They feel to me like one of the very last holdouts of crypto's wild west phase. They either need to go fully legit or go away. They don't have much of a future as they are and I wouldn't want my money caught up in them when the plates stop spinning.
I honestly expected to see an FBI seizure notice on Bitfinex
years ago. I'm amazed at their resilience after the hacks, haircuts, Tether drama, NYAG drama, the Crypto Capital seizure, etc. Credit where credit is due. They seem to bounce back from anything thrown at them.
On top of that their market position is no longer dominant. Traders had to be there if they wanted the action. That's no longer the case. Why bother taking the risk?
It's still one of the top exchanges in terms of liquidity. If I were outside the US, I'd probably trade there for the order book depth and unverified margin trading. I'm not willing to risk failing a KYC check though.
It still has a sizable effect on the market. That's why it's one of the three exchanges I chart.