Binance and Crypto.com Publish Proof-of-Reserve Audits Conducted by Global Auditor Mazars Group
This week two cryptocurrency exchanges provided proof-of-reserves in order to highlight that the trading platforms are backing customer assets 1:1. Binance published its report on Dec. 7, 2022, and detailed the global auditor Mazars Group conducted the audit. On Dec. 9, 2022, the exchange Crypto.com published proof-of-reserves records and the verification was also conducted by Mazars.
Binance and Crypto.com Reveal POR Audits
Two very large crypto exchanges provided proof-of-reserves (POR) documentation this week following the promises made by exchange executives after the FTX fiasco. The world’s largest crypto exchange, in terms of trade volume, Binance, revealed a comprehensive look at assets like BTC, BTCB, and BBTC hosted on Mazars Group’s website that shows assets held on Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and Binance Smart Chain networks.
The audit by Mazars took place on Nov. 22, 2022, at Bitcoin block height 764,327, and the report claims assets are backed 101% by collateralized reserves. “At the time of assessment, Mazars observed Binance controlled in-scope assets in excess of 100% of their total platform liabilities,” the Mazars report asserts. “The collateralization ratio takes into account in-scope-assets lent through the margin and loans service offering which are collateralized by out-of-scope assets. The Merkle Root was compiled by hashing all client accounts into a single output,” the Mazars audit adds.
Mazars’ audit on Binance further notes that “total liabilities” was accounted for in the attestation. At the end of Nov. 2022, after Binance provided POR addresses, Kraken’s Jesse Powell criticized the proof and said that the “statement of assets is pointless without liabilities.” Powell has shared his two cents about the latest audit from Binance as well and lambasted the Binance POR again on Dec. 8.
Following Binance releasing its POR audit reviewed by Mazars Group, the crypto trading platform Crypto.com published a press release announcement about its POR audit which was also conducted by Mazars. “Mazars Group compared the assets held in [onchain] addresses proven to be controlled by Crypto.com with customer balances through an auditor-overseen live query of a production database as of December 7, 2022, 00:00:00 UTC,” the company said.
Crypto.com detailed that existing customers can verify their assets on the platform. The full Crypto.com audit conducted by Mazars can be found here. “Our report is solely for the purposes of offering Crypto.com’s customers additional transparency and reassurance that their in-scope assets are fully reserved, exist on the blockchain(s), and are under the control of Crypto.com at the below mentioned reporting date,” the Mazars audit details.