- A CryptoMonday report has detailed Binance's BUSD and BTC holdings.
- According to Jonathan Merry, CEO of CryptoMonday, the report could go a long way in assuring users that their funds are secure.
Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, holds over $20 billion worth of Binance USD (BUSD) and Bitcoin (BTC), besides other crypto assets. This is according to a CryptoMonday.de report detailing the exchange’s proof of reserves. The report shows that BUSD assets account for a significant portion of those holdings at $13.229B, whereas BTC reserves stand at $7.477B.
Jonathan Merry, CEO of CryptoMonday, believes the new Binance report will immensely relieve its customers. He holds that these reserves assure users that their funds are secure and will put to rest any doubts they may have had.
Merry commented:
CryptoMonday CEO, Jonathan MerryThe release of this report is a testament to Binance’s dedication to their customers. And it should provide some reassurance for those who may have had doubts about the security of their investments given the recent upheavals in the crypto space.
A Sound and Stable Venture
Binance has been facing unprecedented pressure to reveal its proof of reserves in the wake of debacles at crypto projects like Terra Luna, FTX, Celcius, 3C, and Voyager. Investors‘ frustrations at the collapses have found a common cause – they want greater transparency in the financial health of other crypto projects.
Inadvertently, Binance finds itself as one such project under this cloud of suspicion. These suspicions have compelled the firm’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), to come out strongly in its defense. CZ has repeatedly asserted that the venture is sound and stable, extending his reassurances to the firm’s customers and staff.
He will be banking on such reports as CryptoMonday’s to assuage some of the fears they may have had about Binance’s future.
Binance’s Proof of Reserves Audit
Binance is also doing its due diligence to assure its customers that its proof of reserves is legitimate. Late last year, the firm committed to an external audit with Mazars. After review, Mazars reported that the exchange was 97% collateralized in terms of BTC reserves. That indicated that it had yet to achieve the 1:1 ratio of its reserves compared to the investors‘ assets.
The report also drew criticism from some quarters who felt it needed to do more to assess Binance’s financial controls. John Reed Stark, a Law Professor at Duke University and former Chief of the Internet Enforcement Office at the SEC, is one prominent voice holding that view. He argued that the audit failed to affirm the numbers provided while discovering any weaknesses with the exchange’s internal financials.
Skeptics also questioned how the exchange handles liquidations to cover its margin loans and demanded clarity on Binance’s corporate structure. Even Patrick Hillmann, the CSO at Binance, could not identify a parent company due to the exchange’s ongoing reorganization efforts.
They also noted discrepancies between BTC liabilities detailed in the report, raising further questions as to the accuracy of the information.
