Canadian bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCX, caught in the lenses of the media after the death of founder Gerald Cotto, filed for bankruptcy, reports The Wall Street Journal. Simultaneously, in the course of the investigation, the publication discovered that the exchange had withdrawn funds in the amount of $10.1 million to $24.7 million.

Jason Campbell drove hours to an office outside of Montreal, hoping to pick up $1,000 in cash he had at cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga. When he got there, the door was locked. https://t.co/NwbO6FPQBD

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 19, 2019

Research laboratory Elementus claims that QuadrigaCX never had cold storage for Ethereum. They supposedly can confirm that ETH 268 thousand was withdrawn on the exchange platform ShapeShift converted to bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, and transferred to other sites.

New @WSJ article on #QuadrigaCX : Cash withdraws with no accounting records, at least 268,000 Ether sent to ShapeShift and we were able to prove: NO COLD WALLETS holding Ether https://t.co/w9fgWikIth

— Elementus (@elementus_io) February 20, 2019

Suspicious is the fact, they note that ShapeShift relatively high Commission, and for such large operations it’s not the most obvious choice.

Recall that the Supreme court of Nova Scotia had previously granted the petition QuadrigaCX on the temporary protection from the claims of creditors, which is valid until March 7.

The court also instructed law firms Miller Thomson and Cox & Palmer to represent the interests 115 of thousands of users in future proceedings, reports CoinDesk.

It is noteworthy that an independent investigation CoinDesk found transactions for a total amount of 9 thousand ETH, who left QuadrigaCX, a few days before the death of Cotto. Funds were transferred in exchange Binance, Kraken, and Poloniex.

It is assumed that the private keys to the cold storage exchange encrypted on the laptop of the deceased CEO; however, in 2014, he said that the exchange store such data on paper in a Bank vault.

Indian authorities confirmed the death of Cotto, which took place on December 8 in a private clinic, Fortis Escorts in Jaipur. Despite this, many community members still doubt this, suggesting that the death could have been staged. In the face of new facts it is possible to assume that the ranks of conspiracy theorists, only replenished.

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