Quadriga cryptocurrency wallets were emptied months before founder’s death Gerald Cotton, founder of the coin exchange QuadrigaCX, is reported to have died in December

Digital wallets containing millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency were emptied months before the death of the coin exchange’s founder, an investigation has revealed.

Gerald Cotten, 30, founder of online cryptocurrency exchange site QuadrigaCX, is reported to have died in December, taking the passwords to wallets containing C$180m ($137m, £105m) to the grave with him.

An investigation by Ernst & Young has found the wallets, which contained the holdings of 115,000 customers, had been emptied months before Mr Cotten’s death.

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Using public blockchain records, the team found all bitcoin had been transferred out of five identified wallets by April 2018, which was also the last time deposits were made.

A sixth wallet appears to have been used to receive bitcoin from another crypto exchange account, which was transferred into another Quadriga wallet, the report noted.

The final transaction was initiated on 3 December 2018, six days before Mr Cotten’s reported death from complications linked to Chron’s disease.

In order to buy cryptocurrency users need a digital wallet, which effectively serves as a blockchain bank account and can be opened for free. Bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and other cryptocurrencies are available to buy through online exchanges.

Ernst & Young said it had contacted several crypto exchanges in an effort to identify potential accounts controlled by Quadriga or Mr Cotten.

Quadriga is Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and Mr Cotten held “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins,” his widow, Jennifer Robertson, said last month.

Ms Robertson said in documents filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court she had been unable to find the password or recovery key to the laptop her husband used for work which is protected by encryption, a means of protecting sensitive information by scrambling it into unreadable code.

Blockchain, the intricate encryption system used by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is used to record the value of the currency while protecting it from theft and masking its owner’s identity.

Quadringa continued to accept funds after Mr Cotten’s death until it was paused by directors on 26 January.