About $190m in cryptocurrency has been locked away in a online black hole after the founder of a currency exchange died, apparently taking his encrypted access to their money with him.

Investors in QuadrigaCX, Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, were unable to access their funds after its founder, Gerald Cotten, died last year.

According to a court filing first reported by CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency news and events company, Jennifer Robertson, identified as Cotten’s widow, said the exchange owes its customers roughly C$250m (US$190m) in cash and cryptocurrency held in its “cold storage”.

“Quadriga’s inventory of cryptocurrency has become unavailable and some of it may be lost,” Robertson wrote in the filing.

Cotten, 30, died in India last December from complications from Crohn’s disease, according to the company. He was in India “opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need”.