HONGKONG: The death of Gerald Cotton, 30, the Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of Quadirga and co-founder of Canada’s biggest crypto currency exchange, having a sole password, has left a huge stash of crypto currencies locked off from the people who own them. He died because of complications arising from Crohn’s disease while traveling in India, according to CNN.
Quadriga, which is based on Vancouver, has said it’s unable to gain access to $145 million of bitcoin and other digital assets, according to CNN. Many of the digital currencies held by Quadriga are stored offline in accounts known as “cold wallets,” a way of protecting them from hackers. Cotten is the only person with access to the wallets, according to the company.
Cotten’s death has plunged Quadriga into crisis and left it struggling to figure out how to refund more than 100,000 of its users. On Tuesday, the company said it was granted creditor protection in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court as it tries to sort out its financial mess. Cotten’s widow, Jennifer Robertson, said that the laptop that Cotten used to run the currency exchange is encrypted, according to a copy of her affidavit posted online by cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk.
Quadriga also owes about 70 million Canadian dollars ($53 million) in cash that it’s unable to pay back, Jeniffer said, citing difficulties accessing funds through the traditional banking system, CNN has said.
(With inputs from CNN)
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