Frankly, in my opinion, the rest are not worth specific mention. As I am a person who prefers to focus on the positives and to build success upon success, I see no point in wasting time on pointing out and explaining the individual negatives for the rest of the crypto brokers and exchanges. Whatever the case, from being too small to generate confidence, to being too crooked to even get a second look, a case by case study would be a horrible waste of time, especially since the negatives are all so very similar both in design and grouping.
Look at where the majority of scandals, hacks, market manipulation and scams originate from. Three of the Top 5 Cryptocurrency Hacks of All Time came out of this region. (The other exchange on the list thoroughly transformed and moved to a stronger jurisdiction.) Those are the biggest, but there are dozens, if not hundreds of smaller sized scams around the world. Yes, in the past we saw some of the same in the U.S. too, with the likes of Mintpal and Cryptsy, the latter which was really a Belize company operating in the US, and the former now with fugitives abroad, but the pattern has changed, and the tendency in the U.S. now is to get legally compliant, or die.
That’s not the case on the Asian side of the Pacific though. Anything but! And who would be surprised by that when the dictatorial central government of China finds it impossible to convince anyone outside its borders that its official economic data isn’t just one big continuous fraud? Nobody takes their figures seriously, and much less so when they make themselves even more laughable by supposedly wanting to “regulate Bitcoin” by banning it one day, and then saying the next that everything is okay. Who is going to take that seriously? The biggest originator of FUD and market manipulation in the world! Who is going to entrust their hard earned money to anyone within that legal context?
I don’t want to have anything to do with anything out of that part of the world, neither those government tied tokens touted to be the next ETH killer, nor any of the “exchanges” based there. The Asian Pacific Rim is the world’s hotspot for all kinds of dubious crypto activity and is a place I want to avoid. Nevertheless, make no mistake, the swindles, scams and hacks don’t end there: we can find them just about anywhere, outside of Europe and North America, that is.
Where we have seen the least scandals, and where we have seen the best efforts to avoid hacks and theft and to turn crypto into a respectable business is in Europe and North America. Is it any coincidence that all the brokers and exchanges I’ve reviewed in this series are located either in Europe or North America? Not in the least! In fact, it’s completely logical to expect the financial powerhouses of the world to act seriously and responsibly when it comes to the emergence of a viable and promising new investment arena.
North America and Europe are the places where bad things are least likely to happen, in my opinion, and I wouldn’t do business with anyone outside of those geopolitical regions. Why would I unnecessarily complicate my life? There are no better fees outside those areas, no better services offered, just more risk. In fact, it’s all worse, so why would it even be an option?
I like to stay with winners who do things right, and for anyone who doesn’t make the grade, I just don’t go there!
Previous posts in this series:
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 1: LiteBit
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 2: Coinbase
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 3: GDAX
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 4: Kraken
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 5: Bitstamp
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 6: CEX•IO
HowTo Buy Crypto – Part 7: GEMINI
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