Good write-up Max! There are many issues, and potential issues, with the current exchanges and what one of my Finance Professors called the "Agency Problem". For those in economics, banking, or finance, you may be familiar with this. The Agency Problem is based on a core tenant of capitalism: that each individual in an economic system is driven by their own self-interests creating market efficiency- an unfortunate downside of free markets. Knowingly or unknowingly, those with better position, greater knowledge, have little disincentive to act in their own interests even if it negatively impacts their customers/clients. Again, I believe there are situations where this is not intentional, and it can be challenging to determine the intent of the parties involved.

Fortunately, Max brings up a good point that seems to be supported by the recent congressional meetings.

Self-regulation by the community. Some, it seems, interpret this as the individual organizations regulating themselves. However, the "3rd party audit" is a solution, as Max mentions in this article.

The 3rd party doesn't necessarily need to be a "company", as that typically implies centralization, which could lead to further challenges and potential corruption.

How would a decentralized, open, crypto-audit organization look? How might one function?

An Idea for a new article!

All the best,
Travis