Well, before I go ahead with this issue let me set the record straight, I have been researching this issue for weeks now and everything I share here is my own research and opinion. This is the theory of my research, there is no proof that this exactly what is happening but according to my research, digging into the situation, getting in touch with some prominent people in the Blockchain industry as well as some QuadrigaCX users, consulting some people in the crypto organization that I belong to, also contacting some top gurus in the industry, I got ideas and had insight from people I contacted. I am thankful I was able to gather that from all my sources. For anonymity sake, I am not allowed to mentioned people’s names here and how they contributed to this research but since they were aware of what I needed the research for, well thanks to them I had all the insight I really wanted. Now let us dive into this case. I promised to break this elaboration down to every layman who has no ideas what the technicalities mean and I am going to make sure after all, this finding makes sense to whoever reads this. This solely my research and my opinion and nothing else just in case you don’t know who I am and maybe having doubt where this information could come from, I am a Blockchain influencer, Cryptocurrency trader and enthusiast, forex trader and I research about all the financial markets and its related news as well as educate people on Blockchain and create awareness. I am passionate about Blockchain technology and Cryptocurrencies as well as finance and few other things pertaining to the Blockchain space. I will do my best to be responsible for what I share with you here regarding the information and all question you will have to ask.
About QuadrigaCX
Quadriga Fintech Solution is the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, the largest Cryptocurrency exchange company in Canada until 2019. Founded in 2013. They started buying and selling cryptocurrencies locally till later they started as an exchange and their operation started since then. The company’s CEO and founder Gerald Cotten and few other directors run the business till 2016, where the other directors resigned and left Cotten as the lone director of the company till his death in 2018. Cotten died an unheralded death on the 9th of December,2018, in a private hospital Jaipur India. According to the widow, Cotten wife’s Jennifer Robertson, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a year after founding QuarigaCX and he died from complications relating to this disease.
Now let’s talk about the exchange and its operations
Now let’s consider this, a Canadian Cryptocurrency exchange that is registered in British Columbia with everything affiliated to it and no offices or no physical location that you could track, no bank account, no employees there as well. That definitely does not sound right. How could a million-dollar company be this way??
Why am I saying this??
I know this not related to this QuadrigaCX issue but I just want to clear some facts before I go on with it. The reason the news caught people’s attention especially in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa), most people got scammed in the Cryptocurrency business from 2017 till date, and those scam issues are still happening. As we speak people think Cryptocurrency is a terrible business to some extent people said Cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme people should stay away from it. Most of the businesses that paid interest in people’s investment in 2017 with Bitcoin could do that at the time because the market was bullish and we even reached an all-time high in the history of the Cryptocurrency market. That was good times, even if they had bad intentions to scam people they could still pay investors because the market was good. From 1 bitcoin worth $20,000 in 2017, now it is worth less than $3600, almost 82% of the funds are crushed through the market, where will they get money to pay your high returns on investment??, even if they had no bad intentions they are left with no choice because even your capital is not available as at now, investors will definitely request for it. Since they can’t pay the money and investors can’t wait too, they are left with no choice than to exit scam. And I tell you most of the investment companies that are dealing in Cryptocurrency most of them invested in 2017 and early 2018 when the market was more bullish and made a lot of gains. Now there is a different case all together almost 82% of the money you invested was lost through the market crash, no one took it away or scammed you. All you have to understand is that financial instruments like Bitcoin, some of this always happen since the journey started in 2009. Since 2009 the market has always seen a massive gains followed by a drastic drop in prices and so this is normal for whoever knows such a financial instrument it is very volatile. It is just unfortunate that we have had the longest bear market ever in the history of the Cryptocurrency market which is why some people are so desperate. Who knows maybe we will have massive gains in the next bull run to come like the extreme the bad times happened. What I am trying to say is that we need more educations on whatever financial instrument we get ourselves into, what people tell us may not be enough, we ought to research more about what we are getting ourselves into in order to make the right financial decisions. Don’t get involved in things you don’t know or else you will still suffer the consequences regardless. Most at times, there can be a coincidence in our industry but I think greed is too much. I am saying this because this is happening most especially in Africa; Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, etc.
In My Opinion, It Seems QuadrigaCX Knows What They Are Actually doing, Why Am I saying This???
The company did not look legit from their way of operation.
Just like we all know, QuadrigaCX became the biggest Cryptocurrency exchange in Canada until it this saga but for the record after the CEO’s death, the company is said to have no bank account, no records of accounting, no records where their company cold wallet and addresses are, no physical location or whatsoever not just that but the CEO’s wife said only Cotten have access to their cold wallet which sound like that could not be true just so you know, this is a million-dollar company there is no way it will have to be only one person accessing company funds even if the CEO was the only person having access that leaves us a lot to think about how they could operate that way. It does not sound right for a company like this to have no bank account. But like I stated earlier they were doing local trading before becoming exchange and even had a payment processor that they used to take fiat deposits and withdrawals. What that means is that they were dealing with a certain bank of course according to my finding they even share the same payment processor with Bitfinex and CEX.io so there is no way they could not have a bank account or no offices and no employees even if they did nothing shows on record.
The company was not regulated by the Canadian government or whatsoever and now it is hard for the government to even track anything out from them as well. To this extent, the Canadian government is not aware of the company’s operation officially since they never paid taxes.
QuadrigaCX insolvency before their CEOs dead
QCX had a problem with withdrawals prior months before their CEOs dead, I personally saw an update concerning withdrawal where they placed an article saying if their clients did not receive funds, it was definitely because their hot wallet is run out of funds and so when they fund it they are going to receive their withdrawals. On the other hand, QCX neglected the fact that they were obliged to pay taxes since 2014 and so there is no accounting record of whatsoever to know their financial record and even know the amount they owe their customers. I believe having problems with withdrawal all this while makes the case a little suspicious. Now after some time according to sources they waited for a fresh deposit before they could even clear withdrawals even prior to the CEO’s sudden death.
They said Cotten Died without sharing the private keys information with no one
Just so you know, it could be true but we are dealing with Blockchain here, everything is on a public ledger where you can see on the network monies coming in or out, how many transactions occurred within a particular moment including amounts involved and the time the transaction was done. But there is no cold wallet that they can say they have at the moment or even wallets relating to their transaction that we can use to track those cold wallets, even if they did have , they have a strong point to base on and say they don’t have the private keys which will give them access to the wallet now. So they mean Cotten was the only person who had access to the private keys, so what about the password or the keys you can use to access the wallet. Let’s hold on a second and put the private keys aside because this issue can pop up. Then what if they don’t find the cold wallet??. That will be like the case is closed for them and they will not be guilty of anything. According to the wallet addresses provided in Jennifer Robertson , the widow’s affidavit, it did not match any of the cold wallets either. Now that they can say they can’t find the wallets or even if they did they can’t access it and that ends everything so they can never be guilty of anything.
About Gerald Cotten Dead
According to my findings, Cotten signed his will in November, a couple of weeks before he died in that private hospital just so you know, now the question why did he wait for all this while weeks prior to his death and he signed his will. The thing is if he had no bad intentions or the information reaching us is true and let’s say he knew he could not survive his Crohn disease he could hand over this private keys just like he came to his realization to signed his will but he did not and who knows if he had different intentions or who knows if he gave it out and maybe they won’t just give it out.
Now let’s talk about the fake dead rumors, according to my findings the place where QCX CEO died is said to be doing Dead Fraud; that is faking people’s death especially people who want to run from debts and some other personal responsibilities. In Jaipur, one can hire authorities to help them get fake death certificates, birth certificates, marriage certificates etc and these are done by some IT giants. All you have to do is hire those authorities in charge and submit what kind of certificate you want whether death or birth whatever and it will be done. According to the news that came out, Cotten was there to build an orphanage and how could a company having a financial crisis make such a decision if they knew very well that this is the situation at hand? This fake death certificates are said to be issued in India for people who are in debt or have responsibilities that they are trying to run from. Since the death was sudden and the will was signed weeks before his death who knows if all this was planned because already QCX had financial issues or maybe they knew what they were doing.
Conclusion
Now let me say this, the reasons why we will have failed businesses in our industry could be a lot. I am just saying this but let us just say QCX had this planned to deceive everyone and run away from their insolvency, there is nothing people could do because of the way they planned it. You know our industry were created by some anonymous individuals that provided absolutely no credentials about themselves because they knew the threat of bringing up decentralization systems that will contradict with governments dealings. The fact that the industry is barely 10yrs old could be a factor why we are saying so many scam issues and the media like’s to publish negative news about the industry , to some extent government warn its people to stay away from Cryptocurrency that’s cool. What am trying to say here is that the people who adopted the idea from Satoshi Nakamoto till it got to us had no expertise in Blockchain they learned everything themselves so it means it is our time to also do the same. We will still have to learn more on how to improve the community. In the case of QCX exchange, they have succeeded in stating key points that the court will never find them guilty. Let us consider the following scenarios here;
Let’s say they find the money they could say they can’t access it.
Let’s say someone helps in identifying those cold wallets and they go like that is not our cold wallet or it is not in our possession.
Once they feign ignorance of where the cold wallet could be , they can never be guilty of anything and yes QCX CEO was the only person who had access to those funds and now he is no more and he did not hand it over too. Even if he faked his dead or planned all this it looks like he succeeded. And this a terrible for the industry and as time goes on we hope to see regulations for exchangers to protect the industry at least. In situations like this, I am sure every person in the industry will call for regulation too because if QCX was regulated an incident like this could be avoided.
I Am Crypto Ras.
8 comments