QuadrigaCX

Gerald Cotten and Michael Patryn (later revealed as convicted identity fraudster Omar Dhanani) found QuadrigaCX as a Bitcoin exchange in Vancouver. The exchange grows to become Canada's largest, serving 115,000 registered users. Cotten operates as sole cold-wallet keyholder — a structural architecture that later proves fatal.

Fraud allegations surface

Gerald Cotten dies in Jaipur, India on December 9, 2018, aged 30, officially from complications of Crohn's disease. He is the sole holder of the private keys to QuadrigaCX's cold wallets, where customer funds are stored. No succession plan, no backup keys, no multi-signature arrangement exists. $190 million in customer cryptocurrency is immediately inaccessible.

QuadrigaCX files for creditor protection in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in February 2019. The company discloses that 115,000 users have approximately $190M in outstanding claims. Ernst & Young is appointed monitor. Multiple conspiracy theories about Cotten faking his death emerge online.

Silent Shutdown: QuadrigaCX ceases operations

Ontario Securities Commission publishes its investigation report concluding QuadrigaCX was 'one big fraud from the beginning.' Cotten had created fake accounts under aliases, traded fictional cryptocurrency, and siphoned real customer funds into personal accounts for years before his death. The exchange was already insolvent before Cotten died. Co-founder Michael Patryn (Omar Dhanani) had a prior US conviction for identity fraud and conspiracy. US authorities later charge several promoters.