What Netflix’s QuadrigaCX Documentary Gets Right – and Wrong – About One of Crypto’s Worst Scandals

Toby Leah Bochan is Managing Editor, Learn astatine CoinDesk. Toby holds a tiny magnitude of BTC.

Lawrence Lewitinn is CoinDesk's managing exertion of planetary superior markets.

A caller Netflix documentary explores the suspicious decease of Gerald “Gerry” Cotten and the ungraded that yet revealed however the Canadian cryptocurrency speech helium founded, QuadrigaCX, had misappropriated lawsuit funds and operated likewise to a Ponzi scheme.

QuadrigaCX is surely 1 of the biggest scandals successful crypto history. As galore arsenic 115,000 customers mislaid about $190 million worthy of assorted cryptos they kept connected the exchange, and the debacle was a achromatic oculus for an manufacture already associated successful the nationalist caput with ransomware and acheronian markets. For seasoned crypto users, the decease (or disappearance) of the azygous enforcement who controlled the backstage keys to QuadrigaCX’s wallets offered a stark reminder of the adage, “not your keys, not your coins.”

But is “Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King” worthy watching? Two CoinDesk editors watched the movie and came distant with antithetic conclusions.

A ample information of the movie focuses connected the suspicious decease broadside of the story, alternatively than connected the much absorbing story, to me, of however helium was capable to get distant with the strategy for truthful agelong and however it was yet figured retired that it wasn’t a lawsuit of mislaid passwords holding lawsuit funds hostage, but alternatively that determination were nary funds near to give.

The main theories astir Cotten’s decease are:

• He faked his decease arsenic portion of an “exit scam” with oregon without the cognition of his wife, Jennifer Robertson, changed his quality and is surviving the beingness determination successful the Bahamas oregon wherever

• Jennifer Robertson poisoned him and is immoderate benignant of black widow

The Cotten/Quadriga communicative is inherently absorbing to maine – which is wherefore I wanted to excavation successful during my escaped clip capable to write astir it earlier the movie came out – but the movie was not. I cognize that overmuch of the discussion, sleuthing and rumors circulated connected Telegram and Reddit. But I felt similar 25% of the surface clip relied connected watching online chats to determination the communicative guardant and enactment 1 of the conspiracy theories astir his death. It felt lazy.

The astir absorbing portion of the movie to maine was the quality of Jennifer Robertson’s sister, Kimberly Smith, arsenic this is the archetypal clip anyone from her household has spoken astatine magnitude to the media since the scandal. The summation of a constituent of presumption from idiosyncratic who had known Cotten lone successful a non-business, household mode added a furniture that I didn’t spot successful different coverage, arsenic it was wide that Smith astatine slightest believed Cotten and Robertson’s narration and emotion were genuine.

The downside of spending truthful overmuch surface clip connected Robertson is that the movie ends up giving adjacent communicative value to the achromatic widow mentation of Cotten’s death, which I find frankly preposterous. Despite the aspersions the movie casts, determination are beauteous straightforward reasons wherefore Robertson has had 3 past names successful her life: She was calved with one, joined into different and changed it to the 3rd aft her divorcement from her archetypal husband. Her archetypal hubby is precise overmuch alive, and she hasn’t seemingly benefited financially successful immoderate mode from Cotten’s decease and had to beryllium enactment successful a harmless location astatine 1 constituent due to the fact that of threats from erstwhile QuadrigaCX customers.

Theory No. 1 that Cotten faked his decease is the ascendant one, and the movie could person spent much clip connected the fake-death manufacture that is simply a existent happening successful India, his past of Ponzi schemes with Michael Patryn aka Omar Denali (aka Sifu), but the filmmakers did a decent occupation covering these wrinkles successful the constricted clip they had.

Some mightiness accidental that I americium not the close assemblage for this arsenic I already cognize however the communicative turns out. After learning the outline of the communicative done reporting done connected CoinDesk, I listened to Aaron Lammer’s "Exit Scam" podcast bid and I recovered it utterly, wholly fascinating.

My verdict is: Skip the movie and perceive to "Exit Scam" instead.

If you’ve been intimately pursuing the Gerald Cotten/QuadrigaCX saga for the past mates of years, this movie leaves a batch to beryllium desired. But for the different 99.98% of radical with Netflix subscriptions, it’s a bully 90 minutes of entertainment.

Let’s beryllium existent here, folks: Nobody too the benignant of radical who work CoinDesk religiously knows thing astir Quadriga. They whitethorn cognize bitcoin and a fewer different cryptocurrencies. They whitethorn person a Coinbase account. They whitethorn person seen influencers connected YouTube peddling immoderate sketchy alts (altcoins). They person heard that hackers usage crypto successful ransomware. Maybe an oligarch oregon thing has immoderate crypto successful Russia helium got that way. That’s what they know.

What they don’t cognize is conscionable however damn sketchy seemingly morganatic exchanges tin be.

This movie works due to the fact that it starts viewers disconnected connected a way that leads to dormant ends and mendacious positives but besides gives them a batch to ponder. Is Michael Patryn dodgy AF? Ask the folks who enactment wealth successful Wonderland oregon ticker this documentary and spot what benignant of a past helium had. Is Jennifer Robertson, Cotten’s woman (note: I didn’t accidental “widow”) idiosyncratic who whitethorn cognize much than she’s letting on? This movie explains each the misgivings QuadrigaCX relationship holders have. Did Cotten truly dice successful India oregon did helium abscond with the money? Or did helium conscionable suffer everything and vanish alternatively than ain up to his blunder? And however checkered a past did helium truly have?

We who person been keeping an oculus connected this lawsuit since the erstwhile decades person our theories astir it. But effort making a documentary astir it. It’s not absorbing to amusement substance messages and Telegram chats for a mates of hours straight, but the filmmakers managed to support the communicative moving with their usage of interviews and clips. There has to beryllium thing to prosecute non-crypto viewers. I deliberation this movie does a decent occupation of it.

So possibly you don’t ticker it, you know-it-all, but person a normie person ticker it. A existent civilian. It’s amended than "Emily successful Paris."