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December 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bankrupt

The wallets were thought to be inaccessible following the death of the exchange's founder in 2018, as he had sole responsibility for the wallet's private keys.

Five wallets tied to the defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, previously thought to be inaccessible, have just been spotted moving around $1.7 million worth of Bitcoin after years of dormancy.

Crypto researcher ZachXBT alerted the crypto community in a Twitter post on Dec. 19, highlighting the five wallets have transferred around 104 Bitcoin (BTC) on Dec. 17 to various wallets.

Blockchain records show the wallets had not sent BTC since at least April 2018.

Five wallets attributed to QuadrigaCX unexpectedly moved ~104 BTC on Dec 17 for the first time in years.

1ECUQLuioJbFZAQchcZq9pggd4EwcpuANe
1J9Fqc3TicNoy1Y7tgmhQznWrP5AVLXj9R
1MhgmGaHwLAvvKVyFvy6zy9pRQFXaxwE9M
1HyYMMCdCcHnfjwMW2jE4cv9qVkVDFUzVa
1JPtxSGoekZfLQeYAWkbhBhkr2VEDADHZB
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) December 19, 2022

Once Canada's largest crypto exchange, QuadrigaCX declared bankruptcy in Apr. 2019 following the Dec. 2018 death of its founder and CEO, Gerald Cotten, who was solely responsible for the private keys of the exchange's wallets.

155,000 exchange users are owed up to $200 million in cryptocurrencies at the time of its bankruptcy.

In Feb. 2019, a report from Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) — the firm overseeing the exchange’s estate — stated that QuadrigaCX accidentally transferred around 103 BTC on Feb 6. 2019 to cold wallets in which only the late-Cotten had access to — almost identical to the amount to the Bitcoin that has just recently moved.

At the time, the firm said it would be working with management to retrieve the cryptocurrency from the cold wallets.

The mysterious death of QuadrigaCX’s founder and CEO followed by the collapse of the exchange had sparked conspiracy theories that the founder faked his own death as part of a fraudulent exit scam.

The story was the subject of a 2022 Netflix documentary.

In 2014, years before his death, Cotten said on a podcast that the best way to keep private keys was to print them off and store them offline in a safety deposit box and revealed the exchange stored its private keys offline in the company’s safety deposit box at a bank.

It’s unknown if the movement of the BTC is related to EY's recovery efforts. Cointelegraph contacted EY for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Netflix to release documentary about QuadrigaCX CEO’s mysterious life and death

September 23, 2021 Coin Telegraph

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Many claimed Gerald Cotten had faked his death and absconded with millions in crypto, even briefly demanding his body be exhumed.

Online streaming platform and production company Netflix will be producing a film on deceased crypto exchange QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten.

In a Sept. 23 tweet from Netflix, the platform announced Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King documentary will premiere in 2022. The story, which follows “a group of investors turned sleuths,” will focus on the events around the death of Cotten, who reportedly died while doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India and leaving QuadrigaCX users out of pocket for roughly $190 million in crypto.

Details are sparse regarding the casting or direction the documentary takes, but the trailer hints at plastic surgery and avoiding authorities on a yacht. Netflix has become well known around the world for producing documentaries revealing disturbing accounts of controversial figures including Michael Jackson and singer R. Kelly.

Cotten died in December 2018 reportedly due to complications from Crohn’s disease. At the time, he was the only person to have access to millions in crypto from more than 100,000 users with wallets on the QuadrigaCX exchange. This led many in the crypto space to initially suspect Cotten had faked his death and absconded with the funds, but there has never been any evidence to suggest this. A later investigation revealed Panama-based payments processor Crypto Capital may have had control of many of the funds.

Following Cotten’s death, QuadrigaCX trustee Ernst & Young began selling other assets from the founder’s estate, raising roughly $30 million as of November. However, the firm said it received 17,053 claims from QuadrigaCX users totaling more than $170 million.

The crypto space has had its share of controversial and charismatic figures in the 12 years since the technology was first introduced. This year, computer programmer and crypto evangelist John McAfee died in his prison cell in Spain following a court ruling that he could have been extradited to the United States for charges including failing to submit tax returns from 2014 to 2018 and allegedly not reporting income related to pushing crypto projects and consulting work.

Gerald Cotten

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