Ever since Bitcoin began to skyrocket in value, there have been countless rags-to-riches stories: of ordinary people quitting their jobs, retiring in their 20s, and buying their families houses.
But there's also been innumerable tales of scandal, scams, and hoaxes. Perhaps that's why many crypto enthusiasts have treated the mysterious death of crypto CEO Gerald Cotten at age 30 with suspicion.
Cotten, the CEO of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, QuadrigaCX, travelled to India with his partner to fund an orphanage. But nine days after arriving at a luxury hotel in Jaipur, Cotten—a Crohn's patient—developed severe stomach pain and eventually, septic shock. He had three heart attacks in 24 hours and died.
With him, around £189 million worth of Canadian dollars and cryptocurrency vanished from his crypto exchange, causing 75,000 customers to lose out on thousands in savings.
While conspiracy theories around his death have circulated for some years, they have now burst into the fore following the release of a new documentary, 'Dead Man's Switch: A Crypto Mystery', which delves into the murky history of Cotten and his business partner Michael Patryn.
The New York Post reports how the doc examines the pair's earlier involvement in "identity frauds, money laundering, and other questionable get-rich-quick gambits".
Court cases since have found that hundreds of millions in crypto is owed to customers and the passwords to company accounts were only known by Cotten.
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Now, some investors are even accusing Cotten of faking his own death, and have submitted a request to have his body exhumed.
One source in the doc speculates that he used 'Haitian zombie power', which can make people appear dead for a few days until they get a cure.
Cryto expert David Gerard told the NY Post that he believes the theory is "plausible'. 'It is actually plausible that he is not dead — even though I have no idea how likely that is. I like the notion of there being an island out there, somewhere, where Gerry Cotten is sipping a cocktail.”
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