The ongoing saga surrounding cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX took another, rather dull, turn this Thursday as the company transferred its cryptocurrency assets to consultancy firm EY.
One of ‘the big four’ consultancy firms, EY has now taken control of a sizeable portion of the cryptocurrency exchange’s assets.
QuadrigaCX was ordered to transfer the assets to EY by Canadian authorities. The auditor was appointed by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia as the company’s monitor on February 5.
A report released by the court on Thursday shows that QuadrigaCX was made to transfer 51.1 Bitcoin , 33.3 Bitcoin Cash, 2,032.7 Bitcoin Gold, 822.3 Litecoin, and 951.5 Ether.
That report indicates that EY will be holding on to that cryptocurrency until the court decides otherwise.
“[EY] will hold the cryptocurrency in Cold Storage ,” said the court, “pending further order of the Court.”
EY in cold storage
In accordance with the orders, the cryptocurrency will be kept offline in cold-storage wallets to prevent hackers from stealing it. EY will be responsible for keeping the digital assets secure now that they have been transferred.
Although a sizeable chunk of its assets has been handed over to the auditor, QuadrigaCX still holds 104 bitcoins in custody.
And, although the cryptocurrency handed over to EY is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, it is by no means enough to cover the estimated $190 million that the exchange owes its clients.
Some of that money looks set to be recovered from Costodian, a custodial services provider that has already handed over approximately $15 million to Canadian authorities.
But, for the long run, things at QuadrigaCX look messy. With disputes still raging over who owes what and companies, including Costodian, demanding cash alongside investors, don’t expect this case to end for a while.
