Kraken Offers $100K Reward for Help Finding Quadrigacx Funds

The San Francisco crypto exchange Kraken has announced the company is offering a $100,000 reward in exchange for a solid lead toward finding the missing Quadrigacx coins. Kraken has explained the company wants to bring more “awareness and attention” to the case and hopefully locate some of the lost funds.

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$100,000 Reward for the Best Lead to Discovery

On Jan. 26, 2019, the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Quadrigacx lost a significant amount of digital assets that belonged to customers totaling $190 million. However, almost two months before the disclosure of losses, the Quadrigacx founder and chief executive officer Gerald Cotten passed away and allegedly he was the only individual with access to the private keys. Although, since then there have been many investigations into the matter, alleged wallet movements and other oddities tied to the Quadrigacx loss. Because of the odd circumstances, the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced in a blog post that it is offering $100,000 if someone helps them find the missing funds. “Some say the events and circumstances surrounding this case are too suspicious to be believed,” Kraken’s post explained.

In order for armchair detectives and blockchain sleuths to partake in helping with the investigation, the exchange has released two podcasts that offer more details about the Quadrigacx situation. Kraken chief executive officer Jesse Powell had already offered assistance on helping the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Feb. 4, when he said Kraken had tabs on “thousands of wallet addresses known to belong to Quadrigacx.”

“[We] are investigating the bizarre and, frankly, unbelievable story of the founder’s death and lost keys. I’m not normally calling for subpoenas but if the RCMP are looking into this, contact Kraken,” Powell stated at the time.

Now the San Francisco trading platform is offering a large sum of money to shed light on the case and possibly recover some of the funds that are owed to 115,000 customers.

“Kraken is giving up to $100,000 USD (fiat or crypto) as a reward for the tip(s) that best lead to the discovery of the missing $190 million US dollars,” Kraken’s blog post on Thursday said.

Situations Like the Quadrigacx Loss Impact the Entire Industry

There’s been a lot of clues tethered to the Quadrigacx situation and just recently it was revealed that Cotten explained in a 2014 podcast that he kept customers’ bitcoins printed on paper and kept them in a safety deposit box at the bank. The remaining owners of Quadrigacx have been seeking protection from creditors by using the legal system. According to Cotten’s widow and other Quadrigacx employees, the owner was the only person who had the keys holding 11,278 BCH, 26,488 BTC, 35,320 BTG, 11,149 BSV, 429,966 ETH, and 199,888 LTC.

Kraken explained during the company’s Quadrigacx reward announcement that the firm was integral in helping out with the Mt. Gox investigation. “Since 2014 we have invested significant resources and lent our crypto expertise to the Mt. Gox trustee and investigators, supporting the return of as much client funds as possible and as soon as possible — Events like this impact the entire industry, which is why we want to get involved if there’s a way we can help,” the exchange detailed.

What do you think about Kraken offering a $100,000 reward for a solid tip toward helping find the missing Quadrigacx funds? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Quadrigacx, Pixabay, and Kraken.

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