1) Compared to exchanges like Bitstamp, we have US banking relationships and can fund accounts via bank transfer in 1-3 days. Generally, wiring funds internationally is much slower and more expensive.

Compared to brokers like Coinbase or Circle, we have an order book, so traders can quickly adjust their positions.

2) We're working on insurance for held coins and the ability for customers to maintain full custody of their coins (possibly at the cost of slower trade completion times).

2 could be done as some sort of super-fast escrow service.

Yeah, that's basically the idea, probably using some multi-sig protocol. It will never be as fast as our internal ledger though, since I think we'd need to wait for at least one confirmation before funding the trade.

Good questions, exactly what I am thinking. If I had a bitcoin for every hacked bitcoin company story.