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

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
Mon 4 Feb 2019 11.56 EST
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.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/04/quadrigacx-canada-cryptocurrency-exchange-locked-gerald-cotten

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car Stealer's Wheel? Seattle police department quotes "Watchmen" movie in a recap of the recent arrest. Tech Culture by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper December 4, 2016 5:00 PM PST It's maybe the most satisfying arrest we can imagine. Seattle police caught an alleged car thief by enlisting the help of car maker BMW to both track and then remotely lock the luckless criminal in the very car he was trying to steal. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, deputy director of communications for the Seattle Police Department, posted a witty summary of the event on the SPD's blog on Wednesday. Turns out if you're inside a stolen car, it's perhaps not the best time to take a nap. "A car thief awoke from a sound slumber Sunday morning (Nov. 27) to find he had been remotely locked inside a stolen BMW, just as Seattle police officers were bearing down on him," Spangenthal-Lee wrote. The suspect found a ke...
Read more

Report: World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China

World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China Published time: 17 Mar, 2019 13:12 ·           A Chinese surgeon has performed the world’s first remote brain surgery using 5G technology, with the patient 3,000km away from the operating doctor. Dr. Ling Zhipei remotely implanted a neurostimulator into his patient’s brain on Saturday, Chinese state-run media  reports . The surgeon manipulated the instruments in the Beijing-based PLAGH hospital from a clinic subsidiary on the southern Hainan island, located 3,000km away. The surgery is said to have lasted three hours and ended successfully. The patient, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, is said to be feeling well after the pioneering operation. The doctor used a computer connected to the next-generation 5G network developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei. The new device enabled a near real-time connection, according to Dr. Ling.  “You barely feel that th...
Read more

New ATM's: withdraw money with veins in your finger

New cash machines: withdraw money with veins in your finger Cash machine technology that reads the pattern of finger veins is already available in Japan and Poland   By Telegraph Reporters 6:59PM BST 15 May 2014 Cash machines could soon be installed with devices that identify customers by reading the veins in their fingers. The technology is already being rolled out in Poland, where 1,730 cash machines will this year be installed with readers, negating the need for a debit card and Pin. Developed by Hitachi, the Japanese electronics firm, the machines read the patterns of the veins just below the surface of the skin on your finger using infra-red sensors. The light is partially absorbed by haemoglobin in the veins to capture a unique finger vein pattern profile, which is matched to a profile. The technology is used by Japanese banks and also in Turkey, offering “groundbreaking levels of accuracy and speed of authentication”, Hitachi said, which in t...
Read more