The search for the missing $140 million in crypto at QuadrigaCX has been granted an extension – just under 45 extra days have been added to its stay of proceedings by a Canadian Supreme Court.

Hearings will reconvene on April 18. This also means that creditors will not be able to sue QuadrigaCX until the stay is over or lifted. QuadrigaCX’s legal attorney Maurice Chiasson of the firm Stewart McKelvey said: “We owe it to everyone in the process to go on as long as is reasonable.”

Representing QuadrigaCX’s court-appointed monitor EY, Elizabeth Pillon of Stikeman Elliott added that the companies are currently at the “data recovery, asset recovery” stage, and needed some “breathing room” to continue their efforts.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael Wood who presided the case on March 5 also approved the appointment of a chief restructuring officer (CRO) to manage QuadrigaCX and related companies while working with EY to recover the funds that the exchange owes its customers.

Chiasson explained why Jennifer Robertson, the widow of CEO Gerald Cotten, could not be the CRO. He said she lacked experience in running a crypto related business, did not want further attention, and potentially holds a conflict of interest as the executor of his estate.

Justice Wood deferred repaying Robertson the CAD 300,000 (USD 225,000) she earlier paid into CCAA (Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act) proceedings.

Peter Wedlake, senior vice president at Grant Thornton, has been identified as QuadrigaCX’s new CRO. To keep costs down, he will bill hourly rates instead of a higher monthly fee. To avoid possible overlapping or conflict of interest he will only engage in CRO work at EY’s direction.

While Wood did approve the CRO appointment during the court session, he noted that the title is symbolic at most, and meant to be more of a manager than aimed to make a turnaround. Certain characteristics of QuadrigaCX’s case also made it different from a typical company restructuring, he noted, which may need to be moved towards something closer to bankruptcy.

“This isn’t so much a restructuring as it is a claims process and liquidation … it does look like an end process,” Justice Wood added.

Other Related Actions

At the hearing, Justice Wood ordered Amazon Web Services (AWS) to submit any relevant data it had where Cotten had kept QuadrigaCX platform data in an account there. In its defence, AWS said it is not against releasing any such data, but explained that a court order was necessary to take action because Cotten’s account was a personal one instead of a business one.

The court was also updated on efforts to make arrangements for QuadrigaCX’s creditors. 800 individuals have so far reached out to the court’s appointed law firms. 58 of these individuals expressed interest in becoming part of a steering committee that will direct the representative counsel. The law firms are currently interviewing the applicants with plans to ready a committee selection by the end of next week.

Justice Wood said he will approve the committee if EY agreed to the members put forth. He also expressed an interest to speak with payment processors that may have yet to hand over QuadrigaCX funds in question.