Hacks and scams plagued early crypto exchanges, and their legacy lingers. More institutions have been adding cryptocurrencies to their portfolios in recent years, making them the first purely digital assets that managers are including.
While they share some elements with more traditional assets, they also have numerous distinctions, and their nature as assets is still being understood. One of these aspects involves volatility: traders can earn substantial profits from rapid intraday price fluctuations, but they also face much greater risk.
Growing frustration with support and operational issues
According to a 2025 survey, almost two-thirds (65%) of cryptocurrency users are dissatisfied with the quality of customer support standard exchanges offer. This is further compounded by the fact that 72% of these platforms do not offer 24/7 support channels. Forty percent of investors cite poor customer service as the main reason for choosing a new exchange, and 58% of users experienced transaction confirmation delays due to inefficient customer service.
Common customer complaints include being unable to withdraw funds when needed and market orders failing to execute, leading to losses in some cases. The limited number of contact centers results in an inability to respond to high ticket volumes, and limite orders fail to execute as a consequence of this.
For institutions and high-net-worth individuals, a large trade executed on a public order book can lead to slippage, a substantial price impact. On-Demand Trading (ODT), an over-the-counter trading desk, counters this by processing large transactions outside the main market. Issues such as prolonged settlement, capped withdrawals, compliance hurdles, and poor or inadequate customer service are addressed by the trading desk, which also offers same-day settlement, crypto transactions with no trading limits, full regulatory compliance, and personalized services of exceptional quality.
The true cost of non-compliance is scary
According to a recent ICIJ report, hard cash is exchanged for untold amounts of crypto in cities like Dubai, Istanbul, Hong Kong, and Toronto, and vice versa, with few regulations and even fewer questions asked. The growing exchange of cash for frequently anonymous cryptocurrency poses a dire threat to the anti-money laundering system that law enforcement has spent decades building.
Addresses with mainstream crypto exchanges are the biggest exception to blockchain data anonymity. The role of crypto exchanges is analogous to that of TradFi banks: they allow users to hold, deposit, and withdraw funds. Ironically, some of the same exchanges that investigators use to trace illicit funds have made huge profits from transferring billions. This situation underscores a dire need for compliance, reliable KYC procedures, and greater efforts by trading platforms to verify the source of user funds.
Overcoming the lack or labyrinth of established regulatory systems could thus be the greatest challenge any crypto exchange faces. Different jurisdictions have different standards regarding crypto, ranging from opaque guidelines that change arbitrarily to stringent licensing requirements.
A white-glove approach with bank-level security
ODT combines bank-level security and compliance with concierge-style service, providing each client with a personal account manager, whether they are trading $500 or $500,000. It caters to businesses accepting or paying in crypto, high-net-worth individuals, and ordinary people seeking private, secure, and fast transactions.
ODT offers a simple way to buy or sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, and other supported assets without hidden fees or waiting periods. The platform’s SOC 2 compliance ensures high-level protection of personal and financial data. SOC 2 is an auditing standard that demonstrates an organization’s ability to manage customer data security in accordance with the five criteria for the trust services.
A momentous shift in user expectations
Achieving adequate liquidity is a frequently overlooked challenge. A well-functioning exchange requires low slippage, tight spreads, and a deep order book to attract serious customers. Price discovery becomes erratic without liquidity, leading to lost revenue and frustrated users. Some platforms rely on third-party liquidity providers or aggregators, but unless a long-term strategy is in place, these fixes are only temporary.
A reliable trading engine is crucial for efficiently matching buy and sell orders, directly impacting user satisfaction, speed, and reliability. Users have come to expect engines capable of processing thousands of transactions per second.
Downtime is unacceptable in a 24/7 market, which is why crypto trading platforms must meet the same performance standards and reliability as traditional financial institutions, if not higher. Spikes in volume expose deficiencies in system architecture, particularly during volatility. Users also expect instant deposits, fast withdrawals, and real-time balance updates.
The technical stack becomes complex when you factor in third-party payment processors, bank APIs, and decentralized exchange functionality. Cloud-native infrastructure and modular design come into play here, offering auto-scaling capabilities and improved fault tolerance. These and other industry-wide shortcomings have led to the rise of concierge-style crypto platforms, embraced by users who value trust, speed, compliance, and personalized support.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/why-concierge-style-crypto-trading-is-becoming-the-new-standard/
