Echo Base CEO Roshan Dharia warned that customers of some offshore crypto platforms may become unsecured creditors if the terms of service transfer ownership of their tokens to the platform. If the terms instead establish custody or a trust, customers may retain legal ownership. Dharia said unclear wording can leave that question unresolved until a court rules.
He said pooled wallets and records that do not match on-chain balances can make it hard to prove which assets belong to customers, weakening claims to recover tokens directly. Dharia urged segregated custody and daily reconciliation, and warned that proof of reserves alone does not establish solvency or ownership without an independent audit of liabilities. Echo Base has organized a claimholder committee for Bitmart users with frozen assets; the source says a $10 million rescue proposal went unanswered.
