Troubled Crypto Exchange QuadrigaCX Goes Offline, Reporting Maintenance Issues

It seems like cryptocurrency exchanges are more and more vulnerable to attacks lately. In today’s crypto news, the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX proves this with its scheduled maintenance that came after an official announcement on its webpage on January 28th.

Users trading Bitcoin and other coins on QuadrigaCX won’t be able to do that anymore because of the “scheduled maintenance” as reported by the exchange. However, many know the Canadian exchange for its legal troubles with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) which why many are doubting if the maintenance is real or just an excuse for something else.

The users of the exchange, some of whom have been able to access or withdraw their funds for months, immediately took to Reddit and Twitter. One user asked:

“Shouldn’t you let your customer know before taking it down?”

Others took to Reddit and speculated as to whether the exchange had gone insolvent. As one user there stated:

“They will declare insolvency due to an inability to find a suitable bank to host an account and facilitate transfers.”

In October 2018, QuadrigaCX disputed a $19.6 million sum with the CIBC, when some sources reported that QuadrigaCX had been experiencing difficulties accessing the $16.3 million if its funds since January when the IBC froze five accounts belonging to the exchange’s owner, Jose Reyes and his payment processor named Costodian Inc.

The situation has gotten even more complicated after the apparent death of its founder, Gerry Cotten, as published on the exchange’s website. Following the post (which is no longer available as the site is down), users were wondering if everything is real – and one user even posted a theory that the exchange could not access its assets in cold storage as the keys were only known to Cotten.