Are Crypto-exchanges a boon or a curse ?
So, everyone and his brother have been warning me about Poloniex closing down, and I have been worried, not because its Poloniex, but because its my money involved and I have very little control of how an exchange operates.
But I think that most people who have made their millions/thousands in crypto currencies, would never have made them, had it not been for these exchanges. So one needs to be a little less paranoid when it comes to talking about exchanges.
To keep myself balanced, I keep reminding myself of the following points. I hope that you also will gain better perspective after going through them.
We are at the early stages of a unregulated market for unregulated coins operated across the globe, round the clock, one should be realistic, when it comes to expectations from the service providers.
Which business have you heard of, which handles clients from across the globe at the same time, and provides instant confirmation of trades and funds while protecting funds against being hacked or systems crashing or govts passing laws obstructing them from operating ?
Would the people who keep cribbing about exchanges want to start their own exchange and handle thousands of clients and millions of dollars worth transactions ?
We are fortunate to be living in times when we can trade in a market which operates 24*7, regardless of the weekday or a holiday or a calamity. We should appreciate the fact that we are no longer victims of 'gap downs' and 'gap ups', which always give every exchange the freedom to cheat everyone.
Yes, the interface of the crypto-exchanges is not as good as an MT4 and there are no desk top applications, but I think that all said and done, crypto-currencies are a boon to us, and not a bane.
Yes, getting a grip of wallets and blockchain and publickeys and private keys, etc makes this business in itself difficult to understand initially. This makes life difficult for everyone.
One needs to imagine how difficult it would be for the exchanges, who are in public scrutiny, but have no answerability to anyone. These are the pioneers who have chosen to walk to difficult path to provide us with services which are enhancing our earnings, our life styles and are also preparing us for a crypto-future.
While I am lucky that till date, I have not had any 'seriously' bad experience with any exchange. It is also quite possible that I do face a financial loss due to some exchange closing down, or my wallet getting hacked or my account being frozen. But I think for the sheer excitement which crypto-currencies have brought in my life, I would say that the problems we face due to certain limitations of the exchanges need to be considered minor.
I would encourage exchanges to work harder and also closer with the public in general, to seek active feedback from their clients and update them more frequently about improvements being brought about.
Thank you!