"Proof of Reserves: the false solution
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Considered by many crypto platforms to be THE solution for reassuring customers, the "proof of reserves" system is actually far from the mark.

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How do we restore confidence? 🤔

This is the question facing all exchange platforms since the collapse of FTX, which turned out to be a huge black box: nobody knew what the company held, in this case absolutely nothing.

The result was that more than a million customers were swindled and the losses amounted to at least... 10 billion dollars.

Since then, the platforms have been under pressure, particularly from their customers, to show that, unlike FTX, they are sound. And there's work to be done! Over the last 30 days, more than $4 billion has been withdrawn from the exchanges, according to Chainalysis. Unprecedented in the industry.

To cope with this onset of "bankrun", the last straw for an "anti-banking" ecosystem, several platforms, including Binance and Cryptocom, have drawn on the... "Proof of Reserves" system.

The aim of the Proof of Reserves is to prove that a platform actually holds its customers' funds 💸

So as to have belt and braces, the platforms have even called in an auditing firm - French firm Mazars - to certify their proof of reserves. You can never be too sure!"

And yet, confidence has not returned. Worse still, a certain mistrust seems to have set in. And for good reason: while the Proof of Reserves is interesting, it has a number of limitations, which we will come back to. 

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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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