The 50 Most Interesting Companies In Bitcoin's History: 21/50
QuadrigaCX
The Idea: Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Cotten, a 25-year-old York University graduate, ran the entire operation from his personal laptop with no physical office.
Early Traction: Became Canada's go-to exchange, processing C$7.4M in Bitcoin trades in 2014 alone.
Peak Stats: C$250 million (US$190M) in customer crypto at time of collapse. 115,000 affected customers.
Status Today: Failed. Cotten passed on December 9, 2018 at age 30, reportedly of Crohn's disease while traveling in India. He was the sole holder of private keys to cold wallets containing all customer funds. The Ontario Securities Commission concluded in 2020 that Quadriga was a fraud and Ponzi scheme. His body was exhumed in 2020 to confirm his identity.
Why It Matters:
QuadrigaCX is one of the most bizarre situations in Bitcoin's history. It also became the subject of a Netflix documentary and raised questions about single points of failure in crypto custody.