Netflix Making Show about 'Suspicious' Death of Crypto Exchange Boss

Netflix is making a new documentary focused on the doomed crypto exchange QuadrigaCX.

The Canadian trading platform collapsed after its CEO and founder Gerald Cotten died of complications related to Crohn’s disease while on his honeymoon in India.

Cotten was 30 years old — and the only person who had access to cold storage where client funds worth tens of millions of dollars were stored.

But as efforts began to try and reunite the exchange’s customers with their crypto, it emerged that many of the cold wallets were empty — prompting some to speculate that Cotten may have faked his own death.

Although it's unlikely to generate positive publicity for the crypto sector, the documentary has the potential to deliver meaningful progress for an estimated 76,000 people who were affected.

Slow Progress

The process of tracking down the missing crypto has been long and arduous to say the least — with victims having to fight tooth and nail for fairness along the way.

Back in April, a court had ruled that any crypto that’s successfully recovered in the future would be valued at their 2019 rates, which is when the company went bankrupt.

Lawyers representing the victims fear that — given how the prices of Bitcoin and Ether have risen substantially since then — this would result in a surplus that would end up being shared among QuadrigaCX’s shareholders or his next of kin.

Back in 2020, a report released by the Ontario Securities Commission concluded:

“What happened at Quadriga was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology.”

It was also claimed that trading volumes on the platform were artificially inflated, so much so that Cotten was the counterparty in 87% of Bitcoin transactions back in 2014.

The investigation went on to suggest that the CEO mixed customer funds with his own — and this may have helped fund his lavish lifestyle.