More than 100 Bitcoin accidentally deposited almost four years ago in inaccessible storage accounts by Quadriga CX were moved without authorization, according to the trustee handling the defunct digital exchange’s restructuring.
(Bloomberg) — More than 100 Bitcoin accidentally deposited almost four years ago in inaccessible storage accounts by Quadriga CX were moved without authorization, according to the trustee handling the defunct digital exchange’s restructuring.
Ernst & Young Inc. said that the private keys associated with the so-called cold wallets have not been located. The Bitcoin remained within the Quadriga cold wallets until Dec. 16, prior to the unauthorized transfers being initiated. The trustee said it didn’t initiate the transfers of the Bitcoin, currently valued at about $1.7 million.
Long before the collapse of FTX, Quadriga CX captured the attention of the crypto world and the mainstream media after the mysterious death of its founder Gerald Cotten. The Vancouver-based digital exchange, which Cotten operated primarily from a laptop computer, couldn’t retrieve about C$190 million ($139 million) in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and other digital tokens held for its customers when it collapsed in early 2019.
Some of the Bitcoin was moved recently into a Wasabi digital wallet, a popular service that lets users mix their tokens in such a way as to keep their identities private, blockchain data firm Chainalysis said.
Quadriga CX had “inadvertently” transfered 103 Bitcoin in February 2019 that Ernst & Young were unable to access.
A message sent Tuesday to Quadriga’s bankruptcy trustees at Ernst & Young wasn’t immediately returned.
Regulators in Canada concluded in an investigation that the collapse of Quadriga CX was the result of fraud by Cotten.
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