What We Can Learn From The Quadriga Cryptocurrency Exchange Bankruptcy

On February 5, 2019, the Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp. ("QuadrigaCX"), and its related companies, were granted CCAA creditor protection. Within months, QuadrigaCX was assigned into bankruptcy on April 15, 2019. The trustee in bankruptcy has yet to declare or distribute a dividend to the affected creditors of QuadrigaCX, who are largely the users of the cryptocurrency exchange platform. It was estimated that over 17,000 affected creditors were owed cash and cryptocurrency cumulatively valued at approximately $290 million Canadian dollars as of the date of bankruptcy.

While the bankruptcy proceeding has still not concluded, there are several takeaways from the CCAA and bankruptcy proceeding that will serve to be useful in future cryptocurrency exchange and other bankruptcies.