing photos to my family of me enjoying a porn site. Not saying it hasn’t happened, just calling bullshit on webcam photos actually existing. 

Seems like the crypto currency has a lot of shitty uses 

I got that one too.  My favorite part was that it said they "caught me soloing to a porn site."  Soloing.  That cracked me up.

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futureman

futureman 22,324

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Posted
19 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

Dropping like flies? Story of another Big time Crypto guy who got gunned down in his apartment in Acolpuco 3 days ago because the idiots there saw his weed grow set up. 

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/3/john-galton-american-anarchist-shot-dead-acapulco/

Acolpuco.  

Acolpuco. 

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High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter 10,915

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, XYZ said:

My sarcasm meter is, like, broken.

Allow me to spell it out:

One  supposed "advantage" to cryptocurrencies, at least to many of the extreme libertarian types that seem to gravitate to cryptocurrencies, is the absence of government regulation. In this case, a little regulation might have been a good thing.

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XYZ

XYZ 2,154

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Allow me to spell it out:

One  supposed "advantage" to cryptocurrencies, at least to many of the extreme libertarian types that seem to gravitate to cryptocurrencies, is the absence of government regulation. In this case, a little regulation might have been a good thing.

No, you’re wrong.

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Parliament

Parliament 13,979

Posted
Posted

Not so fast!

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/07/quadrigacx_crypto_wallets_empty/

Since Cotten's reported death, at the age of 30 while traveling in India, those left running the exchange have been keen to recover the CAN$184m (US$137m, £105m) in clients' crypto-cash thought to be residing in the aforementioned cold storage. In February, after receiving temporary protection from creditors from a Canadian court, QuadrigaCX said, despite weeks of toiling, it had been unable to recover "our very significant cryptocurrency reserves."

Those reserves now appear to be less significant than suggested. On Tuesday this week, Ernst & Young (EY), the financial powerhouse appointed by the courts to oversee QuadrigaCX's fate, published its third report revealing there's literally nothing to worry about – five of the six offline wallets in question were emptied in April 2018, about eight months before Cotten's death. And the sixth was emptied in December 2018.

https://news.bitcoin.com/quadrigacx-saga-founders-widow-owns-5-6m-properties-hospital-confirms-cottens-death/

The shifting narrative is now being challenged on multiple fronts, with skeptics claiming that the 30-year old CEO faked his death to evade paying customers. A recent report in The Times of India confirms that Cotten did die on Dec. 9 and his widow was granted a death certificate and police clearance to take his body back to Canada.

Without DNA confirmation, though, the report will do to little to douse the skepticism surrounding the saga. Cotten is thought to have methodically gone about his “death,” naming his wife the sole executor of his estate 12 days before passing, and bequeathing properties from a jointly operated company to his in-laws.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 103,142

Posted
Posted
Not so fast!
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/07/quadrigacx_crypto_wallets_empty/
Since Cotten's reported death, at the age of 30 while traveling in India, those left running the exchange have been keen to recover the CAN$184m (US$137m, £105m) in clients' crypto-cash thought to be residing in the aforementioned cold storage. In February, after receiving temporary protection from creditors from a Canadian court, QuadrigaCX said, despite weeks of toiling, it had been unable to recover "our very significant cryptocurrency reserves."
Those reserves now appear to be less significant than suggested. On Tuesday this week, Ernst & Young (EY), the financial powerhouse appointed by the courts to oversee QuadrigaCX's fate, published its third report revealing there's literally nothing to worry about – five of the six offline wallets in question were emptied in April 2018, about eight months before Cotten's death. And the sixth was emptied in December 2018.
https://news.bitcoin.com/quadrigacx-saga-founders-widow-owns-5-6m-properties-hospital-confirms-cottens-death/
The shifting narrative is now being challenged on multiple fronts, with skeptics claiming that the 30-year old CEO faked his death to evade paying customers. A recent report in The Times of India confirms that Cotten did die on Dec. 9 and his widow was granted a death certificate and police clearance to take his body back to Canada.
Without DNA confirmation, though, the report will do to little to douse the skepticism surrounding the saga. Cotten is thought to have methodically gone about his “death,” naming his wife the sole executor of his estate 12 days before passing, and bequeathing properties from a jointly operated company to his in-laws.

Gosh. I mean, like, NOBODY saw that coming.
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FondrenRoad

FondrenRoad 4,378

Posted
Posted
49 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Not so fast!

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/07/quadrigacx_crypto_wallets_empty/

Since Cotten's reported death, at the age of 30 while traveling in India, those left running the exchange have been keen to recover the CAN$184m (US$137m, £105m) in clients' crypto-cash thought to be residing in the aforementioned cold storage. In February, after receiving temporary protection from creditors from a Canadian court, QuadrigaCX said, despite weeks of toiling, it had been unable to recover "our very significant cryptocurrency reserves."

Those reserves now appear to be less significant than suggested. On Tuesday this week, Ernst & Young (EY), the financial powerhouse appointed by the courts to oversee QuadrigaCX's fate, published its third report revealing there's literally nothing to worry about – five of the six offline wallets in question were emptied in April 2018, about eight months before Cotten's death. And the sixth was emptied in December 2018.

https://news.bitcoin.com/quadrigacx-saga-founders-widow-owns-5-6m-properties-hospital-confirms-cottens-death/

The shifting narrative is now being challenged on multiple fronts, with skeptics claiming that the 30-year old CEO faked his death to evade paying customers. A recent report in The Times of India confirms that Cotten did die on Dec. 9 and his widow was granted a death certificate and police clearance to take his body back to Canada.

Without DNA confirmation, though, the report will do to little to douse the skepticism surrounding the saga. Cotten is thought to have methodically gone about his “death,” naming his wife the sole executor of his estate 12 days before passing, and bequeathing properties from a jointly operated company to his in-laws.

137 million dollars can buy off a lot of Indian authorities, I'm sure. 

The operation was clearly a racket anyway. If they had actually wanted to be stewards of client owned assets, they wouldn't have kept the only copies of their cold wallets on a single point of failure like a laptop. Laptops break all the time. 

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 8,998

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OK, say he's living the good life in, oh, Calcutta,.  He still needed to squirrel away some form of money to live on for the rest of his life.  How and how much did he do this?  (Wouldn't another crypto be too obvious?)  Motel REITs?  Best Buy Spelling Bee coupons?  

Edited by clapclapclap
Also, plastic surgery? Maybe add 4 more arms?
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SquishMitten

SquishMitten 10,368

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Posted

Seems like that story overlooks a pretty big point. Regardless of whether he faked his death or not, the money is missing not locked away where it can’t be accessed. They can’t tell where it was moved to? Wouldn’t you at least be able to see the next wallet/whatever it was moved to and try to track it that way? You could put a lot of resources into that task if there’s $190 mil at the end

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