Latest news with #DrofaComms
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CryptoEdu Report Exposes 2025 CeFi Gaps in Trust and Transparency
LONDON, Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CryptoEdu by Drofa Comms, an educational initiative designed to enhance digital asset literacy and support businesses in the crypto space, publishes a new analytical report: "Why Crypto Exchanges Still Fail Retail and Institutions Standards in 2025." The report reveals the main systemic problems of centralised crypto exchanges (CeFi) in 2025. Despite CeFi's key role in digital asset trading, these platforms continue to face challenges that hinder the trust of both retail and institutional investors. The paper dissects how platforms like OKX, KuCoin, Binance, and Bybit continue to lack core safeguards: from opaque token listings and governance theater to arbitration clauses that strip retail users of legal recourse. Among the key findings: No Real-Time Risk Monitoring: In the case of the OM token crash, OKX issued alerts only after significant retail losses, raising concerns about the timeliness of risk disclosures. Conflicted Exchange Roles: KuCoin's involvement in the promotion, listing, and sale of its own PUMP token, highlights a potential lack of separation between platform operations and token issuances. Retail Dispute Resolution Constraints: Legal agreements on some platforms, including OKX and Binance, are limiting retail users' legal options through arbitration clauses and class action waivers. Informal Compensation Practices: Bybit's public pledge to reimburse users after a security incident shows that it lacked a formalized claims process or clearly defined user protections. No Cross-Exchange Standards: The industry still lacks a unified framework for listings, surveillance, post-incident response, and dispute resolution. Governance Transparency Challenges: In the wake of recent market events, some platforms, including OKX, have undertaken internal restructuring. However, these actions have not yet translated into updated listing policies or expanded user protections. The report also outlines actionable reforms: enforceable listing criteria, standardized crisis response, structural user protections, and independent oversight mechanisms. CryptoEdu continues its mission to develop digital literacy and support conscientious participants in the crypto market, raising standards and trust in a rapidly developing industry. The full report is available via the link: About CryptoEdu and Drofa Comms CryptoEdu by Drofa Comms is an educational initiative designed to enhance digital asset literacy and support businesses in the crypto space. Drofa Comms is a global PR consulting agency proudly representing the leading finance and fintech firms. Since 2011, it has brought founders and their ventures into the worldwide spotlight, meticulously crafting compelling brand identities and seamlessly communicating them to diverse audiences. With an HQ in London, UK, Drofa Comms boasts a portfolio of high-profile clients in the finance and fintech sectors. Its major clients include commercial and investment banks, AMCs and AIFs, trading platforms, exchanges, payment solutions, and blockchain companies. ContactDrofa Commsinfo@ Photo: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE CryptoEdu
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
CryptoEdu Report Exposes 2025 CeFi Gaps in Trust and Transparency
CryptoEdu by Drofa Comms, an educational initiative designed to enhance digital asset literacy and support businesses in the crypto space, publishes a new analytical report: 'Why Crypto Exchanges Still Fail Retail and Institutions Standards in 2025.' The report reveals the main systemic problems of centralised crypto exchanges (CeFi) in 2025. Despite CeFi's key role in digital asset trading, these platforms continue to face challenges that hinder the trust of both retail and institutional investors. The paper dissects how platforms like OKX, KuCoin, Binance, and Bybit continue to lack core safeguards: from opaque token listings and governance theater to arbitration clauses that strip retail users of legal recourse. Among the key findings: No Real-Time Risk Monitoring: In the case of the OM token crash, OKX issued alerts only after significant retail losses, raising concerns about the timeliness of risk disclosures. Conflicted Exchange Roles: KuCoin's involvement in the promotion, listing, and sale of its own PUMP token, highlights a potential lack of separation between platform operations and token issuances. Retail Dispute Resolution Constraints: Legal agreements on some platforms, including OKX and Binance, are limiting retail users' legal options through arbitration clauses and class action waivers. Informal Compensation Practices: Bybit's public pledge to reimburse users after a security incident shows that it lacked a formalized claims process or clearly defined user protections. No Cross-Exchange Standards: The industry still lacks a unified framework for listings, surveillance, post-incident response, and dispute resolution. Governance Transparency Challenges: In the wake of recent market events, some platforms, including OKX, have undertaken internal restructuring. However, these actions have not yet translated into updated listing policies or expanded user protections. The report also outlines actionable reforms: enforceable listing criteria, standardized crisis response, structural user protections, and independent oversight mechanisms. CryptoEdu continues its mission to develop digital literacy and support conscientious participants in the crypto market, raising standards and trust in a rapidly developing industry. The full report is available via the link: About CryptoEdu and Drofa Comms CryptoEdu by Drofa Comms is an educational initiative designed to enhance digital asset literacy and support businesses in the crypto space. Drofa Comms is a global PR consulting agency proudly representing the leading finance and fintech firms. Since 2011, it has brought founders and their ventures into the worldwide spotlight, meticulously crafting compelling brand identities and seamlessly communicating them to diverse audiences. With an HQ in London, UK, Drofa Comms boasts a portfolio of high-profile clients in the finance and fintech sectors. Its major clients include commercial and investment banks, AMCs and AIFs, trading platforms, exchanges, payment solutions, and blockchain companies.
Forbes
08-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Smart Leaders Need To Know About Harnessing AI Innovation
Valentina Drofa, Founder and CEO at the PR firm for eminent finance and fintech brands Drofa Comms. Ever since its emergence as a concept, artificial intelligence (AI) has been the subject of countless discussions and fears. Some see it as a threat, some as an opportunity, and others as a way to replace employees. In any case, a modern company cannot stay away from new technologies if it wishes to stay relevant. The most important thing is to implement those technologies correctly. In recent years, as AI development picked up pace and grew into a hot topic in business circles, I admit, my initial reaction was closer to scepticism than excitement. Not because I felt threatened by it, but because I couldn't see how it would fit meaningfully into different types of businesses. My own agency, for example, specializes in communications—a nuanced field that demands a lot of creativity, and where humans are very much front and centre of all efforts and activities. Could a machine really replace that? At the time, it felt like AI would be more along the lines of a personal assistant, helping with bookings, record keeping, and general advice. Today, I can say confidently that AI has found a helpful role in our operations. It's all about using it wisely. From Intrusion To Integration The conversation around AI tends to swing between extremes. It's either seen as revolutionary or as a threat to jobs and creativity. In my experience, perceptions can shift quickly. Just a year ago, some clients were adamant that we avoid using AI for content creation, even though we weren't relying on it. Now, many of those same clients are asking for AI-generated content or actively using AI to draft their own ideas. It felt like a drastic transition, and it left me thinking that the truth about AI is somewhere in the middle. That it's neither an all-in-one solution nor an existential threat. It's a tool. And like any tool, its value lies in how we use it. At our agency, we experimented quite a lot and gradually learned to use AI for things like competitor analysis or research tasks. It's a useful way to cut down on hours of manual work—not to replace jobs, but to free up our team's time for deeper thinking and more strategic tasks. It's not about cutting down on staff; it's about boosting their efficiency. One person, equipped with the right tools and knowledge, can now achieve the work of multiple days, or multiple people, in just a few hours. That's a major advantage right there. The Leader's Role In AI Integration But for all of AI's benefits, there are still many teams out there that resist the integration of these tools. Not because they're lazy or old-fashioned, but because they haven't been shown the value of AI in a way that aligns with their company's culture and mission. This is where I feel leadership becomes key. How you introduce AI into your company determines how your workers will feel about it. A smart leader doesn't just roll out AI and say 'go use it.' They guide their teams, give context, and make sure the tech fits the company's values. If you're serious about integrating AI into your operations, then you can't just give everyone access to ChatGPT and hope for the best. You need to make it a part of your corporate culture so that it amplifies human thinking rather than replaces it. This is how you inspire your employees to learn and grow instead of feeling like they've become unneeded. We make sure everyone on the team knows not just how to use AI, but when to pause and rely on their own judgment. AI can generate a hundred options, but it can't tell you which one truly fits your brand's message or tone. That part still needs a human touch, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. AI Doesn't Kill Jobs, Obsolete Skill Sets Do I want to address the well-known worry of AI robbing people of jobs. To be blunt, yes, some professions are at risk. But that's not something new. Look at history: switchboard operators, lamplighters, the so-called 'human computers'—all these roles disappeared because, across the centuries, innovation kept moving forward. AI is just another turn of the wheel within the same fundamental cycle. If your role is built purely on repetition, you should be thinking about how to evolve. But the solution isn't to fear AI, it's to embrace it and build on top of it. Technology should speed up our work, not shut off our curiosity. Combining Human Insight With Automation One major downside of AI, the one that worries me, is the more we rely on machine thinking, the more we're at risk of unlearning how to think for ourselves. It's tempting to just take the first ChatGPT output and move on instead of using our brains, but not all tasks should be delegated to algorithms. We need to remember what sets us apart from machines: critical thinking, empathy, and judgment. I believe that the way forward is for people to learn to combine AI literacy with critical thinking. AI is not at a point where it can replace human thinking—what it produces needs to be double-checked. Combining human insight with automation is how we learn to perform jobs better, not just faster. That's why one of my team's internal values is constant learning. Not just in the traditional sense, but in terms of evolving our mindset alongside technology. We instruct our employees how to use AI, while training them to stay sharp and thoughtful while doing so. Being modern and competitive is certainly good, but it shouldn't come at the cost of authenticity. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
05-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Future of Crisis Management: Why Businesses Need To Prepare
Valentina Drofa, Co-Founder and CEO at the PR firm for eminent finance and fintech brands Drofa Comms. Crisis situations have always been part of the business landscape, but in today's world, unexpected disruptions—the so-called 'Black Swan' events—are becoming more frequent and unpredictable. Yet, most companies remain unprepared to handle them, particularly when it comes to communications and rapid response. Having worked in financial markets for many years, I've seen this pattern time and time again. Regardless of whether they're large or small, many companies operate under the assumption that 'it won't happen to us.' And when something does go wrong, they scramble, wasting precious time while misinformation spreads, potentially damaging their credibility and reputation. The financial sector, where trust is the foundation of business, is especially vulnerable to these failures. The truth is, when it comes to crisis management, quite a few problems stem from mindset. As I mentioned, many businesses hold on to the belief that they will somehow be exempt from worst-case scenarios. Even well-established firms tend to exhibit a 'hope for the best' approach rather than preparing for the worst. In practice, this means they generally have no established crisis protocols for handling unexpected events, whether it's a PR disaster, a regulatory issue or a financial scandal. In a force majeure event, getting ahead of the damage curve is crucial, but that's nearly impossible when you don't have pre-prepared response strategies or a dedicated team ready to act immediately. The lack of structure and groundwork inevitably bleeds over into your communications, showing internal confusion rather than a message of confidence that your audience needs to hear to feel reassured. At the same time, delays in responding or complete silence gives the space for rumors and speculation to spiral out of control, eating away at customer trust and damaging reputations. This is particularly true for the financial sector—when their money is involved, uncertainty is not something most people take lightly. If a company stays silent through the whole thing, even if the situation gets resolved safely, chances are high that many clients will consider switching to someone else. There is also one other issue to consider. Namely, the fact that the more conventional, old-school crisis management playbooks were designed with more predictable challenges in mind. But today's world is moving too fast, and outdated strategies can't keep up. By the time a company issues a carefully worded statement, social media may have already gone crazy with speculation. 'Bad news has wings,' as the saying goes. As such, speed is of paramount importance. Delayed responses breed uncertainty, while people rush to come up with any and every possible theory to fill in the knowledge gap. Even a minor issue can escalate into a major reputational disaster if it's not handled promptly and transparently. In order to act swiftly when the time comes, companies must make certain to prepare in advance. This means developing proactive crisis management strategies and building response teams well before they have a need for them. Something I always advise our clients is to take due time to identify all potential risks they can think of and come up with step-by-step responses. These plans should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they remain valid and relevant. Assemble a group of experts, both internal and external, that can act at a moment's notice. Make sure that team members can cover all aspects of crisis responses—PR, legal, compliance, operations and so on—and that they all understand their roles and responsibilities. They need to be prepared to issue official statements from the company quickly when a situation arises, ensuring information is factual and coordinated across all channels. Finally, if you are relying on the services of an external PR agency to communicate with your audience, make sure that agency is fully prepared to work with you through crisis situations. They should have strong media relationships already developed, as well as clear processes on how to move quickly and efficiently to spread the right information. Keep in mind: It is important that the agency is treated as an extension of your own crisis response team. They need to be among the first to be informed when something goes wrong to help you manage the narrative from the beginning. Also, when a crisis hits, having an open line of access to journalists is invaluable. It gives you the opportunity to ensure that your company is the primary source of updates before other parties start coming up with false theories and spreading misinformation. To reiterate, failing to properly manage a crisis can make all the difference between survival and downfall, especially in financial markets. I've seen plenty of cases where companies failed to act in time, which resulted in rumors dominating the media landscape. By the time they attempted damage control, an unfavorable perception of them had already solidified, making recovery that much harder. It is important to acknowledge that such situations are inevitable. The real question isn't 'if' a company will face a crisis, but 'when.' Businesses that treat crisis management as an afterthought are gambling with their reputations and long-term stability. In today's digital age, information, true or false, spreads very quickly, and being transparent in a challenging situation can make or break a company. Being unprepared is no longer an option. Firms must be proactive in their crisis management strategies and plan ahead, or they will find themselves victims of someone else's narrative. Companies that make the effort have a better chance of building resilient trust that lasts. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
