Proof-of-Reserve: Binance's little bluff
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‍The exchange platform has just published a report from Mazars certifying its reserves. Problem: the audit only concerns reserves in bitcoins and is "non-committal".‍

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A "step forward", "progress"... Since Binance introduced a Proof-of-Reserve system in November, a large part of the ecosystem seems reassured and is full of praise for the biggest exchange platform on the planet.

The optimism is all the more important as the company run by Changpeng Zhao, aka "CZ", entrusted the audit of this reserve to Mazars, which has just delivered its report.

What does this report say?


In the 7-page document, the French company, which enjoys a strong reputation but not in Web3, confirms that Binance did indeed have just over 575,742 bitcoins ($9.7 billion) at 22 November.

In a tweet, CZ welcomed the report explaining that the company was totally "transparent".

Except that the report actually raises more questions than it answers.

👉 1/ Firstly about the way the audit was carried out. Mazars did not audit Binance's accounts directly, but relied on data provided by the platform without having access to the wallets.

👉 2/ What about the rest of the reserve? The audit in fact only covers Binance bitcoins and not the other crypto reserves. CZ has indicated that the rest of the reserve will be screened as it goes along, without giving a specific date.

👉 3/ Why is the audit not "binding" for Mazars? In the document, the firm states that its work does not constitute a "guarantee", in other words the firm does not commit its legal liability on the case. "The fact that Mazars is only certifying the audit of the reservation shows that it is not complete", explains a competitor, who adds: "They must not have had access to all the elements."

According to our information, the French firm did not audit all the reservations and did not want to commit itself with the report, in particular because of Binance's very complex organisation. "It's hard to get your head around it", says a source in the company. When contacted, Binance has not yet responded to our questions.

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Grégory Raymond

Grégory Raymond is Head of Research and co-founder of The Big Whale. A specialist at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets, he has been covering the regulatory, institutional and technological developments of the sector since 2017 for an audience of decision-makers: ,banks, asset managers and fintechs. He is also the author of Bitcoin & Cryptos: L'enjeu du siècle (Talent Éditions, 2025), a book built around interviews with key figures from the ecosystem.

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Raphaël Bloch

Raphaël Bloch is CEO and co-founder of The Big Whale, an independent market intelligence platform on digital assets serving financial market participants through editorial coverage, research, a weekly briefing, and in-person events. He co-founded The Big Whale in April 2022. At the platform, he moderates and hosts institutional events bringing together banks, asset managers, custodians, and infrastructure providers on topics including staking, on-chain yield, stablecoins, DeFi lending, and tokenisation. He has moderated panels at events hosted in partnership with Bitwise, Everstake, Gemini, Morpho, Hexarq, Coinhouse, Delubac, Franklin Templeton, and the Ethereum Foundation, held in London and Paris between late 2025 and mid-2026.

Before founding The Big Whale, Bloch worked as a reporter at Les Echos from December 2016 to March 2020, then at L'Express from March 2020 to March 2022. He also previously worked at Reuters. Since September 2022, he has held a concurrent role as Business Analyst at BFM Business. He has been active in crypto journalism since 2016. He holds degrees from emlyon and the CFJ.

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