Being in crypto means voluntarily signing up for the risk of hacks and scams, it is something that has plagued everyone involved in the industry including the big exchanges. Even during the crypto winter when every other activity in crypto slowed down, hacks and other malicious activities were on the rise. Afterward, a few big hacked exchanges, as well as individuals in this space, adopted more sophisticated security measures. Despite this, hackers just kept stealing crypto. And in some countries like Japan, the government intervened and had put some strict monitoring to prevent such incidents. After this, many feared that in the name of security, governments all over the world would slowly subjugate the industry.
CORA
On May 7th Tuesday, around 30 of the biggest names in crypto came together in Chicago to discuss how to make the industry more secure. Crypto trading firms like DRW Holdings Inc’s Cumberland crypto unit, Mike Novogratz’ Galaxy Digital Holdings, and Ripple were present during the discussions. Other topics of discussions included creating a list of entities involved directly or indirectly in criminal activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking, yet another proposal was to verify the source of funds. Companies will also share information regarding user defaulting on derivatives trades. The event was organized by Crypto OTC Roundtable Asia (CORA) a “loose association” of crypto businesses, it is to be noted that companies haven’t made any final decision as to what to do next. Ironically, on the same day of the meeting, 7,000 bitcoin (worth over $40 million) was stolen from Binance by hackers, and according to estimates, 1.2 billion worth of crypto assets were stolen in Quarter 1 of 2019 alone. It’s nearly three-quarters of the entire loss during 2018. A small part in the increase of value stolen can be attributed to an increase in the value of assets, but still, there has been an increase in hacking incidents as well.
One of the biggest arguments against government control was that the industry is still in the development phase and should be let to grow without government interference. As a solution, many in the industry suggested that self-regulation is the best path forward, unfortunately, people in the community seems like they can’t agree on anything. Each day, more and more forks are coming, newer coins are being offered and no one seems to agree on anything. In such a scenario where there is no clear direction or leadership, it seemed like self-regulation will never arise from within. But as this example shows, there is still room for discussion and coming together to build a better future for the industry, despite its chaotic and unpredictable nature.
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