Man Loses Entire $500,000 Savings in Crypto After Trader Died With Password to Funds

The Role of Crypto in Digital Identity Solutions

Tong Zou, a 33-year-old man, has narrated how he lost his life savings ($500,000 in crypto) after investing the entire amount with a crypto trader who died in 2018 without disclosing the password to anyone, not even to his wife.

The man recounted how he invested the whopping sum of money with a company called Quadriga CX and trusted the founder and CEO, Gerald William Cotten, with the funds.

According to the report, about $250 million worth of crypto assets were invested with Gerald by 76,000 people before his demise, indicating that others are also lamenting like Zou.

As recounted by Zuo, most of the money invested came from his parents. He said he decided to invest the entire money in crypto to avoid bank charges following his migration from the United States to Canada.

Meanwhile, the Canadian-based company, which no longer operates, kept claiming that his money can’t be paid due to a legal tussle with a bank.

Tong Zou noted:

“I kept asking them: Where’s my money? – October, November, December – during all that time. They kept saying it was the lawsuit. I couldn’t get any sleep. I just prayed. I really prayed it wasn’t a scam. At that time, there was nothing I could do. There was no way of getting my money back. Once I deposited it, it was basically gone.”

Speaking about the certainty of his death, Zuo said, “I’m about 80% certain he’s dead. If there was any time to fake his death, it would have been in late 2017 when (the value of cryptocurrency) was really high. The timing didn’t make sense to me.”

Cotton’s widow, Jennifer Robertson, who has denied any knowledge of her husband’s wrongdoing, has since spoken of receiving threats from online crypto communities.

According to Jennifer, Cotten planned to give her access to the password before his death, but he never did.

Based on the report, Zuo’s sad story and others have been featured in a Netflix documentary titled “Trust No One: The Hunt For The Crypto King.”

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Tobi Loba

Tobi Loba is a passionate writer with a vast interest in the stock market. She joined the crypto ecosystem about three years ago and has written lots of ebooks and articles in relation to cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. Tobi Loba earned her degree at the University of Ibadan.