Opinion: Is this exchange the next FTX?

cointelegraph.com:

The blockchain industry has been revolutionary, to say the least. In the last three years, the crypto market has affected and changed lives positively — mine included. And this is why I am a massive advocate of cryptocurrencies and their power to give anyone financial freedom. Perhaps that is why MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor’s quote calling Bitcoin (BTC) “digital gold” resonates with me. 

As an industry still in its nascent stages, I have had my fair share of unfortunate events happen to me, but none as bad as what I’ve experienced with Bitget. Allow me to share the details of the ordeal in which Bitget seized more than $200,000 of my money, directly caused more than $2.5 million in losses, and — by my estimate — more than $10 million in reputational damage.

I have lost:

$16M+ due to Bitget
$4M+ staked on UST / Luna
$2M held in FTX
$1M+ held in Freeway

And much more in other scams.

Here are my 7 learnings that can save you millions of dollars:

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One might think an exchange as large as Bitget would be all about transparency. However, I’ve realized that is unfortunately not the case. Crypto exchanges have seen their downfall because of a lack of transparency. FTX is a rather painful example, and it is still fresh in our memories.

According to reports, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried moved up to $10 billion in FTX customer funds (without the knowledge or approval of said customers) to his trading company Alameda Research, whose assets were held primarily in the exchange’s native token, FTX Token (FTT). Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s announcement that Binance was selling its stake in FTT created panic among customers, which resulted in a bank run and, ultimately, the bankruptcy of the FTX Group.

I’ve been a user of