All absolutely true, but also if you sort of believe in the whole thing long-term, it's not unreasonable to think that competition (and maybe even regulation and mainstream adoption) will mostly solve these issues.

Yes, it's risky. New tech often is.

So crypto fans don't trust government --- but they trust government will fix the fraud in the crypto marketplace???

Sorry, that is so totally illogical --- a common theme in the crypto market.

Competition alone can't fix crypto --- this "free market" is already monopolized.

The largest exchange dwarfs the competition *and* has access to an unlimited supply of stable coins (USDT) that are already involved in more than half of all crypto trades and can easily be used to manipulate and control the "free market".

By the sheer weight of their trading volume, other exchanges (even decentralized ones) are literally forced to follow the leader's pricing. Any significant deviation becomes a buying opportunity for the lead market maker who also just happens to be an active trader with unlimited funding. This blatant conflict of interest (aka "fraud") would never be tolerated in any regulated market.

Bottom line: As it currently exists, there is nothing really "free" about the crypto market.