The resignation of CZ last year was a significant event that resonated throughout the market. Despite this, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance appeared to be largely unaffected by the legal proceedings initiated by the US Department of Justice against the exchange and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao. According to an announcement made on March 18, the value of assets under the exchange’s supervision had surpassed $100 billion.
Binance Announces Reserve Update
According to the announcement, the assets held by Binance users on the exchange increased by more than $40 billion compared to their value at the beginning of the year.
A Binance official commented on the matter, saying:
“We hold all user funds at a 1:1 ratio with additional reserves that everyone can verify using Binance’s Proof of Reserves (POR) system. The past few weeks have seen a significant and sustained increase in digital asset prices, which undoubtedly played a major role in the increase in value of user assets under Binance’s supervision.”
As of today, Binance’s proof of reserves indicates collateralization rates of over 100% for all major cryptocurrencies and altcoins, according to the documents presented.
However, experts have pointed out that the proof of reserves only reveals half of the information about the reserves and does not include obligations related to calculating a company’s net equity, prompting warnings in this regard.
New Binance CEO Makes Statement
Following CZ, the new Binance CEO Richard Teng, who was one of the main figures in preventing a collapse, claimed that the exchange was “debt-free” during the mentioned period. The CEO of the exchange stated:
“Please remember that the aggregate figures provided by blockchain market intelligence firms, while useful, are not a perfect representation of the amount of user funds at Binance. Some of the assets included in such calculations are Binance’s own operational funds. The most accurate source of information regarding user assets at Binance is our monthly Proof of Reserves audits.”
An important event occurred at Binance on March 12. Despite achieving returns over 14 times on average from its invested projects and its portfolio being worth $10 billion today, it announced that it would sever ties with Binance Labs, which serves as its venture capital arm.
Binance Labs made the following statement:
It is licensed to use Binance’s trade name but has no other relationship with the Binance cryptocurrency exchange or any affiliated business or entity.