Can You Trust Existing Crypto Exchanges?

There are 2000 Cryptocurrencies being traded at 14000 exchanges worldwide.  In the first nine months of this year, there has been $1B in theft at those exchanges already.  Here is what Reuters said,

Theft of cryptocurrencies through hacking of exchanges and trading platforms soared to $927 million in the first nine months of 2018, up nearly 250% from the level seen in 2017, according to a report from cyber security firm CipherTrace released on Wednesday.

On another note, some exchanges with very weak anti-money laundering processes have allowed $2.5B to be laundered through the crypto exchanges since 2009.

It is super easy to put together a platform to match trades.  It’s hard to actually do the business of being an “exchange” or even an auto trade platform.

There is a lot of talk about “institutional capital” coming into the crypto space.  It’s talk.  Institutional capital isn’t going to come into the crypto space until the space is secure with real standards.  It’s not going to be enough to have the SEC regulate the space.  Operators need to get their act together from a lot of different points of what it means to be an exchange.

Current crypto exchanges are lacking:

1.  Compliance
2.  Clearing
3.  Settlement
4.  Custody
5.  Delivery
6.  Transfer
7.  Arbitration
8.  Absence of counter party risk

Just to name a few.

As I speak to family offices at various conferences, I see a lot of bullishness on the part of industry players when it comes to crypto.  But, you cannot be bullish until there is the institutional structure in place that allows the bulls to build something which fulfills the promise of crypto.