The Quadriga meltdown sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency space. The story of QuadrigaCX and its founder Gerald Cotten has all the elements of a crime thriller. Over a hundred million dollars goes missing and the founder dies a sudden and mysterious death in India. Now the authorities are investigating, but no one knows if they will get their money back.
Bill Tsao is one of the users that got caught up in this nightmare. Tsao is a cryptocurrency trader from Toronto who didn’t think twice about using the popular Canadian exchange. According to Marketwatch, He deposited about $75,000 in BTC to QuadrigaCX on January 28th. Hours later the site was shut down and he hasn’t been able to access the funds ever since.
“I needed the cash so I just looked for the best price and thought this is the best place to sell. It was just over one hundred thousand dollars ($74,800 U.S. dollars) to pay down some mortgage and cover some other personal items.”
“Literally the next day I woke up the website was down and I have no idea how to get in contact with them other than sending a package,”
“Right now I can’t do anything until the investigation is over. I have sent emails, filled out tickets but I have got nothing back.”
Marketwatch points out a fatal red flag missed by Tsao. Bitcoin was trading for $600 more on Quadriga than other exchanges, a sign of liquidity issues according to many traders. But Tsao just thought he was making the best deal possible.
“All I wanted was the best price.”
Tsao like many other QuadrigaCX users must now wait and rely on the investigation for possible justice and recovery of funds.
“I felt so stupid not really looking into the site further before I did that.”
The next important date, in this case, is April 18th when the judge ordered the stay of proceedings ends.
