The crypto world is a constant rollercoaster: on one side, they chase big business ambitions, and on the other, they trip over the exact same security headaches as always. A couple of stories dropped recently that perfectly capture the contradictions of this whole scene.

​On one hand, Payward—the parent company of Kraken—announced plans to buy a digital bank in Lithuania called Saldo Bank. The master plan? To dive headfirst into traditional banking and expand across Finland, Sweden, Germany, and beyond. It is pretty ironic because crypto was born running away from banks and the traditional system, and now look at the giants buying banking institutions to end up doing the exact same thing.

And as if that wasn't enough, while some are playing banker, others are putting out serious fires. Ledger, the famous hardware wallet brand, asked everyone in Hong Kong and a bunch of countries in Southeast Asia to halt sales and pull their devices off the shelves. The reason is unsettling: they found compromised devices in the distribution chain and people got their crypto stolen. Even though they claim the problem is contained over there for now, the scare and distrust are already planted.

At the end of the day, this makes it clear that no matter how much technology advances, the risks are still right there. They sell you the dream of decentralization, but big corporations end up centralizing, and if you drop your guard with the physical gadget where you keep your funds, you might get a very nasty surprise. As always: you've got to keep your eyes wide open.