Why did proof of reserves become popular?

It became standard practice after FTX's November 2022 bankruptcy revealed roughly $8 billion in missing customer funds. Exchanges adopted PoR to reassure users their deposits were still on the platform.

What does proof of reserves not prove?

It usually doesn't prove liabilities. An exchange can show it holds the assets while still owing customers more than it has. Without a corresponding proof of liabilities, the attestation only covers one side of the balance sheet.

Which exchanges publish proof of reserves?

Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bitget, Crypto.com, and several others publish regular attestations on monthly or semi-annual schedules. Coinbase relies on its public-company financial disclosures instead.

Proof of Reserves Explained: How Exchanges Prove They Hold Your Crypto Post-FTX

Q: What is proof of reserves?

Proof of reserves is a cryptographic and accounting practice in which a crypto exchange demonstrates that the digital assets it holds match or exceed customer deposits, typically using a Merkle tree structure that lets individual users verify their balance is included in the exchange's reported total.

Crypto.News published a detailed explainer on proof of reserves Wednesday, breaking down how centralized exchanges attempt to prove they actually hold the crypto their customers deposit. The piece, dated June 25, 2026, lands more than three years after FTX collapsed with roughly $8 billion in customer funds missing, an event that turned proof of reserves from an industry curiosity into a baseline expectation. The guide walks through what attestations show, what they leave out, and how readers can separate substance from marketing.

By Rahul Mehta· AI-assisted· Altcoins & DeFi

What happened

Crypto.News released a long-form educational piece Wednesday titled "What is proof of reserves? How exchanges prove they hold your crypto." The article tackles a phrase that's become ubiquitous across exchange marketing pages since late 2022, when FTX's implosion exposed the gap between what customers thought platforms were holding and what they actually had. The guide explains the cryptographic mechanics behind proof of reserves, the role of Merkle trees in proving customer balances are included in an exchange's reported totals, and the structural limits of the practice. It also catalogues the most common ways the term gets stretched in marketing copy.

The publication frames the piece as a reader's guide rather than a news flash, but the timing matters. Proof of reserves remains a contested standard with no regulatory definition, and several major exchanges have rolled out their own implementations with varying degrees of rigor.

Why it matters

FTX is the reason this conversation exists. When Sam Bankman-Fried's exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, court filings showed customer funds had been commingled with Alameda Research's trading operations, leaving a gap that bankruptcy administrators initially estimated at $8 billion. The collapse forced every centralized venue to answer one question: can you prove the coins are still here?

Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bitget, and Crypto.com all rolled out proof of reserves programs within weeks of FTX's failure. Coinbase, which is publicly traded and audited under SEC rules, pointed to its existing financial disclosures. The result is a patchwork. Some attestations are signed by Big Four-adjacent firms, some by smaller crypto-native auditors, and some are self-published with cryptographic proofs but no third-party sign-off.

Proof of Reserves Explained: How Exchanges Prove They Hold Your Crypto Post-FTX

What happened

Why it matters

Market impact

What to watch

Disclaimer

Key takeaways

Frequently asked

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