The embattled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX has recently sent the remaining cryptocurrency it had in its hot wallets to ‘big four’ auditor Ernst & Young, which has been monitoring the proceedings in its creditor protection case.
According to an official report Ernst & Young released called the “Second Report of the Monitor,” QuadrigaCX sent nearly all its cryptocurrency to the auditor on February 14, after conducting a few test transactions to make sure it wouldn’t send them to the wrong address.
In total, the cryptocurrency exchange transferred 51 bitcoin, 952 ether, 822 litecoin, 33 bitcoin cash, and 2,033 bitcoin gold to the auditor. At press time, these cryptocurrencies are worth little over $410,000, an amount Ernst & Young is set to “hold the cryptocurrency in cold storage pending further order of the Court.”
The test transaction QuadrigaCX has made are notable, as earlier a costly blunder saw it inadvertently transfer 103 BTC ($468,000) to its cold wallets. The exchange has been unable to access its funds in cold storage since its founder and CEO Gerald Cotten unexpectedly passed away in India.
Please see our statement regarding the sudden passing of our @QuadrigaCoinEx founder and CEO, Gerry Cotten. A visionary leader who transformed the lives of those around him, he will be greatly
missed. https://t.co/5rvGZ2BfLV— QuadrigaCX (@QuadrigaCoinEx) January 14, 2019
Ernst & Young’s report has also given the exchange’s creditors updates on its fiat holdings. It notes there are thee main sources: a payment processor called Costodian that holder about $25 million CAD in bank drafts, Stewart McKelvey which holds about $5.8 million CAD in bank drafts, and other amounts held by various third-party processors.
Costodian has reportedly already transferred about $20 million CAD to Ernst & Young, but is holding onto the remainder, and has claimed QuadrigaCX owns it $778,000 CAD in processing fees.
$145 Million Locked Away
The Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, as mentioned above, has been locked out of its cold storage wallets since its founder and CEO passed away, as he managed the operation through his laptop.
His wife Jennifer Robertson has since filed an affidavit where she revealed Cotten was single-handedly managing the exchange’s transactions, and that after he passed away no one was able to do so. Since then, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has granted QuadrigaCX creditor protection, and appointed Canadian law firms Miller Thomson and Cox & Palmer to represent its customers in the upcoming proceedings.
As CryptoGlobe covered, QuadrigaCX has already run out of funds, and a look into Cotten’s way of managing the exchange in the past has suggested users’ funds can be stored in paper wallets. The exchange’s downfall has cost at least one cryptocurrency enthusiast his $420,000 life savings.
Notably, blockchain researchers have released data that suggests QuadrigaCX didn’t have any funds stored in cold wallet, and even found suspicious transactions to other exchanges, including Poloniex, Bitfinex, and ShapeShift.