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In a 30-Minute Video, Victim Lays Out How He Lost $400K in Crypto on QuadrigaCX
Since the QuadrigaCX story has crossed paths with the world’s largest business and crypto news outlets, seemingly little attention has been given to this debacle’s victims. Outlets, such as Bloomberg, CNN Business, among others, refer to the creditors as a “they,” making it tough to remember that there are crypto investors behind each lost dollar.
But, the fact of the matter is that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of victims, who are wallowing and sulking, as many lost thousands in fiat and Bitcoin holdings. Yet, some have done their utmost to push the envelope, clamoring to get their stories pushed to press in a bid to spark some much-needed action in Canadian courts.
Tong Zou, a Canadian-born Silicon Valley engineer that recently upped and left for Vancouver, took to Youtube recently to issue a heartfelt tell-all about how he got caught up in this whole imbroglio.
How Tong Zou Lost 2,000 Trading Bitcoin On Quadriga
As reported by NewsBTC, Tong gave a brief synopsis of his harrowing story to Bloomberg in an exclusive phone interview. Long story short, when the engineer chose to repatriate to Canada, Tong decided to move his funds from his American to his Canadian bank account through QuadrigaCX, rather than traditional means. But when he deposited his 2,000 worth of Bitcoin on the exchange to issue a Canadian dollar denominated withdrawal,
But according to a recent Youtube tell-all, his comments to Bloomberg were just the tip of the iceberg.
He explained that in late-2017, his Silicon Valley peers were cashing in on the crypto craze, as he sat on the sidelines. But as the market peaked, he FOMOed in, taking out three self-described “stupid” loans from the bank to invest into cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Cardano, among other popular assets.
Tong accentuated the fact that he “lost a lot of money,” but did his utmost to amend his loan situation by allocating half of his paycheck to slowly satisfy his debts. Eventually, the developer decided that to pay his loan in full, he should liquidate his entire position in a Bay Area apartment. And that he did, leaving him with approximately 0,000 and no outstanding debts.
As he already had plans to move to Vancouver, where QuadrigaCX is purportedly located, Tong started to look into ways to move his capital into Canadian banks quickly, so he could take advantage of what he thought were good exchange rates. Eventually, he decided on QuadrigaCX, as the exchange not only had a 10% risk premium (red flag), but the ability for Tong to make investments that could make his savings appreciate too.
Emotionally, the former BitTorrent developer thrust his money onto the exchange, which he now acknowledges as a “Ponzi scheme,” in hopes of making money due to QuadrigaCX’s premium.
Yet, months later, we now know that Tong never got his withdrawal. But interestingly, the Ontario-born Canadian claimed that he “deserved to lose the money,” explaining that he was reckless, greedy, and impatient with this whole situation. He even explained that in his eyes, money isn’t the key to happiness. But, this didn’t discount the fact that QuadrigaCX’s sudden closure lost him his life savings, putting him between a rock and a hard place.
What’s Next For The QuadrigaCX Victims?
Tong’s statements were ones made by someone with no hope. But, some believe that creditors still have a chance, albeit slim, at recuperating their millions in losses, or at least a portion of them.
While ~0 million in assets were reportedly lost to the ether, there’s a chance that the owed sum — QuadrigaCX’s crypto asset debts — are much lower than that jaw-dropping figure. And with Jennifer Robertson, Cotten’s wife, looking to liquidate much of her estate’s assets, there’s a fleeting chance that payments, whether in crypto or fiat, may start to come the way of victims.
Per a copy of Cotten’s most recently will, which was signed a mere two weeks prior to his Crohn’s disease-induced death in India, primary beneficiary Robertson was left with a copious amount of assets.
In fact, the will stipulate that should he pass, his wife was to be left with a Jeanneau 51 sailboat, purportedly sold for 0,000 Canadian, vehicles, an aircraft, along with a handful of pieces of real estate scattered across Canada. These assets are likely worth well in excess of million Canadian.
Related Reading: QuadrigaCX Imbroglio Continues: Cotten Mentioned Bitcoin Key Loss In 2014
But even if the court rules that the fiat received from the sale of Robertson’s assets should be fully allocated to the victims’ pockets, which could be unlikely, this process could take upwards of one year. That’s the M.O. of the legacy court system anyway.
Yet, the victims of this fracas are still grasping the ring they were thrown. Only time will tell whether they will sink or stay afloat.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The post In a 30-Minute Video, Victim Lays Out How He Lost 0K in Crypto on QuadrigaCX appeared first on NewsBTC.
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KPMG Report Lays Out Incredibly Bullish Case for Crypto Assets
A recent report from “Big Four” auditor, KPMG, details the key challenges facing cryptocurrencies, and importantly notes that digital assets are a “big deal.”
The report comes as institutions and corporations are becoming increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies as an investment class.
The KPMG report opens with a section titled “Cryptoassets are a big deal,” explaining that despite the markets still being nascent and small, waves of new entrants and increased public interest have led their parabolic upwards rise over the past several years, and their growth has made them “impossible to ignore.”
In this opening section, the report’s authors note a few key developments in the cryptocurrency industry that have increased their intrinsic values, citing the release of multiple stablecoins backed by major financial institutions, and the entrance of traditional financial service companies into the markets, like Fidelity.
“In 2018, we are seeing a wave of new entrants in the market such as security token platforms, stablecoins, and even established financial services institutions that are launching crypto products and services. Cryptoassets are now impossible to ignore.”
The Case for Crypto
Following KPMG’s introduction to the cryptocurrency markets and industry, they offer readers a bullish look at the future of cryptocurrencies in a section titled “The case for crypto and institutionalization.”
In this section, the authors open with a candid look at the problems that cryptocurrencies are trying to solve, citing issues with traditional means of wealth storage, fundraising, currency transfers, and the non-digital nature of assets in a digital world as the main issues that are solved by cryptocurrencies.
“So, is crypto a solution looking for a problem? No, there are real problems in the global financial services ecosystem that cryptoassets are looking to address. More participation from the broader financial services ecosystem, will help drive trust and scale for the tokenized economy and help the crypto market grow and mature,” KPMG explains.
Furthermore, the auditing giant notes that the future success of cryptocurrencies as both an asset and a tool is based on whether or not it can efficiently reduce the friction and inefficiencies that exist in the current financial ecosystem on a large scale.
“The staying power of many cryptoassets will be defined by their ability to reduce friction and inefficiencies that currently exist within the global economy,” KPMG said, further adding that their volatility is seen as being the main barrier to this, but that the issue of volatility will likely subside as the markets mature.
“While volatility is certainly a problem, it is important to recognize that these assets are still fairly immature and will become less volatile as they mature.”
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Crypto Creating an Open Financial System
The next section in the report, titled “Creating an open financial system and why institutionalization is key,” tackles that issue of how cryptocurrencies can increase the transparency and accessibility of the world’s financial system, and is authored by two Coinbase executives.
In this section, Jeff Horowitz, the chief compliance officer at Coinbase, and Eric Scro, the vice president of finance at Coinbase, explain that in less developed countries, cryptocurrencies act as a gateway to traditional financial services for users in countries like Argentina.
“Let’s take the example of Argentina, where they currently see hyperinflation. A globally accessible, decentralized store of value could have a significantly stabilizing impact on
the country’s economy. Bitcoin could potentially represent such a store of value in the future,” the two men noted.
But in order for cryptocurrencies to increase the global accessibility and transparency of the financial ecosystem, cryptoassets need to be institutionalized, which will in turn increase their liquidity, accessibility, and utility, and for this to happen global regulators need to step in and seriously discuss the role crypto can play in the future financial system.
“Regulatory agencies are also beginning to seriously discuss cryptoassets, which could help drive institutional participation, encouraging the marketplace to think about how engagement with these assets fits into both existing rules and regulations and new frameworks that may be needed for crypto. The focus on crypto innovation must not come at the expense of security, compliance, and consumer protection,” they further explained.
Although increased regulation is critical for the future of cryptocurrencies, it is also cited in the KPMG report as being one of the main factors that is leading to stagnation due to the uncertainty it has caused, along with an increase in fraudulent activity and unclarity due to possible and unclear tax implications associated with the possession and trading of digital assets.
Although the markets are caught in a persisting bear market, with Bitcoin sitting at fresh 2018 lows, it is becoming increasingly clear that cryptocurrencies are becoming a serious asset class that will likely help shape the future of our world’s financial system.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The post KPMG Report Lays Out Incredibly Bullish Case for Crypto Assets appeared first on NewsBTC.