It's a story that still haunts the early generation of Canadian crypto users to this day. Four years prior, Gerald Cotten, co-founder of Canada's then-largest cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, died under mysterious circumstances in India. But, before his passing, Cotten took virtual keys for digital wallets and moved them into cold storage, leading to the permanent loss of $190 million in user funds.
The incident triggered a crisis of confidence in the country's emerging crypto sector and made regulators deeply skeptical of blockchain technology. However, old wounds eventually heal. Fast forward to today, and Coinsquare has taken over to become one of Canada's largest crypto exchanges, with $8 billion in cumulative trading volume since 2014.