QuadrigaCX Auditor: Most of $150m in Lost Crypto Has Been Drained, What Does This Mean for Investors?

The QuadrigaCX imbroglio took a turn yesterday when Big Four Auditing Firm, Ernst & Young (EY) released its “Third Report of the Monitor” that asserts that they have identified six separate crypto wallets were used to store the exchange’s cryptocurrency.

Unfortunately for embattled QuadrigaCX investors, the wallets did not contain any of the nearly $150 million in cryptocurrency that is still missing following the death of the exchange’s CEO, and the hunt for this missing crypto will continue on.

Ernst & Young: There Have Been No Deposits into QuadrigaCX Crypto Cold Wallets Since April 2018 

Aside from one inadvertent transfer into one of the wallets totaling at under $500,000, the report claims that there have been no deposits into the wallets since April of last year.

“To date, the Applicants have been unable to identify a reason why Quadriga may have stopped using the Identified Bitcoin Cold Wallets for deposits in April 2018, however, the Monitor and Management will continue to review the Quadriga database to obtain further information,” the report explained.

Importantly, besides a small fraction of cryptocurrency remaining in the addresses, there is still well over $100 million worth of customer’s crypto still missing.

Furthermore, EY noted that they have thus far been unable to discover why the six wallet addresses had stopped being used by the exchange, but that they would continue to review their data sources in order to garner more info on where the funds were being directed to.

“The Monitor has made inquiries of the Applicants as to the reason for the lack of cryptocurrency reserves in the Identified Bitcoin Cold Wallets since April 2018. To date, the Applicants have been unable to identify a reason why Quadriga may have stopped using the Identified Bitcoin Cold Wallets for deposits in April 2018, however, the Monitor and Management will continue to review the Quadriga database to obtain further information.”

Ernst & Young did not discuss whether or not they know about any existing wallet addresses outside of the six aforementioned ones, and also did not discuss whether or not there are any cold storage addresses holding cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin.

Could the Missing QuadrigaCX Funds Be Held on Various Crypto Exchanges?

Recently, a research report published on the Zerononcense Blog claimed that they have identified the wallet addresses where the exchange was keeping their Ethereum, and that there is a “strong possibility” that there may be a significant amount of ETH being held on some major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Poloniex, Kraken, and Bitfinex.

According to the report, there may be over 600,000 ETH being held in wallets on these exchanges, and that the now defunct exchange’s deceased CEO – Gerry Cotton – may have been moving the ETH to these exchanges while QuadrigaCX was operational.

“Based on the transaction analysis included in the report, it appears that a significant amount of Ethereum (600,000+ ETH) was transferred to these exchanges as a means of ‘storage’ during the years that QuadrigaCX was in operation and offering Ethereum on their exchange… it is very possible that QuadrigaCX, the creditors, and other entities are unaware of this discovery,” the Zerononcense Blog report explains.

Jesse Powell, the co-founder and CEO of Kraken, responded to the report on Twitter, explaining that none of the aforementioned funds are being stored on Kraken, and further adding that the possibility of these funds being held on exchanges is the “best hope that QCX clients have” of ever retrieving their lost funds.

“This is the best hope that QCX clients have — that Cotten was keeping client funds in other exchanges. Unfortunately, nothing at Kraken. Hopefully, others are looking. Could be accounts were created under different names so might take some real digging to find.”

This is the best hope that QCX clients have — that Cotten was keeping client funds in other exchanges. Unfortunately, nothing at Kraken. Hopefully, others are looking. Could be accounts were created under different names so might take some real digging to find.

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) March 1, 2019

Powell has been highly involved in the whole imbroglio since it first began, and Kraken just recently announced a $100k bounty for any information leading to the discovery of the missing funds.

“Kraken is giving up to $100,000 USD (fiat or crypto) as a reward for the tip(s) that best lead to the discovery of the missing $190 million US dollars. Can you help us unravel the Curious Case of Cotton’s Coins?” The exchange announced in a recent tweet.

Kraken is giving up to $100,000 USD (fiat or crypto) as a reward for the tip(s) that best lead to the discovery of the missing $190 million US dollars. Can you help us unravel the Curious Case of Cotton's Coins?https://t.co/BurmEMKVku

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) February 28, 2019

The entire crypto community will continue sitting at the edge of their seats as the situation relating to the status and whereabouts of the missing funds continues to unravel, but at this time the best hope for investors affected by the situation is likely that the missing funds are scattered about on various cryptocurrency exchanges.

NewsBTC will continue to bring you the latest developments relating to the QuadrigaCX situation.

Featured image from Shutterstock.