We need to stop telling people to trust us and give them a real reason to trust us,” said Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth. Centralized crypto exchanges play a vital role in the crypto trading ecosystem. It isn’t easy to trust exchanges with user funds. Despite this, cryptocurrency trading platforms continue to believe they can regain the community’s trust, executives at cryptocurrency exchanges OKX, Gate.io, and Bitpanda shared their thoughts on how trading platforms can recover from the impact of the FTX debacle.
According to Dion Guillaume, an executive at Gate.io, transparency is critical regarding the custody of user assets. Guillaume told Cointelegraph that this motivated his platform to open its proof-of-reserve method with Merkle. Tree verification will be available to other industry leaders. “Over the last two weeks, it has become increasingly clear that crypto exchanges need to work with more transparency, particularly around the custody of user funds,” the speaker said. And evidence of reserves.
Additionally, Guillaume believes that the industry can recover over time. The executive pointed to other “black swan” events, noting that the crypto industry has remained resilient over the past decade. It’s time to recover, but it’s likely to come back stronger than before,” he added. Eric Demuth, co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchan,ge Bitpanda, urged exchanges to put customers first and be more transparent. “You have to stop trying to sell a dream in,” he said.
Demuth explained:
“We must stop telling people to trust us and give them a real reason to do so. Investors are not stupid; now, more than ever, they distrust our industry. That being said, the Bitpanda CEO believes that the space will eventually recover from the effects of the FTX crash. According to Demuth, there is no quick fix, and the remaining players in space must keep working toward a sustainable, regulated, and responsible future.
Lennix Lai, an executive at crypto exchange OKX, also commented on transparency. According to Lai, transparency is essential to regain user trust. The executive emphasized that action must be taken on both the retail and institutional fronts. In retail, Lai highlighted the importance of allowing users to self-verify that assets are 100% bookmarked. On the institutional side, the executive said organizations need to find ways to give customers more visibility.
“With this self-verification feature, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t mix up user funds because we operate in complete transparency,” he said.
In addition, the OKX executive also emphasized the importance of self-custody. Lai noted that his company believes in the motto “not your keys, not your crypto.” He said the trading platform encourages users to self-custody their assets.