[yunohn]

> Holding crypto on an exchange is like giving money to a guy on the corner

I’m sorry, what?

A CEX /should/ be comparable to a brokerage like Charles Schwab or even Robinhood. This comes with legal protections - they can’t gamble with my unused money or invested stocks.

Also, and this is the most disingenuous part - how do you buy crypto with fiat? Literally everyone I know uses a CEX to on/off-ramp, and sadly this is widely seen as an acceptable evil.

[mattbrewsbytes]

Are there really legal protections for crypto exchanges?

Use an exchange to on/off ramp it, then put it into your own wallet for holding.

[yunohn]

Sure, that’s technically feasible if you’re willing to pay all the greedy fees.

Here’s how it looks for me using Coinbase:

- On-ramp (fiat to CEX-fiat): 0.15€ flat

- Conversion (CEX-fiat to CEX-crypto): ~4%

- Self-custody (CEX-crypto to wallet-crypto): Depends on coin, average ~10€ flat

And if I want to off-ramp, I need to follow all these steps in the opposite order.

Meanwhile, atleast in the non-US countries I’ve lived in, all fiat transactions are free. I can top-up my bank account, send digital money to others, withdraw fiat, etc etc with ZERO fees.