$29.8 million instead of $171 million –  sum can be paid after QuadrigaCX liquidation.

Audit firm Ernst & Young (EY), which manages the liquidation process of the Canadian cryptographic exchange QuadrigaCX, has reported assets of only $29.8 million for distribution among customers.

In a November 6 filing with the Supreme Court of Ontario, EY said it had received applications totaling $171 million from 17,053 clients who had entrusted their funds to the exchange.

EY said the late founder of QuadrigaCX, Gerald Cotten, traded with 76,000 customers. “Kotten used funds from users who transferred funds to the exchange, so QuadrigaCX assets probably never met their obligations to users,” said EY.

EY has found only $29.8 million

To date, EY has found $29.8 million through the sale of Kotten’s assets, settlement with Kotten’s widow and receipt of funds from a third-party payment company whose services were used by the exchange.

EY plans to convert all assets into Canadian dollars and distribute user funds based on the price of the crypto assets as of April 15, 2019 (when QuadrigaCX declared bankruptcy) or February 5, 2019 (when users were blocked from accessing the exchange). The Company has requested the court to determine this date.

The stock exchange hit the news headlines after the sudden death of its founder Jerry Cotten. In June, the Ontario Securities and Exchange Commission (OSC) released the results of its investigation into QuadrigaCX. The investigation revealed that Cotten had opened accounts under nicknames with fairy balances and traded with QuadrigaCX customers. When prices for crypto assets went down and users withdrew funds, Kotten covered the losses with deposits from other clients. OSC called it a financial pyramid.