• Following the collapse of the third largest crypto exchange in the world, FTX, there is growing speculation over the security of digital currencies.
• To reassure its customers, Binance rolled out a proof of bitcoin reserves website.
• Now Mazars have audited Binance and reached the same conclusion regarding the exchange’s bitcoin reserves.

The crypto world is still reeling from the collapse of the third-largest exchange platform on the planet in the form of FTX. As we wait for the dust to settle and the full toll to be tallied, another exchange in Binance is looking to reassure its customers.

To that end, it rolled out a proof of bitcoin (BTC) reserves website nearly two weeks ago to serve as evidence that the exchange was in a stable state despite the ongoing crypto winter and volatility surrounding digital currencies in general.

While we could take Binance’s word for it, there is additional credence now as auditing firm Mazars has weighed in on the crypto exchange and its proof of reserves in particular. To that end, after doing its own audit, Mazars says everything is on the up and up at Binance.

All of this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, however, as we should point out that Mazars conducted the audit at the request of Binance. The crypto exchange also only has proof of reserves for bitcoin at the time of writing, so it remains to be seen what its reserves are sitting at for other forms of crypto.

As part of its audit, Mazars instructed Binance to complete small transactions at specific times to validate the authenticity of wallets to ascertain that they were indeed under the control of the exchange platform.

Mazars has also detailed its procedures and findings of the reserves in this document (PDF), but cannot provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot given the frequency of fluctuation for cryptocurrencies. It is also worth noting that this audit is accurate as of 23:59 UTC on 22nd November, so something could have changed between then and now.

While Mazars was unable to provide a figure, Binance did, with its users holding 575 742.4228 BTC (~$9.7 billion), according to TechCrunch. The exchange says that is enough to cover 101 percent of its BTC and wrapped BTC.

Several other checks were completed in the audit report, as the crypto exchange platform is looking to jump through as many hoops as possible to prove that its customers’ money is safe. Whether that is enough to ease growing scepticism, remains to be seen.

[Image – Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash]