Ontario’s Securities Regulator has recently revealed it is looking into the embattled cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, which recently revealed millions of dollars worth of customer funds are trapped, as its now-deceased founder was the only person with access.
According to Reuters, the Ontario Securities Commission revealed through an emailed statement it’s looking into the situation, as it may potentially harm Ontario investors.
Given the potential harm to Ontario investors, we are looking into this matter and have already been in contact with the monitor.
As CryptoGlobe covered QuadrigaCX founder and CEO Gerald Cotten unexpectedly passed away on December 9, and since then it was revealed he was the only person with access to the company’s cold storage wallets, which meant QuadrigaCX was locked out of $145 million worth of customer funds.
Cotten reportedly filed for a will 12 days before passing away in India, and in the documents he left all his assets to his wife, Jennifer Robertson, and made her executor of his estate. Robertson, in an attempt to resolve the situation, filed an affidavit where she explained she wasn’t able to retrieve the funds.
The cryptocurrency exchange has since been granted creditor protection by a Nova Scotia Supreme court, which protects it from lawsuits while it figures out what to do. To pay its 115,000 users back, it’s reportedly considering selling its platform.
Notably, research conducted by a blockchain research portal seems to show QuadrigaCX never had the $145 million to begin with, and that wallets associated with the exchange have been moving funds after Cotten passed away.
News of Ontario’s Securities regulator looking into the exchange’s situation comes shortly after the British Columbia Securities Commission revealed it didn’t regulate the cryptocurrency exchange.
