cryptocurrency

Emiliano Grodzki moves his right hand across the front of a series of small, rectangular machines, each fitted with a fan blowing warm air inside a former metal factory in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

Less than three months after one of Canada's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges was shut down amid a swirl of controversy, a bid to restructure Vancouver-based QuadrigaCX has failed and the virtual company has officially entered bankruptcy proceedings.

The high-profile search for $190 million in missing cryptocurrency owed to users of the beleaguered QuadrigaCX trading platform has turned up a small amount of digital assets, but the intrigue surrounding the case deepened on Friday, March 1, 2019, as investigators pointed to a series of transactions they can't explain.

The widow of QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten says a chief restructuring officer should be appointed to oversee what remains of the insolvent cryptocurrency trading platform, saying her role as director has drawn "unwanted" online commentary suggesting she is trying to hide assets.

The wary skepticism that Canada's big banks have for the cryptocurrency industry was on full display on Friday, February 22, 2019, when a Nova Scotia judge issued an order for the eventual disbursement of more than $30 million that belonged to the insolvent QuadrigaCX trading platform.

Software engineer Tong Zou lost his life savings — more than $500,000 — in the QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency meltdown.

The court-appointed monitor overseeing the search for the $260 million owed to clients of the faltering QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange says it recently found more than $900,000 in digital assets — only to see more than half of those crypto-coins escape its grasp.

A clearer picture is emerging of the young man at the centre of the mysterious demise of one of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.