Viswa Vanapalli
QuadrigaCX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, made national headlines in January 2019 when it was announced that Gerald Cotten, the CEO, had died. Since he was the only person with access to the funds, thousands of customers lost their money, totaling more than two hundred million. Netflix’s ‘Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King’ details this fascinating but grim story of a young millionaire who turned out to be a fraudster.
In the documentary, the viewers are introduced to a mysterious figure named QCXINT, who had money tied up in Quadriga. He mounted an extensive amateur investigation to find out where the money disappeared, uncovering many secrets in the process. So, if you’re curious to find out more about this person, here’s what we know.
Who is QCXINT?
QCXINT was one of the many customers who had used QuadrigaCX for cryptocurrency exchange. At the time, he had north of six figures invested. QCXINT would track the prices of various digital currencies and make money by buying low and selling high. Once he learned of Gerry’s death, he questioned the suddenness of it, saying, “For someone [Cotten’s] age, a relatively young guy, to suddenly drop dead, you know, holding the keys to tens of millions of dollars, I think is a shock to most people. I smelled a rat. Many people did.”
Naturally, QCXINT and many other customers were curious about where their money went. They checked the blockchain, which was essentially a digital ledger that contained transaction history. While Jennifer, Gerry’s wife, had stated that she didn’t have access to the company reserves, QCXINT and others realized there were no cold wallets at all, meaning all the money was gone.
QCXINT went to the Royan Canadian Mounted Police to urge them to investigate the case. But at the time, the authorities weren’t well versed with cryptocurrency and how it worked. He later said, “I spent a couple of hours on the phone explaining the basics to an RCMP investigator and came away feeling like he’d be much more comfortable with a dead body, a loaded gun, and a trail of blood.”
Eventually, QCXINT decided to follow the virtual trail left behind by Gerald in hopes of finding out more about the company and the founder. This led to the formation of an online group of creditors that looked into Quadriga and Gerry. Soon, QCXINT traced Gerry to a screen name called Sceptre and found that he had a history of pulling off Ponzi schemes. He also found out that Quadriga’s co-founder, Michael Patryn, had a history of fraudulent behavior.
QCXINT realized that Gerry and Michael had known each other as early as 2003, being active on websites that discussed Ponzi schemes. Furthermore, Gerry’s email ID appeared as a contact on one of Michael’s controversial companies, Midas Gold. QCXINT also found that Gerry offered proxy services to people in the past, helping them disguise themselves on the internet.
Where is QCXINT From?
In the end, the authorities found out that Gerry had been using customer funds to make trades on other cryptocurrency exchanges, gambling away the money. As for QCXINT’s real identity, he refused to divulge that, fearing that his family would be hurt. What we do know is that QCXINT stands for Quadriga Intelligence. He is in his 40s and works as a software developer.
QCXINT seemingly had an Australian accent on the show, but we cannot say for sure if he lives there. Regarding Gerry, he said, “He couldn’t control himself, by the looks of things, and blew just an absolutely eye-popping amount of money. He was an inveterate gambler … an abysmal trader who lost tens of millions on some of these speculative trades.”
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