That theft made me reconsider something: the technical capabilities of the crypto world have always been overrated.
When billions are stolen from traditional finance, it makes headline news. When billions are stolen from an exchange, it’s almost become an annual industry tradition. The difference isn’t how advanced the technology is, but the governance structure.
Exchanges prioritize concurrency, liquidity, and speed to market; banks prioritize dual approval, segregated permissions, and audit trails. The former optimizes the user experience; the latter optimizes for “whether you can secretly move money.”
What gets fixed after an incident is never the cryptography—it’s the processes.
When billions are stolen from traditional finance, it makes headline news. When billions are stolen from an exchange, it’s almost become an annual industry tradition. The difference isn’t how advanced the technology is, but the governance structure.
Exchanges prioritize concurrency, liquidity, and speed to market; banks prioritize dual approval, segregated permissions, and audit trails. The former optimizes the user experience; the latter optimizes for “whether you can secretly move money.”
What gets fixed after an incident is never the cryptography—it’s the processes.
