CRYPTO INVESTORS DEMAND RESPONSE AFTER CEO DIED WITH PASSWORD TO OVER $200 MILLION CUSTOMERS’S BITCOINS

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Angry investors are demanding answers after a Canadian crypto CEO died without sharing one vital password.

Gerald Cotten — known as “Gerry” to friends — was the founder of Quadriga CX, which launched in 2013.

But the 30-year-old died due to complications from Crohn’s disease in December 2018 during a visit to India, where he planned to open an orphanage for needy kids.

Mr Cotten, who was notoriously concerned with security, was the only person in his company with access to the password needed to transfer most of his clients’ money.

According to his widow Jennifer Robertson, he had “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins”.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden passing of Gerald Cotten, co-founder and CEO of QuadrigaCX. A visionary leader who transformed the lives of those around him, Gerry died due to complications with Crohn’s disease on December 9, 2018 while travelling in India, where he was opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need.”

Now, C$190 million ($AU200 million) in digital tokens such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether is unable to be accessed from the company’s “digital wallets”.

A message posted to the company’s website by the board of directors late last month revealed the depth of the ”significant financial issues” plaguing the start-up.

The statement reads, “For the past weeks, we have worked extensively to address our liquidity issues, which include attempting to locate and secure our very significant cryptocurrency reserves held in cold wallets, and that are required to satisfy customer cryptocurrency balances on deposit, as well as sourcing a financial institution to accept the bank drafts that are to be transferred to us”.

An application for creditor protection was filed in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on January 31, and experts have been sought to hack the system and free the tokens, with “limited success”.

In the court filing, Ms Robertson said Quadriga CX’s access to crypto had been “severely compromised” by her husband’s death.

“After Gerry’s death, Quadriga’s inventory of cryptocurrency has become unavailable and some of it may be lost,” Ms Robertson said, according to Bloomberg.

According to CoinDesk, more than 115,000 customers have been left out of pocket.

But some people smell a rat, with several Twitter users claiming Mr Cotten faked his own death.