Gerald Cotten
Founder and CEO of the Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX. An Ontario Securities Commission review concluded he ran it like a Ponzi scheme. He was reported to have died in December 2018.
Bio
Gerald Cotten founded and ran QuadrigaCX, reportedly Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange at its 2019 collapse. An Ontario Securities Commission review concluded the collapse "resulted from a fraud committed by" Cotten, who traded against clients using fictitious accounts under aliases. [1][2]
Status
QuadrigaCX announced that Cotten had died in India in December 2018; the platform ceased operations and entered creditor protection weeks later. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
- QuadrigaCX: A Review by Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission — Ontario Securities Commission
- Quadriga (company) — overview — Wikipedia
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
- Donald BasileIndividualsFounder behind Bitcoin Latinum (LTNM). The SEC charged him in 2026 with defrauding investors of ~$16M by falsely claiming the token was insured and asset-backed, and misappropriating funds for personal use (including a $160,000 horse).
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.