geoff@iconia.com
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2019 15:41:29 -0700
EXCERPT:
Digital-asset exchange Quadriga CX has a $200 million problem with no obvious solution -- just the latest cautionary tale in the unregulated world of cryptocurrencies.
The online startup can't retrieve about $145 million (C$190 million) in
Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and other digital tokens held for its customers,
according to court documents filed Jan. 31 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nor can
Vancouver-based Quadriga CX pay the C$70 million in cash they're owed.
Access to Quadriga CX's digital "wallets" -- an application that stores the
keys to send and receive cryptocurrencies -- appears to have been lost with
the passing of Quadriga CX Chief Executive Officer Gerald Cotten, who died
Dec. 9 in India from complications of Crohn's disease. He was 30.
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felon' faces more legal trouble Cotten was always conscious about security
-- the laptop, email addresses and messaging system he used to run the
5-year-old business were encrypted, according to an affidavit from his
widow, Jennifer Robertson. He took sole responsibility for the handling of
funds and coins and the banking and accounting side of the business and, to
avoid being hacked, moved the "majority" of digital coins into cold
storage. [...]
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Crypto-CEO-dies-holding-only-passwords-that-can-13590450.phpv3DYVI5w%2BRVhwt398MZ3%2BCLYwL/1Zjo2HyO/KM%3D