[acomms]

You aren't wrong, maybe it's my wishful thinking. What do you think the solution is here? Do you think the house of cards stayed propped up because a lot of people were in on the fraud? Were the auditors just incompetent or were they in on it? Auditors are reasonably well known firms.

[djbebs]

The solution is simple, relegate centralized exchanges to niches that so far can't be fulfilled in any other way (namely fiat-crypto transactions), and use them only briefly and immediately withdraw any assets from it once the transaction you need is complete.

You may also take on insurance against such malfeasance on the part of the exchange, increasing your likelihood of recovering your funds. On the plus side insurance agencies now have a financial incentive to ensure the exchanges they insure are honest.

In other words, see centralized entities as the unreliable partner that they are and work accordingly.

[acomms]

If you're on HN you can be knowledgable and proactive regarding your security with crypto, but I just don't see mainstream adoption without trusted 3rd parties. I don't think insurers would underwrite that sort of thing given crypto's history.

[mring33621]

I know some people in the auditing field and they have told me that they "don't try too hard to find problems, but sometimes they do anyway"

It's a balancing act between appearing to be credible/rigorous and maintaining a long-term customer relationship.