Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is among the most popular names in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Over the years, he has been an active proponent of the blockchain and crypto technology and has also been among one of the most sensible voices in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. 

Earlier today, the Coinbase CEO commented on the QuadrigaCX controversy which has marred the crypto markets for quite some time now. Let us take a closer look at what the Coinbase CEO had to say on these things:

Brian Armstrong Believes QuadrigaCX Unlikely to be an Exit Scam

Ever since the QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange controversy started off following the death of the CEO, there have been many conflicting views on the same. Brian Armstrong commented that it is quite unlikely to be an exit scam. He Tweeted:

QCX was one of the oldest exchanges in existence (founded in 2013). If they planned an exit scam, it likely would have been timed better; [...] Patterns of sends from cold storage suggest they tried keeping exchange afloat, and maybe attempted to trade their way out of a hole; (again just a guess here) 

[...] Liquidity dried out and bear market of 2018 may have caught up with them; [...] Sequence of events suggests this was a mismanagement with later attempt to cover for it [...] This implies that at least few people inside Qadriga knew that they were running fractional. If so, then it's possible that untimely death of their CEO was used as an outlet to let the company sink.

Armstrong, however, has commented that the exchange might have been going through a tough time because of mismanagement. He expressly states that most of his Tweets are based on various assumptions and are not to be taken as ‘facts’ on the matter. 

What was the QuadrigaCX Controversy?

For those who may not be aware, Canada-based QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange has suddenly found itself in quite a strange situation. The exchange held funds worth C$250 Million.

However, a majority of these funds were stored in a cold wallet on a laptop and only Gerald Cotten, the CEO of the exchange - had access to the funds. On 9th December, 2018, Cotten died while on a trip to India. His death was publicly announced by the company in January 2019 - following which they applied for creditor protection. Basically, hundreds of millions of dollars are now lost forever as the CEO has died with no one else having access to the private key which can be used to unlock these funds. 

It later came to light that Cotten had updated his will just 12 days before his death. While there have been various allegations ranging from foul play in the founder’s death to mismanagement to exit scam - Brian Armstrong believes that it is unlikely that it was an exit scam.

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