CEO of Canadian Exchange QuadrigacX Dies With Private Keys to Cold Wallet
According to a recent report, the Chief Executive Officer of QuadrigaCX is dead. He reportedly died on a trip to India and unfortunately for the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, he was the only person with the private keys to the cold wallet which contains the tokens being managed the exchange.
QuadrigaCX’s Dead CEO has the Only Private Key
According to the affidavit which was filed by the deceased’s wife, Mrs. Jennifer Robertson, he died unexpectedly so no one knows the private key which can be used to gain access to the exchange’s cold wallet which contains:
*.26,488 BTC;
*.11,278 BCH;
*.11,149 BSV;
*.35,320 BTG;
*.199,888 LTC and
*.429,966 ETH.
Cotten was the only manager in charge of the funds, therefore, he was in charge of the manual transfer of cryptocurrencies from a cold wallet to a hot wallet. The reason for this “one-man operation” was because he wanted to prevent the funds from being stolen thus preventing possible in-house jobs. Total funds amounted to about 190 million dollars.
According to a statement released by the exchange, it has put a temporary stop to all operations and services, and all attempts being made by it to recover keys or obtain a backup of the wallet has proved abortive.
Furthermore, if the private keys to a wallet are lost, it is almost impossible for a third party to gain access to the wallet as it is connected to the extreme security of Bitcoin thus, no one can recover them since only the user is the who controls his own tokens.
2.3 And 3.7 Million Bitcoin Are Lost
A report released in June 2018 by the cybersecurity firm, Chain Analysis revealed that lost keys and methods of access to wallets with crypto coins had reduced Bitcoin’s total market cap by at least 13%.
The report states that:
“Between 2.3 and 3.7 million bitcoin are lost, reducing market capitalization by between 13% and 22%. A further 35% could reduce market capitalization if liquid investor holdings are removed from the cap.”
QuadrigaCX Team to Sell Part of the Company
Although no official statement has been issued by the team at QuadrigaCX, it is known that some of its creditors have taken legal action against the company, therefore, the team has taken the decision to sell part of its funds and the company in order to meet up with its responsibilities.
