The big question is, how reserved is the poof of reserved?
Because just as we have fake trading volume or bot trading in exchange same way exchange can still manipulate the proof of reserves, and of what use will a proof of reserve be if the exchange declare bankruptcy just like what FTC did in 2022.
The bottom line is never to trust an exchange and does not allow your balance on the exchange to exceed the amount you want to trade with to avoid losing all your money trusting using an exchange as your personal wallet.
Always make sure to keep your funds off the exchange, even though the displayed proof of Reserved find (POR).
You have some valid point but the crypto market is all about taking risk and also trading with what you can afford to loose. FTX was an accident and a huge lesson to other top exchanges. I wouldn't discredit the idea of proof of reserve even though it can be manipulated but its an idea that have restored confidence in the market.
It's also worthy to note that exchanges like Binance, OKX and particularly Bitget have launched 'Customer Protection Fund' which is currently exceeding $2 billion in total. This is another asset security measure these three have in place and I also learnt Houbi and Coinbase have a similar arrangement but in the form insurance. So I guess in no distance time the crypto market will have more sanity than what we use to have. Its an emerging space and we are evolving
I think have a reserve funds and an insurance cover will give exchange legitimacy from it users since they will have the confidence that in the event that anything happens to the exchange they can reclaim their funds through the insurance company but saying that the exchange will maintain a reserve balance by itself still leave us with the same risk.
Binance has safu which is something relieving but the big question is, is the safe fund registered with an insurance company that can step in to settle customers when things go wrong?
I understand your concern but remember we are in a decentralized space and I or other users may not subscribe to the idea of registering the protection fund with any insurance company. The bureaucratic bottleneck that will follow when you want to access your funds would be enough to discourage you. I learnt that Bitget has provided its own user protection fund wallet addresses information to the public to always view. This recent wake up call to strengthening the security of users asset is in response to FTX saga and several news of security exploitation. It will soon evolve into solid structure that will bring sanity into this space.