Nova Scotia Supreme Court Approves Relocation of QuadrigaCX Bankruptcy Case to Toronto

A judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has agreed to a request to move the ongoing QuadrigaCX case from Halifax to Toronto, Ontario. According to a report by Global NewsSeptember 10, 2019, the transfer would drastically cut down expenses as most of the victims are based in Toronto.

Bankruptcy Proceedings Move to Toronto

Towards the end of August 2019, BTCManager reported that the accounting firm investigating the QuadrigaCX case, Ernst and Young, requested that the Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge move the QuadrigaCX bankruptcy proceedings to Toronto.

Less than three weeks after, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge approved the transfer. Speaking on the recent development, Asim Iqbal, one of the attorneys representing about 76,000 of victims, said that the decision by the judge was a good one, as it would reduce cost.

About 34 percent of the victims reside in Toronto, while only 1.4 percent live in Nova Scotia. However, Ernst and Young stated that even with the proceedings taking place in Toronto, there would be multiple court appearances, as agencies such as the FBI, and IRS-CI, among others, are investigating the QuadrigaCX saga.

The QuadrigaCX scandal could likely take a long time to resolve. Following the death of Gerald Cotten, CEO of the Canadian exchange in 2018, victims have had difficulty getting their funds back. This is because Cotten took with him to the grave, the access to the private keys of the company’s cold wallets. So far, monitor of the defunct bitcoin exchange, Ernst and Young, stated that it recovered only $30 million in cash.

Is There Hope Left for QuadrigaCX Victims?

The QuadrigaCX story is arguably one of the most convoluted stories in the history of cryptocurrency. The company’s story has attracted suspicions and skepticism with some going as far as to speculate that the CEO faked his death. Also, investigations continue to reveal messy details about the exchange company.

Based on an earlier report by the exchange’s monitor, Ernst and Young, over $460,000 in bitcoin were transferred to the exchange’s inaccessible cold wallet in February 2019. In April 2019, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for the defunct bitcoin exchange to begin bankruptcy proceedings.

However, with the efforts made to get customers’ funds back, a former colleague of the late CEO of the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange opined that affected customers may have to move on, as it was almost impossible they would recover their money.

With the relocation of the bankruptcy proceedings to Toronto, observers and critics hope that the case would yield positive results and funds are recovered eventually.