One of the largest crypto exchanges in Africa under the name Africrypt went bust last April, right on the ATH Bitcoin price, after allegedly their hot wallets got hacked, and hackers transferred crypto-assets valued at around $3.6 Billion (at current rates, that's about $1.9-$2.0 Billion). Immediately after that, the two owners disappeared, and their website went off-line. More details on Reuter's.

It's the same story happening again and again... People trust their hard-earned crypto-assets to shady exchanges, defi platforms, and other shady websites, just because they won't ask them to verify their identity, or because they are unregulated.

Here is news for you! If a firm or project related to financial activities is not already registered with regulators in their home country (and this country is not one of the Banana Republics around the world, where for a few thousand dollars you can get full banking license), or at least taking steps to file for registration, something is fishy. Your crypto is not even close to safe.

Some people believe that decentralized exchanges is the answer, since your assets do not live out of your cold storage wallet. Although this is true, it comes at a huge cost per transaction, especially for lower value trades. And remember, there are those tempting liquidity pools, that you only receive zero-value tokens (allegedly representing share of ownership in the liquidity pool, until the pool contains only thin air, and you are simply holding the bag).

It's not less regulation that crypto markets need. There isn't any regulation really. Anyone can get a server, download one of the many cryptocurrency exchange flavors on GitHub, or anywhere else, and open shop for business. What we really need is some real regulation, along with some insurance that even if the exchange we trust our crypto goes bust, we won't be left holding the bag.