On December 19, five cold wallets were found in the now-defunct Quadrigacx Bitcoin Exchange, holding 104 Bitcoins. The award was given to the recipients by four of the world’s largest accounting firms, EY and KPMG, the following day. The bankruptcy court stated that the funds had not been authorized, and EY had previously reported that the cold wallets were unavailable.
Cold Wallets Associated with the now-defunct Quadrigacx Wake Up After Years of Dormancy
At the beginning of February 2019, Quadrigacx Clients informed us that trading was not allowed until liquidity issues had been resolved. Then, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ordered the firm to sign up for the CCAA. EY was appointed as the accounting firm to manage the remaining assets.
What was even worse, clients’ funds worth $150 million were lost after the death of Quadrigacx founding founder Gerald Cotten. Private keys were not available, leaving numerous conspiracy theories suggesting that Cotten may have faked his own death.
Five different wallets from QuadrigaCX unexpectedly moved 104 BTC on Dec. 17 for the first time in many years.
1ECUQLuioJbFZAQchcZq9pggd4EwcpuANe
1J9Fqc3TicNoy1Y7tgmhQznWrP5AVLXj9R
1MhgmGaHwLAvvKVyFvy6zy9pRQFXaxwE9M
1HyYMMCdCcHnfjwMW2jE4cv9qVkVDFUzVa
1JPtxSGoekZfLQeYAWkbhBhkr2VEDADHZB— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) December 19, 2022
After four years, it was finally over. There are still many mysteries to be solved and more to come. On Monday, December 19, 2022, Twitter user Zachxbt explained the 104 Bitcoin (BTC) movements of five cold wallets were flagged as Quadrigacx. With today’s exchange rate, the 104 BTC could be worth $1.75 million. Zachxbt believes that around 69 BTC have been sent to WasabiService for storing mixed bitcoins.
In addition to Zachxbt, EY addressed the bitcoin movements the day after. On December 20, 2022, EY released a “notice to affected users” with the following highlights: “unauthorized transfer of Quadriga bitcoin.” EY claims that the transfer was not authorized or approved by the accounting firm and its lawyer. EY also stated that it has been documented multiple times using CCAA procedures that the funds were not accessible. “Quadriga inadvertently transferred certain cryptocurrencies to cold wallets that applicants were unable to access,” the notice read. Learn more about the latest EY updates.
Although Zachxbt’s tweet mentioned five addresses, EY’s updated statement contained six bitcoin wallets: EY, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 5. EY claims that it has been documented multiple times using CCAA procedures to show that funds were not accessible. “Qu
