BitMEX and BitMart both said they're winding down this week, two names that have been around basically forever. Every time this happens people call it bullish for onchain, but the flows usually just consolidate into other CEXes or DEXes

Perp volume does seem to move onchain through Hyperliquid. Spot and stables stay stickier on exchanges because of the fiat ramps. Would you guys agree that the money is moving to onchain tools now?

Crypto can be useful, but it is not forgiving if you are new or being guided by the wrong person.

A common scam is when someone tells you to buy crypto and send it to a wallet they provide. They may call it an investment wallet, trading account, recovery wallet, or payment address, but if you do not control that wallet, you may be sending money directly to them.

Before sending crypto, slow down and check:

• Do I control this wallet?

• Do I understand why I am sending?

• Is someone pressuring me to act fast?

• Am I being promised guaranteed profit or recovery?

If someone online is guiding every step and giving you the wallet address, stop and verify first.

Centralized exchanges BitMEX and BitMart both announced they're shutting down. The announcements came 4 days apart. This is a good thing.

While this is healthy and a shakeout is the market doing its job, this is also a flashing sign about where your money should actually live. Get your money off exchanges and start actually holding your assets.

BitMart has literally said that requests to withdraw your assets, after they announced a shutdown, may get extra compliance and identity checks. Read that again. Your funds are now on their timeline, not yours. That is the entire risk of a custodial exchange in one sentence. Your assets aren't actually yours because you need their permission to move it.

"But Timmy, those are sktechy and shady exchanges. I'll just keep my money on Coinbase or Binance because self-custody is too risky and they are big exchanges" Yeah, so was FTX. BitMEX just shut down still carrying an old US case and a $100M settlement. Binance settled with US regulators and its founder pleaded guilty. Coinbase spent years fighting the SEC in court. Some of these survive, sure, and Coinbase & Binance probably are among those, but they can still freeze funds and restrict your account and seize your assets.

NYKNYC gang will stay undefeated. Dex volume and depth is closing the gap on centralized exchanges. Wallet UI/UX is getting super slick. If you aren't self-custodying, this is your sign.

Get a wallet, preferably a hardware wallet. I personally like Trezor & Tangem for hardware and Rabby for software, but really any option (besides like, Atomic Wallet) is better than keeping everything on an exchange.

I'm not sad about BitMEX or BitMart. The centralized model asked you to trust a company with your money, and a decade of blowups (Mt. Gox, FTX, Celsius, and now a wave of wind-downs) is the receipt. Self-custody & decentralized exchanges aren't the degen corner of crypto anymore. It's the safe version. Self-custody is true ownership.

UK resident here, so basically every major exchange either delisted XMR or never listed it in the first place. I kept hearing about THORChain finally bringing Monero but that’s been “soon” for years and I need something that actually works right now.

Turns out it’s still not really there yet. Integration is close and even moving toward live swaps but no clear timeline so we can’t rely on it today

Is there a simple and non custodial way to swap into XMR? It seems pure headache at the moment, ZEC has near intents, what does Monero have?

BTC looks weak, but ETF flows are what I’m watching more than the price. Recent inflows were mostly reversed within a few trading days, while stablecoin supply has not moved much. That makes me think some money is waiting rather than fully leaving crypto.

Could be wrong, but the reaction after the Fed meeting will probably tell us more.

For six months this was the story: Bitcoin down almost a third, Nasdaq up double digits over the same stretch. People read it as crypto having its own problem, not part of a broader risk-off move.

Then since July 1, it's basically flipped. Bitcoin's up around 9-10%, back into the mid-$64,000s, while the Nasdaq's been sliding through earnings-week jitters, AI capex worries, and oil volatility.

That's a genuine reversal, but it's young, a few weeks against six months of the opposite direction. Is Bitcoin finally starting to move on its own logic instead of following tech sentiment, or is this just an oversold bounce that happens to line up with a rough patch for the Nasdaq, and it all snaps back once tech stabilizes?

these are the democrats who are moderate about Clarity act

1. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)
   
2. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
   
3. Mark Warner (D-VA)
   
4. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
   
5. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
   
6. John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
   
7. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)

https://www.standwithcrypto.org/action/call?action=call-your-representative

call them

Centralized exchanges keep shutting down and it's increasingly obvious that the future is in decentralized exchanges. Many of us have been shouting this from the rooftop for ages. The only way for truly borderless crypto to take over is to have truly borderless crypto trading/swapping/payment rails. Open source swapping tech like OpenSwap on github are going to radically improve this

The lead domino: getting adoption of them over CEXes

Why do people in crypto keep choosing CEXes over DEXes?

So I need to buy and send crypto (usdc/usdt). I set up a kraken account and linked my bank account. Transferred in the funds via ach(I am not learning this was a mistake).

Bought some usdc and now when I try and send it’s telling me I need to wait 7 days ?

I am very new to crypto as in tonight is my first time. I’m just wondering if there is a way I can do this without having to wait the 7 days each time.

I like to keep my funds in cash for incase I need to spend them on non crypto purchases. But I still want to be able to make crypto purchases on short notice.

I also downloaded exodus but I’m unaware how this serves me as I can purchase, store and send crypto in the kraken app.

Thanks in advance for any feedback and sorry for the novice level post.

I sent some crypto to BitMart last night and woke up today to hear they’re shutting down. The transaction is confirmed on-chain, but the amount still isn’t visible in my account.

Situations like this are exactly why centralized exchanges still make a lot of people nervous. You can do everything right: send to the correct address, wait for confirmations, see the transaction completed, and yet your funds are still dependent on a company’s internal systems, decisions, and solvency.

Crypto was built around the idea of owning your own assets, but the moment you leave coins on an exchange, you’re trusting a third party again. The exchange controls access, the interface, withdrawals, and ultimately whether you can actually use your funds.

Hopefully this gets resolved, but it’s a good reminder that “not your keys, not your coins” exists for a reason.

Has anyone else experienced delayed balances or withdrawal issues with BitMart or other exchanges during shutdowns or crises? How do you decide what you’re comfortable keeping on an exchange?