The Magnate Who Disappeared: Gerald Cotten, the Exchange, and the US$ 250 Million Lost

He died. Or did he? The founder of QuadrigaCX took to the grave (literally) the passwords of one of the largest fortunes in crypto assets in Canada — leaving a trail of mystery, speculation, and thousands of desperate investors.

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At the end of 2018, Gerald Cotten, CEO of the Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX, flew to India on his honeymoon with his wife Jennifer Robertson. Young, charismatic, and a billionaire in the crypto world, Cotten seemed to have achieved everything. But on December 9, at just 30 years old, he was declared dead in a hospital in Jaipur, a victim of complications related to Crohn's disease.

Up to that point, a personal tragedy. But the events that followed would turn the story upside down.

A few days after his death, QuadrigaCX collapsed. Cotten was the only one with access to the exchange's cold wallets, where more than US$ 250 million in Bitcoin and other cryptos belonging to 115,000 clients were stored.

No backups. No passwords. No emergency protocols.

The case became a national scandal in Canada and fueled paranoia in the crypto universe: what if Gerald wasn't actually dead? Investigators discovered that he had moved assets between personal and company wallets before his death, that the hospital where he passed away was private, and that the death certificate was incomplete.

Devastated clients began demanding the exhumation of the body, claiming fraud. Experts suggested that Cotten may have used mixers, tax havens, and offshore wallets to conceal funds. Netflix released a documentary with the unending question: where is the money? And where is Gerald?

Today, QuadrigaCX serves as a grim warning: in the world of cryptos, a single man can be the central bank, vault, and thief — all at the same time.