Back in December 2018, Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten ‘unexpectedly and mysteriously’ died due to complications from Crohn’s disease while on holiday in India, with some $250 million worth of Canadian cash and crypto currency disappearing with him.

Indeed, around 75,000 customers of Cotten’s QuadrigaCX crypto exchange suddenly lost fortunes they had earmarked for everything from tuition to retirement funds, life savings and mortgages. As 30-year-old Cotten ran the whole market by himself from a laptop with no employees or partners, there was no one left for investors to talk to regarding their crypto. It had simply vanished along with Cotten.

Naturally, investors have been suspicious ever since. Cotten is accused of perpetrating an ultra-modern Ponzi scheme, powered by technology and 21st century cunning. With bloc chain nobody can trace your money, and so boom – you fake your own death and find a new identity with $250 MILLION of other people’s digital coins. The guy is probably living a life of luxury in the Bahamas or something with a whole new identity and an incredible tan. In fact with that kind of money he could probably have got himself a damn face transplant and new fingerprints to boot. Nobody has any clue where Gerald Cotten is or how to track him down.

Of course there’s always the chance Cotten really did die suddenly in India and this is all one giant unfortunate coincidence, but then you read about how the guy had been running scams since he was a baby-faced teenager (via NY Post):

At 15 years old, Cotten put his first pyramid scheme into motion. According to Vanity Fair, it was dubbed S&S Investments and promised returns of up to 150 percent in just 48 hours. The sham ran for three months before shutting down with investors’ money disappearing.

By the time Cotten launched his company, Quadriga — promoting it as a cheap and easy way for people to buy, sell and trade crypto at a time when it was an ordeal for the uninitiated — in 2014, he was already well versed in the dark arts.

Utterly sneaky, evil, deceptive, sociopathic, and… genius? I mean obviously scamming 75,000 people out of $250 million is an outrageous thing to do, but the fact he’d been building up to this moment ever since running scams as a 15-year-old is kind of impressive on some level. At 30 years old, he stole enough money to fake his own death and disappear forever. Probably never going to see any of his friends or family ever again, but still. With $250m he can find new friends and family anywhere he goes. Hey Gerald, if you’re reading this – what’s up, buddy! How’s the weather where you are?

I guess this also serves as a warning as to what can happen when you’re not careful with your crypto investments. Even big time YouTuber KSI lost £7 million at one point – not that he’ll miss it.