The continuing quandary over Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX may have a new turn. Claims now suggest that a hefty portion of its Ethereum (ETH) holdings were stored not just elsewhere, but on other crypto exchanges – with nearly 650,000 ETH placed specifically with Kraken, Bitfinex, and Poloniex.

Research released on its official blog by consulting platform ZeroNonCense reports that it believes there is a “very strong possibility” that an accumulated total of 649,708 ETH “was sent to Kraken, Bitfinex, and Poloniex directly by QuadrigaCX, which was worth a total of $100,490,150 at the time of transfer.”

While such a move might not be seen as helpful to bolster already shaken investor confidence in QuadrigaCX, ZeroNonCense does not see it as being bad news. It said its report “does not imply that there was any nefarious intent behind the transfers or that these exchanges are in collusion with one another”.

ZeroNonCense believes, rather, that QuadrigaCX CEO Gerry Cotton’s widow Jennifer Robertson and “all other related individuals” at QuadrigaCX might genuinely be unaware such transfers indeed taken place. Robertson herself, in her affidavit, had theorized that Cotton could have deposited some of the exchange’s funds with other exchanges as a means of storage.

The finding could also corroborate with why large amounts of customer funds seem to be missing, or why QuadrigaCX’s cold wallets could be dormant or even empty.

Just earlier this same week, Big Four audit firm EY said it discovered that no new deposits had been made to QuadrigaCX’s six wallets since last April, which also appear to hardly contain anything significant within, and certainly not the multitudes of millions still missing that belong to QuadrigaCX users.

ZeroNonCense wrote that the next logical step will be to inquire with Kraken, Bitfinex, and Poloniex if they do indeed hold QuadrigaCX’s ETH. It said, “The upside to this inquiry is that, if funds are positively located, the knowledge of private keys or passwords would not be necessary to retrieve them. Given the extraneous circumstances, it stands to reason that the above-listed exchanges would be more than willing to facilitate the transfer of these funds back to QuadrigaCX so that they may be redistributed to their customers.”

“This discovery may also allow QuadrigaCX to regain solvency and continue operating as well,” it added.

Zerononcense’s report was supported by information provided by Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, and MyCrypto CEO Taylor Monahan.