Will these 7 exchanges’ ‘proof of reserves’ meet the call for transparency

The downfall of FTX has induced fear among investors and traders alike. Thanks to growing distrust of crypto-exchanges, a number of them have taken steps to incorporate more transparency in their operations.

On-chain proof of reserves

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has gathered data related to the on-chain crypto-holdings of seven different crypto-exchanges from around the world. This, in order to compile a dashboard showcasing their proof of reserves in real time. 

The exchanges whose holdings have been made available are Binance, Crypto.com, OKX, KuCoin, Deribit, Bitfinex, and Huobi Global. Here, it is important to note that Binance had disclosed part of its holdings back on 10 November. 

In fact, Nansen has clarified that the holdings that have been taken into consideration do not constitute an exhaustive or complete statement of assets held by the participating exchanges. 

Assets held by exchanges

Binance leads the pack with $64.3 billion worth of crypto-holdings. These only include original assets and do not account for Binance bridge-pegged tokens. 

Bitfinex holds tokens on several chains including Bitcoin, Tron, Terra, Cosmos etc. As per its Nansen dashboard, it currently has $8.32 billion worth of crypto-assets.

Next on the list is Crypto.com, an exchange that has been in the news recently for suspicious transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Gate.io. This exchange’s current holdings come in at $2.36 billion, with crypto on-chains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, among others. 

OKX currently has holdings totaling $5.8 billion. Its dashboard shows that the largest allocation as of now is Bitcoin (89,000 BTC), followed by 1 million Ether. KuCoin’s crypto-holdings come in at $2.65 billion. 

Deribit’s dashboard shows holdings worth $1.46 billion of crypto spread across Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana chains. Huobi Global currently has $3.31 billion worth of crypto-assets. 

Gate.io’s hack comes to light

On-chain sleuth Zachxbt revealed earlier today that Chinese crypto-exchange Gate.io fell victim to a hack back in 2018. This hack drained $230 million from the platform. 

Following speculation about the exchange’s solvency due to the suspicious transactions made with Crypto.com, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain posted a brief analysis of Gate.io’s wallets. The analysis found that the exchange has 5 wallets containing a total of $826.3 million.