The untangling of this case will set major legal precedents for Canada & influence regs & the future operations of #fintech & crypto firms
Highlights ⬇️
1/
THE 💰
$250M total cash & #crypto owed to users
$180M missing #cryptocurrency 💸
$70M fiat owed to users; $25.7M frozen by @cibc & currently unbankable
THE CUSTOMERS
115k users owed 💰
Largest user owed $70m 🐳
Sources: EY ey.com/ca/quadriga
2/
EY appointed Court Monitor – will oversee QCX restructuring, investigate missing #crypto & secure funds/records
@QuadrigaCoinEx under CCAA creditor protection for 30 days (no one can sue for 30 days)
Motion to appoint representative counsel for creditors: Feb 14
3/
You can reach out to one of the 3 legal firms seeking appointment as representative counsel for all creditors:
@Osler_Law
@MillerThomson
@BennettJonesLaw
They’ll ask for:
-Name, email & QCX #
-Amount & value of #crypto on QCX
-Approval of their appointment
4/
While its activities could lead to enforcement action, they'll likely inform future regs, standards & industry-led best practices for exchanges/ custodians
Deep-dive of QCX ops ⬇️ (Source ey.com/ca/quadriga)
5/
Inadequate succession planning lies at the heart of this case:
The Founder Cotton was sole director of @QuadrigaCoinEx. Most business was done on his encrypted PC – only he had access
Cotton manually moved #crypto b/w cold & hot wallets – only he had access
6/
@cibc froze $25.7M in a 3rd party account, which led to signif. withdrawal delays - Cotton said to have advanced his own $ to customers
While a court order unfroze funds, QCX was unable to find a bank to accept bank drafts
Add'l bank drafts (pic) await in trust
8/
Official Court Monitor docs: ey.com/ca/quadriga
t.me/quadrigamonitor
⬆️Great informal Telegram channel w/ a huge archive:
-Court proceedings & law firm updates
-Active Reddit & Telegram groups
-Un/official docs
-#crypto/#blockchain analysis
9/
In this article (based on this tweetstorm), I break down what went wrong w/ @QuadrigaCoinEx & ruminate on potential impacts on Canada's #crypto, #blockchain & #fintech sectors