Mazars confirmed that Binance possessed control over 575,742.42 of customers’ Bitcoins (BTC) worth $9.7 billion at the time of publication.
Mazars, a South African auditor, confirmed on December 7 that cryptocurrency exchange Binance, had control over 575,742.42 Bitcoin (BTC $16,799), worth $9.7 billion at the time of publication, of its users. “Binance was 101% collateralized,” according to Mazars.
Customers’ spot, options, margin, futures, funding, loan, and earn accounts for Bitcoin and wrapped Bitcoin were included in the investigation. The investigation also covered BTC wrapped on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and BNB Smart Chain in addition to the Bitcoin network.
Binance requested an agreed-upon procedures (AUP), or a small-scale audit, on November 22 as part of its proof-of-reserves pledge. Regarding the outcomes, Mazars wrote:
“We make no representation regarding the appropriateness of the AUP. This AUP engagement is not an assurance engagement. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion or an assurance conclusion. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters might have come to our attention that would have been reported.”
As stated in its procedures, Mazars tested a variety of wallet addresses managed by the exchange to independently determine the nominal value of Binance customers’ assets.
Auditors requested that Binance transfer assets to specified addresses and back in order to confirm ownership documentation. Additionally, the business computed the Merkle Root Hash using its software to aggregate the client data it had collected. This made it possible for users of Binance to independently and cryptographically confirm that their Merkle Leaf is a part of the Merkle Root.
“We have complied with the relevant ethical requirements. For the purpose of this engagement, there are no independence requirements with which we are required to comply.”
