Estimated C$190 million worth of crypto coins stored in QuadrigaCX’s ‘cold wallets’ are now reportedly inaccessible because the CEO, only person with the password to access the funds, mysteriously died in India
Gerald William Cotton is the man garnering attention around the world with his sudden death in Jaipur, India last year. The mystery of his demise got complex when it was revealed that Gerald, the CEO of the Canadian Crypto Exchange start-up QuadrigaCX, has taken to his grave the highly secured password required to access Cryptocurreny worth C$190 million.
Plunging into serious trouble with every passing minute, QuadrigaCX is reportedly unable to access the virtual wallets used to manage client’s funds. This also conveys that the clients themselves can’t access their own virtual money and around INR 1,000 crore of digital currency may never be recovered again.
Cryptocurreny, an idea with very limited legal understanding, is fundamentally a virtual currency that is supposedly “highly secure.” These are not controlled by central systems such as reserve or central banks. Bitcoins, gaining multiple headlines last year, is a type of cryptocurreny popular in many countries around the world.
The news of Gerald’s death was kept under the sheets for almost a month by the organization. It was only when the news went viral online, QuadrigaCX made a post on their social media channel. In a brief post, the company said, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden passing of Gerald Cotten, co-founder and CEO of QuadrigaCX. A visionary leader who transformed the lives of those around him, Gerry died due to complications with Crohn’s disease on December 9, 2018 while travelling in India, where he was opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need.”
The post did not mention a word about the complexities the company is now facing since Gerald was the only person to have the password for the cold wallets, putting millions of dollars now at stake.
Cold wallet, in cryptocurreny, is a type of storage disconnected from the internet and secured by a high level of encryption.
