Mazars says users’ BTC reserves on Binance are fully secured

according to a new document published On December 7, South African auditor Mazars confirmed that cryptocurrency exchange Binance holds control of 575,742.42 customers’ Bitcoins (BTC) worth $9.7 billion at press time. With this process, Mazars stated, “Binance was 101% guaranteed.”

The scope of the inquiry included customer spot, options, margin, futures, financing, loan and earning Bitcoin and Bitcoin Wrapped (WBTC) accounts. Aside from the Bitcoin network, BTC wrapped in Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Binance Smart Chain were also included in the inquiry.

As part of its Proof of Reserves pledge, Binance required agreed-upon procedures (AUP), or audits of limited scope, starting November 22. Commenting on the findings, Mazars wrote the following:

We make no representation as to the appropriateness of this Acceptable Use Policy. Sharing this Acceptable Use Policy is not a warranty assignment. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion or an assertion’s conclusion. Had we implemented additional procedures, other issues may have been brought to light. Our attention that would have been reported.”

As described in its procedures, Mazars independently obtained the face value of the assets of Binance clients by testing a variety of exchange-controlled wallet addresses. The validators required Binance to move the assets to specified addresses and return them for verification of proof of ownership. In addition, the company used its software to aggregate the customer data it obtained and calculate the Merkle Root Hash. This allowed Binance clients to independently verify Merkle Leaf and encrypt it as part of Merkle Root.

“We have complied with the relevant ethical requirements. For the purpose of this engagement, there are no independence requirements that we have to comply with.”