Crypto markets have started the week with in a bearish mood. Bitcoin (BTC) and most major digital coins are nursing losses ranging from 1% to 5%. The total cryptocurrency market cap is at US$113.9 against US$112.5 on Friday.
At press time, BTC is up about a quarter point on the day trading at US$3,543, according to Einstein Exchange. The first digital coin lost 2% of its value since the previous Monday and finished the second consecutive bearish week with lower lows.
XRP (the native currency of the Ripple network) is hovering above US$0.30 handle, unchanged since this time on Sunday. The second largest coin with a market value of US$12.4B retraced from a January 31st high at US$0.3382 and formed another doji on a weekly chart.
Ethereum (ETH) has lost over 2% of its value in recent 24 hours to trade at $107.64 at the time of writing. The coin retraced from the early Asian high at US$11.89 and failed to settle above US$110.00 handle once again.
NEM (XEM) is the biggest loser of the day out of top-10 coins. NEM has lost nearly 5% of its value and dropped below $0.04 handle. The coin has been under pressure recently due to news that the NEM foundation may be on the verge of bankruptcy.
CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR LIVE CRYPTOCURRENCY PRICE INDEXES FROM EINSTEIN EXCHANGE:
Cryptocurrency investors locked out of tens of millions after exchange founder dies
About US$190 million in cryptocurrency has been locked away in an online black hole after the founder of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange died, apparently taking his encrypted access code to their money with him.
On January 31st, QuadrigaCX announced it had filed an application in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia for creditor protection, after months of transaction delays.
Investors in QuadrigaCX were unable to access their funds after its founder, Gerald Cotten, died last year.
According to a court filing, Jennifer Robertson, identified as Cotten’s widow, said the exchange owes its customers roughly C$250m (US$190m) in cash and cryptocurrency held in its “cold storage”.
“Quadriga’s inventory of cryptocurrency has become unavailable and some of it may be lost,” Robertson wrote in the filing.
Cotten, 30, died in India last December from complications from Crohn’s disease, according to the company. He was in India “opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need”.
The news followed a decision by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) to freeze $28 million of assets held by Quadriga, after saying it was unable to identify the real owners of the funds.
Robertson says she was not involved in the business. In the filing she noted that there had been a “significant amount of commentary on Reddit and other web-based platforms about Quadriga, Gerry’s death (including whether he is really dead), and missing coins”. She said she had also received threats and slanderous comments.
Robertson has access to Cotten’s laptop but writes that she is unable to open it. “The laptop computer from which Gerry carried out the companies’ business is encrypted and I do not know the password or recovery key. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere.”
Robertson has retained an expert to try to access the funds, but he has so far not been able to do so.
The platform continued to accept funds after Cotten’s death but was paused by directors on January 26th Five days later, QuadrigaCX filed an application for creditor protection with the supreme court of Nova Scotia, after months of transaction delays.
At a court hearing is scheduled for tomorrow whereby the company is seeking to appoint Ernst & Young as an independent monitor.
