Top Stories This Week Fundstrat Global Advisors Expects 2019 to Bring More Institutional Investors to Crypto According to a report on the 2019 crypto outlook released by New York-based research company Fundstrat Global Advisors, incremental improvements in the crypto space can provide support for higher prices for cryptocurrencies. The report notes that, as the United States dollar is expected to weaken and more institutional investors enter the space, a visible market recovery can be expected. Fundstrat states that the current year’s crypto hangover can be attributed to the waning interest in the initial coin offering (ICO) sector as well as …

The founder of major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, Gerald Cotten, may have stored the exchange’s private keys on paper in a safety deposit box, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 15. In an interview on the “True Bromance Podcast” in February 2014, Cotten warned of the danger of losing keys to cold wallet storage systems, and thus losing access to the assets stored on them. “Even the U.S. government, with the biggest computers in the world, could not retrieve those coins if you’ve lost the private key. It’s impossible to retrieve those," Cotten said. Cotten further explained that the best way to …

Major Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare has acquired StellarX, a Stellar (XLM)-based zero-fee decentralized payment network, according to a press release published on Feb. 14. According to the announcement, Bermuda-based StellarX will be a fully owned subsidiary of Coinsquare and will seek regulatory approval to operate and expand its service under Coinsquare’s compliance. The new acquisition has followed Coinsquare’s recent purchase of private Stellar wallet BlockEQ in December 2018, the press release notes. The firm is reportedly set to be rebranded to become the anchor wallet for the StellarX platform. Megha Bambra, co-founder of BlockEQ, will now lead StellarX and continue …

A Canadian judge has delayed a decision on legal representation for customers of major Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX. The news was tweeted by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Jack Julian on. Feb. 14. On Thursday, Feb. 14, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court reportedly brought together over “a dozen” lawyers who represent 115,000 cryptocurrency traders owed around $260 million ($195 million) by Quadriga after the exchange’s founder’s, Gerald Cotten, passed suddenly. Specifically, the customers are seeking CA$70 million ($52 million) in cash and CA$190 million ($142 million) in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Justice Michael Wood reportedly said that he would issue …

An internet analyst has claimed to have delineated four Bitcoin addresses that belonged to defunct Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX, publishing their findings on Reddit on Feb. 13. The post, by a user known on Reddit as u/dekoze, indicates five addresses allegedly associated with the exchange, noting that the number is just a fraction of the total number of associated wallets. Transactions sent to the addresses roughly equal the amount of Bitcoin Quadriga previously reportedly sent to locked cold wallets by mistake. “Notably, every address was inactive since April 2018 and the majority of their received BTC was either directly from the …

For the second week, QuadrigaCX’s crisis remains one of the hottest topics in the crypto world. After the CEO of the Canadian exchange, 30-year-old Geral Cotten, suddenly died, the exchange has allegedly lost access to its cold wallets, where as much as 190 million Canadian dollars ($145 million) in digital assets were stored. The firm has since managed to obtain creditor protection in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, which has granted it with a 30-day stay of proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) — which will end on March 7 — to search for the missing funds. According …

Embattled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX has become the subject of a bidding war as lawyers meet to win creditor representation, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 12. The hearing at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Feb. 14 will decide which law firms can lobby for compensation on behalf of clients of the exchange, which currently owes them around $260 million CAD ($196 million). The sum of $190 million CAD results from cryptocurrency and other deposits which the exchange reportedly lost following the death of its CEO, Gerald Cotten, in December. The ensuing legal action has added another $70 million CAD. In …

Major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX accidentally transferred nearly $500,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) to its cold wallets earlier this month, according to a report published by Ernst & Young on Feb. 12. The founder of QuadrigaCX, 30-year-old Gerald Cotten, died in December 2018. The exchange has been unable to access its cold wallets since, as Cotten was solely responsible for the wallets and corresponding keys. The vast majority of Quadriga’s assets were reportedly lost in the missing cold wallets. In the beginning of February, it was reported that Quadriga is missing CA$190 million dollars ($145 million) in digital assets. The exchange …

The Canadian unit of American tech giant IBM has partnered with pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim to deploy blockchain in clinical recordkeeping, according to a press release published on Feb. 12. The cooperation between the two companies aims to test whether the integration of blockchain technology with clinical recordkeeping provides the proper level of data integrity, transparency, and patient safety, in addition to reducing costs and automating processes. Dr. Uli Broedl, Vice President, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) said, “The clinical trial ecosystem is highly complex as it involves different stakeholders, resulting in limited trust, transparency and process inefficiencies …

Crypto asset brokerage Voyager Digital — co-founded by the ex-CTO of Uber — has gone public on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange. The news was announced in an official tweet from Voyager on Feb. 11. Shares are traded under ticker symbol VYGR.V, as a company blog post outlines. The listing comes following the completion of a so-called reverse takeover — also known as a reverse initial public offering or backdoor listing. Last week, Voyager had announced that its merger with former shell company UC Resources Ltd. was nearing completion. The moved allows the crypto brokerage to qualify as a TSX Venture …

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has initiated a probe into Canada’s major cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, Reuters reported on Feb. 8. The Ontario Securities Commission reportedly told Reuters that “given the potential harm to Ontario investors, we are looking into this matter and have already been in contact with the monitor.” OSC spokeswoman Kristen Rose reportedly declined to specify whether this means the Commission was formally investigating the exchange. The news comes in the wake of the British Columbia Securities Commission’s claim that it does not regulate QuadrigaCX since the company has reportedly not shown signs of trading of securities or …

Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX is reportedly not regulated by the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), the province’s financial regulator, Reuters reported on Feb. 7. Vancouver-based cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX was established in 2013 and is purportedly the first exchange in Canada to be licensed by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). According to Reuters, the BCSC was aware of Quadriga since 2017. However, the exchange was unregulated as there was reportedly no indication that Quadriga traded securities or derivatives, or operated as an exchange in general. “As such, BCSC does not regulate it,” a BCSC spokesman Brian …