I assume everyone has heard about this one by now...

Discussion in 'Crypto Assets' started by Cabin111, Feb 5, 2019.

  1. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    World
    Bitcoin investors may be out $190 million after the only guy with the password dies, firm says





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      Imagine if your bank froze your savings account because the only person with the combination to the vault had died.

      Investors in a Canadian crypto-currency exchange are in a similar fix after the only person with the password to accounts valued at $190 million in U.S. dollars died unexpectedly in India in December, CoinDesk reported.

      Gerald Cotten, CEO and co-founder of QuadrigaCX, died of complications from Crohn’s disease Dec. 9 while traveling in India to set up an orphanage, the firm wrote Jan. 14 on Facebook.
     
    Onra likes this.
  2. RedDuke

    RedDuke

    Wow is all I can say.
     
  3. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    TommyR and Clubber Lang like this.
  4. Specterx

    Specterx

    Someone in another thread pointed out that this kind of stuff would lead to more and more of any given crypto's supply being locked up forever, inaccessible - and a doc I watched the other day claimed that 25% of the current Bitcoin supply is currently "lost".

    Another reason that even if some crypto does come into routine use one day, it won't be the existing BTC...
     
  5. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    I have heard of people who have lost their laptop/computer...With no back up!! Fun move...
     
  6. The usual advice to average hodlers is to *not* store their BTC in online wallets including crypto-broker accounts. Store BTC in your own cold-storage wallet and keep a printed backup somewhere secure offsite. The deceased CEO had the right idea using a cold storage wallet but he lacked a backup plan.
     
    JSOP likes this.
  7. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    The disappearing industry in India is a good business. Doctors give out death certificates left and right. 190 MM is enough to start a new life, maybe get a face change too, if you are already there...
     
  8. I doubt he faked his death. The BTC addresses for his cold storage are either known outright or can be traced. Any attempt to spend even a little of those coins will be discovered. He would then be outed as not dead.
    If he can't spend them without discovery then what's the point?
     
  9. JSOP

    JSOP

    This is certainly very very bizarre considering that the incidence of Crohn's Disease itself in North America is like 6-7 to every 100,000 people. And apparently dying from complications from the disease itself is even more rare. With so much money at stake, the death is certainly intriguing.
     
    RedDuke likes this.
  10. sle

    sle

    While intriguing, faking your own death in the modern society is virtually impossible, IMHO. More importantly, he would not be able to retrieve money from cold storage undetected, which would defeat the purpose of faking death.
     
    #10     Feb 6, 2019