The crypto market is shooting itself in the foot. Every day, millions of investors interact in good faith with crypto exchanges and market tracking sites but are stymied and even abused by those very same organizations who take their money. Unreliable data, usurious fees, and poor service have resulted in investor distrust and cynicism.

But there are no sheriffs in town. Rather than thinking about how they could build a strong foundation – which could increase the size of the entire pie and their own share of it – these entrepreneurs greedily attempt to scoop up cash and head for the exits.

Yes, the Biden administration last week issued an executive order on crypto policy. But the order called for – wait for it – more years of study. Worse, the administration is letting the crypto-phobic SEC drive the bus when crypto is not even a security. At this rate, our budding industry will be either decimated or overseas in no time, and all the employment that goes with it. We need active encouragement and clear regulation.

Crypto tokens and the blockchain can provide a platform for social impact, allowing more equitable access to financial services to underserved populations. Fueled by crypto, the blockchain can also offer new beneficial services including speedy, secure and less expensive payment systems that can sidestep the slow and insecure systems we have had for 70 years.

But this is all being jeopardized by cowboy practices. Take for example CMC which is rife with conflict-of-interest issues. It has a clear bias toward certain tokens. Considered the industry bible, CMC plugs favorite tokens and is not accountable. It is owned by Binance, which has its own agenda.

The mistreatment is not limited to smaller players. On January 13, according to watcher.guru, the Shiba Inu team noticed 3 fake contact addresses on CMC, and said that the CMC team refused to communicate with them. Similarly, on Jan. 18, CMC seemed to sabotage the  large cryptoproject HEX by ranking them at #201, when in actuality they should have been at #8 with a market cap of $35.6 billion!

Unlike banks that offer FDIC insurance, the attitude of crypto exchanges – where money is traded and stored -- is “Buyer Beware.” Despite the exchanges’ claims of high security, Reuters has documented widespread fraud and hacking, and consumers have no recourse. What reputable financial organization would offer no assistance if its own servers were hacked due to inadequate security measures?

If we continue the same practices, it may mean the collapse of the industry. To avoid this, Bloomberg, Reuters and regulatory agencies may descend on crypto exchanges to monitor the listings and sweep the deadweight out. They will become the de facto authority for accurate reporting data in the crypto world.

It could be different. With a robust professional service standard and a few rules, the industry will see the growth of investment as well as an opportunity to actually spend cryptocurrency and the establishment of new crypto-based financial service platforms. The top 100 crypto coins will become less volatile and investors will begin to spend. Already organizations such as Tesla are accepting crypto payments -- even in Dogecoin. Some organizations will begin to pay employees in crypto. The foreign remittances market could soar as the blockchain enables workers to avoid usurious fees of 7 to 18%.

This is not a call for altruism. This is a call for basic decency and transparency in financial transactions that will benefit the consumers, the crypto companies, and exchanges. The requirements are not onerous. Eliminate the zombie coins, tightly secure the exchanges so that hackers cannot penetrate networks to steal coins, give consumer investors an address, a phone number, and a live person to talk to (even a live chat function). Reduce fees to bring more investors in as the increased volume will compensate for the lower fee income.

The industry needs to grow up. The question is whether it will begin to police itself or be dragged kicking and screaming into compliance with basic financial rules through third-party watchdogs and government audits.

Shane Rodgers is a former investment banker who is now an "insider" and co-founder of Singapore-based PDX Global, which created the PDX Coin project that's based on a crypto-to-fiat payments and banking application suite and a utility coin. He and his team of veteran bankers and technologists are developing the first globally-capable mobile app to facilitate practical cryptocurrency payments via instant, no-fee transactions at stores and restaurants as well as online sites.