HALIFAX — The court-ordered monitor picking over the remains of the shuttered QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency platform says the insolvent operation should be placed in bankruptcy.
Ernst and Young says it has concluded there is only a remote possibility the Vancouver-based company will emerge from creditor protection and restructure.
The professional services firm says its ongoing investigation to recover $260 million in cash and cryptocurrency owed to 115,000 users could be handled more efficiently under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
The exchange was shut down Jan. 28, more than a month after its lone director — 30-year-old Gerald Cotten of Fall River, N.S. — died suddenly while travelling in Jaipur, India.
Soon after his death was announced, court documents revealed he was the only QuadrigaCX employee who knew the encrypted pass codes needed to access $190 million in missing Bitcoins and other cryptocurrency locked in offline digital wallets.
According to the documents, another $70 million in cash is owed to users, much of which was tied up in bank drafts held by third-party payment processors.
Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp. and its related companies were granted protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Feb. 5.