Marketing conspiracy: How crypto -races changed the idea of ​​cryptocurrencies – Bits Media

Passed 14 years since the creation of bitcoin, And since then, As centralized cryptocurrency (OC), The presentation of many users about cryptocurrency has changed significantly.

Mountains of client data

Buying bitcoin has changed a lot from those por, When the first crypto enthusiasts carried out transactions directly through the forums. Now large centralized exchanges dominate the market, And in the auction, institutional investors with multi -billion dollar capital participate. Centralized trading floors, Possessing the necessary resource, brought to perfection the process of attracting new customers, demonstrating with might and main, that trade itself is not something mysterious and complex. For this they use colorful, Simple and intuitively understandable interfaces, as friendly as possible for an inexperienced beginner.

The end, How the capitalization of the largest trading floors grew, regulators around the world began to yell on exchanges, so that they collect personal data from their customers to confirm their personality. If the same type of CEX players were presented on the market earlier, then, with the strengthening of regulatory pressure, some of the sites reconciled with the new orders of lawmakers and began to collect user data.

To distinguish these exchanges, Bitcoin Magazine experts offer to use the term VEX for centralized exchanges, requiring verification and providing personal data by users. CEX is a broader concept. In addition to personal information, VEX has all the necessary tools, allowing you to control funds and operations on the site.

The convenience of the main VEX, Such, Like Coinbase and Binance, greatly distorted the idea of ​​many users about privacy, anonymity, And indeed about P2P alternatives for buying bitcoin. In the end, a simple and understandable interface and proper marketing repoed the desire of customers to en masse of the “complex” alternatives, Despite all those advantages, which could be obtained.

Why use a relatively difficult method of buying or selling bitcoin through a third-party P2P platform with low liquidity, when there are very simple, Clear and convenient VEX alternatives with extremely high and constant liquidity? Yes, and non -kastodial storage of cryptocurrency requires a certain “threshold of entry” by the user. Much easier to trust third parties, even with a bunch of not such obvious risks. But in reality there are so many these risks, that experts, proposed the term VEX, declare, that this is the worst of the possible alternatives.

The problem with the exchanges

The main problem, A related to VEX is a serious lack of privacy and lack of anonymity. Their customers are forced to provide identification information, For example, passport data, because of which it will always be possible to connect the purchased bitcoin with a specific user.

Thus, the real name of the user will forever be attached to this amount of bitcoins and all related transactions. Even if you spend them through a "mixer", then the record in the blockchain will still leave this information open, And the authorities of individual countries in the relevant jurisdictions can recognize your activity of criminal, regardless of your intentions.

And of course, Due to the "digital trace", transferred from paper, Email, passwords, mobile phone numbers and bank details, entrusted to VEX platform, You yourself find yourself in the risk zone from the fraudsters. Through hacker attacks or through plums of information from the employees of the exchanges, Personal data can easily get attackers, capable of causing you damage. In addition, As a result of a hacker attack, you can simply lose your savings, which were stored on the exchange, Since you, in fact, not the owner of closed keys.

Unfortunately, Many VEX representatives often give the following argument: Personal information is collected in the interests of the users themselves, And precisely for that, To protect them. But, In fact, personal data is a target for cybercriminals. Therefore, the ideas of many users about cryptocurrency are distorted, Experts note. More and more often with bitcoin, crypto -rope hacks are associated, their bankruptcy, Non -storage, Pereligious falls of value, partly caused by collapses CEX. But these are not the only misconceptions of users regarding VEX and a vivid illustration of this - the situation with FTX.

FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX crypto-rope is one example, where VEX is demonstrated in the most negative news background. By and large, scheme, which was used, was trivial and simple. According to some reports, Bankman-Fried took customer funds and spent them right and left. He invested them in expensive elite real estate, made venture investments and political donations. The edition of Time wrote, that Bankman-Fried has financed even the current US president Joe Biden. All in all, money was not spent on the most obvious expenses for users.

Did clients know about this?? Of course not. In this way, what happens in the end? People invested their money with confidence, that they invested specifically in cryptocurrency. They were provided with general information about, that asset transactions (purchase/sale) are carried out - in any case, it is displayed on the screens of their gadgets. But in reality, a significant proportion of coins, which in theory was supposed to provide liquidity and generate income for investors, was, according to some sources, reinvested by the company in expensive real estate and as political contributions. Therefore, users’ idea of ​​owning cryptocurrency through a VEX agent may turn out to be erroneous in practice..

VEX Forecasts

When the end user uses VEX, it increases liquidity on such a platform. Also, purchasing Bitcoin through VEX involves tracking fiat money earned by the user, what scammers are interested in at the same time, and many regulators (For example, within the framework of fiscal policy, anti-money laundering or increased control of cash flows).

The result of VEX support will be to limit the entry of fiat money, as well as the rejection of conceptual ideology, underlying Bitcoin network, as a peer-to-peer solution, past financial intermediaries.

In general, the problems of CEX and VEX will be partially solved. Cryptocurrency is still little explored, and technology continues to improve. This applies to everything, what's connected with it. Exchanges are no exception in this case.. Постепенно вся концепция биткоина в качестве абсолютно анонимной валюты в рамках торговли на биржах и вовлеченности законодательных органов становится практически невозможна. therefore, if you are very concerned about the issue of disclosure of personal information, then you should look for alternative storage platforms, exchange and trading of cryptocurrencies.

This material and information in it is not an individual or other other investment recommendation. The view of the editorial office may not coincide with the opinions of the author, analytical portals and experts.