Official From QuadrigaCx WebsiteMessage from QuadrigaCX Board of Directors
January 31, 2019Dear Customers,
An application for creditor protection in accordance with the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) was filed today in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to allow us the opportunity to address the significant financial issues that have affected our ability to serve our customers. The Court is being asked at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday February 5 to appoint a monitor, Ernst & Young Inc., as an independent third party to oversee these proceedings.
For the past weeks, we have worked extensively to address our liquidity issues, which include attempting to locate and secure our very significant cryptocurrency reserves held in cold wallets, and that are required to satisfy customer cryptocurrency balances on deposit, as well as sourcing a financial institution to accept the bank drafts that are to be transferred to us. Unfortunately, these efforts have not been successful. Further updates will be issued after the hearing.
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Ugh, that's an understatement.
The statement they put up today says we can't find the cold storage coins and we can't cash the cheque to the bank.
At least they have a Board of No Name Directors
What occurred in the Legal Meeting from the documents last week was the creation of a Board of Directors with no names provided of whom is on this board.
This is assuming they plan on having Ernst and Young do all communications, it is possible the board plans on separating themselves from the creditors aka users and using them as the communication platform.
The only thing we do know that did happen is that their first order of action as a Board was to put the company into the CCAA.
The next question is will they start running the company again with Ernst and Young monitoring it and can they use the court to force some bank to cash the 25 million dollar cheque somewhere to continue operations.
Until then not much will happen I presume as the preliminary hearing for this is heard on February 5th and it's a question of how long this takes legally, then I guess we go from there.
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Speculation Wise:
The real question is will the exchange die?
Will the exchange go into receivership?
Or is this an elaborate exit scam.
As we proceed forward this outcome does seems a bit less likely it is an exit scam due to all this legal effort on their side to keep the place operating.
This said it is still possible as an outcome we don't have declarative Definitive Proof of Death for the last director in India.
We also know that the other individuals don't have access to the cold storage keys apparently.
The reason it is elaborate is that it is possible that another director or someone else in Quadriga unknown to the people applying the court proceedings has the keys and is siphoning the funds, since the Cold Wallet Address is not known.
The connections that Quadriga has with other defunct exchanges through the Cryptocapital connection may hint that Bitfinex is next on the chopping block and to be careful if it is the Crypto Consulting Group members who are now the new Directors as this could be a red flag and also means the rumor that Tether is insolvent is true, in which case the CIBC may have done QuadrigaCX a favor as it is making it hard for the scammers to escape with these funds.
https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/cryptocapital-co-may-be-cryptos-black-swan/One thing i'm sure of was that the dead director wasn't dumb enough to not have a Deadman Switch
The Deadman Switch exists, its just a matter of who knows about the Deadman Switch and what they will do with that information once they have it.
Right now my own speculation is that it is very possible we may eventually see a possible restoration and reopening of the exchange.
QuadrigaCx will freeze the current account balances and then pay the users from fees over time, using the 25 million to keep operating and to fund operations.
They may also do a Vircurrex and maybe never pay out the frozen funds and disappear a few years later, although given the information we know I see that as a less likely outcome as they say that Ernst and Young will be monitoring as an independent third party if all goes according to plan and they will be keeping records.
May end up more like Binance where they do a buyback.
Either way its interesting, Reminds of the good old Asicminer days rip Friedcat.
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For those who do not know what CCAA here is the definition and overview of what it means from Price Water House Coopers
https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/services/insolvency-assignments/what-is-ccaa.htmlWhat is CCAA?
The Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (commonly referred to as the "CCAA" or the "CC, double A") is a Federal Act that allows financially troubled corporations the opportunity to restructure their affairs. By allowing the company to restructure its financial affairs, through a formal Plan of Arrangement, the CCAA presents an opportunity for the company to avoid bankruptcy and allows the creditors to receive some form of payment for amounts owing to them by the company.
The CCAA is restricted to larger corporations, as a corporation must have amounts owing to creditors in excess of $5 million to be eligible to use the Act. Corporations that do not reach this $5 million threshold can utilize the Division I Proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The CCAA also allows a company, if it so chooses, to address its shareholders in addition to its creditors. Typically, when the shareholders of the company are impacted by the Plan of Arrangement, they are often given the opportunity to vote on the Plan.
The process begins in the Court system when the company applies to the Court for protection under the CCAA. The Court will issue an Order giving the company 30 days of protection (often referred to as the "Stay") from its creditors to allow for the preparation of the Plan of Arrangement. The Court can extend the Stay against the creditors upon further application to the Court by the company. Typically, the Court will continue the protection beyond the initial 30-day period if the company can demonstrate that it is likely that it will file a Plan of Arrangement and an extension of the Stay is not prejudicial to the creditors, as a whole. There is no time limit on how long the Stay can be extended. During the Stay period, the company will often continue operating, although it may commence restructuring activities at any time.
A Monitor is an independent third party who is appointed by the Court to monitor the company's ongoing operations and assist with the filing and voting on the Plan of Arrangement. The Monitor's duties include monitoring the business, reporting to the Court on any major events that might impact the viability of the company, assisting the company in the preparation of the Plan of Arrangement, notifying the creditors (and shareholders) of any meetings and tabulating the votes at these meetings. The Monitor prepares a report on the Plan of Arrangement that is usually included in the mailing of the Plan.
The Plan of Arrangement is the proposal that the company is presenting to its creditors on how it intends to deal with debt it owes at the time of the initial filing with the Court. There are no restrictions on what the Plan can entail. It is not uncommon to see offers to pay a percentage on the dollar of debt, either as a lump sum or over a period of time. Plans can include an offer of shares of the company in exchange for the debt outstanding or a combination of cash and shares. The debtor can identify a particular creditor or group of creditors as "unaffected." Unaffected creditors are included in the Plan and are not to be paid in the normal course. One of the benefits of the CCAA is that it allows for this flexibility when trying to put together a Plan.
In order to be able to vote on the Plan and receive any distribution under it, a creditor must file a Proof of Claim with the Monitor. The Proof of Claim sets out what is owed to the creditor and is reviewed by the Monitor and the company. Any discrepancies between the creditor's Proof of Claim and the company's records are investigated by the company. The Plan will outline the procedures for dealing with disputed claims.
Ultimately, the company files its Plan of Arrangement and forwards it to the creditors/shareholders. A meeting of the creditors (and shareholders, if applicable) is called to vote on the Plan. For the Plan to be binding on each class of creditors, a majority of the proven creditors in that class, by number, together with 2/3 of the proven creditors in that class, by dollar value, must approve of the Plan presented to them. If a class of creditors approves the Plan, it is binding on all creditors within the class, subject to the Court's approval of the Plan. If all of the classes of creditors (and shareholders, if applicable) approve the Plan, the Court must then approve the Plan as a final step. Upon Court approval, the company continues forward as outlined under the Plan until it has satisfied the requirements under the Plan.
If a class of creditors or the Court does not approve the Plan, the company does not automatically go into bankruptcy, but the Stay is lifted. However, once the Stay has been lifted, the pressures that caused the company to initially file for CCAA protection from its creditors will likely return and, accordingly, it is quite likely that the company will be placed into receivership or bankruptcy.