> Client money is segregated in special bank or custody accounts, which are designated for the exclusive benefit of clients of IBKR. This protection (the SEC term is "reserve" and the CFTC term is "segregation") is a core principle of securities and commodities brokerage. By properly segregating the client's assets, if no money or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the client, then the client's assets are available to be returned to the client in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the broker.
Because segregation is a necessary prior to enshrine further protection on customer assets.
That seems to be a case in which regulation is actually protecting clients of brokerages. Of course, thise regulations are bad if you are a, say, crypto exchange, and want to, say, engage in "investment" activities using those client deposits (regardless if those a fiat currency, crypto or something else).
Absolutely. Centralized crypto exchanges should have the same regulation and oversight as brokerages/banks/other financial institutions. Because they are that type of institution, just having crypto under custody doesn't make it magically solve any issues.
> > Client money is segregated in special bank or custody accounts, which are designated for the exclusive benefit of clients of IBKR.
No, originally you talked about segregation between crypto and non-crypto. I responded that there is no such thing. You then changed to talking about segregation between client finds and company funds -- do you see how this has nothing to do with the original point? How do you know a brokerage doesn't have both crypto and non-crypto liabilities? You don't. And the non-crypto can be senior to the crypto. There is no segregation between non-crypto and crypto and no guarantees about what kind of liabilities are held by both clients and investors.
> if no money or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the client, then the client's assets are available to be returned
Right, this is exactly why you need to know what all the off chain liabilities are. Because when they come due, you can lose all your crypto because of a brokerage's off chain liability. Thus there is no such thing as a proof of solvency.
> Client money is segregated in special bank or custody accounts, which are designated for the exclusive benefit of clients of IBKR. This protection (the SEC term is "reserve" and the CFTC term is "segregation") is a core principle of securities and commodities brokerage. By properly segregating the client's assets, if no money or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the client, then the client's assets are available to be returned to the client in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the broker.
Because segregation is a necessary prior to enshrine further protection on customer assets.