Binance Hires Former Donald Trump Auditors For Proof of Reserves Effort

Major crypto exchange Binance has appointed the accounting firm Mazars, which worked for former US President Donald Trump’s company, to assist with its Proof of Reserves (PoR) effort.

In order to help assure investors that its coins are covered by reserves, Binance has decided to use Mazars to verify its reserves independently, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a spokesman for the exchange.

The report noted that Binance didn’t specify which of Mazar’s offices would be in charge of doing the reserves verification, while a Mazars spokesperson declined to comment.

According to Bloomberg, quoting a Binance spokesperson, 

“Mazars is reviewing all information that we have shared publicly to date on Proof of Reserves (BTC) and will also be verifying future updates and tokens. […] The first verification update for BTC will be completed this week.” 

This is another step in Binance’s endeavor to calm down the investors and reassure them that their money is safe with the exchange, and it follows the publication of its PoR on November 11. PoR is meant to allow each investor to check if their holdings are indeed covered by reserves.

As previously reported, Proof of Reserves is an independent audit conducted by a third party meant to ensure that a custodian holds the assets it claims to be holding on behalf of its clients. Various companies have decided to do Proof of Reserves following the FTX collapse and the fear it has created, though notably, some have been doing PoR even before this massive implosion. 

You can read more about PoR and the companies already doing it here. 

Mazars is an international audit, tax, and advisory firm. Its US arm, Mazars USA, was Trump’s longtime accounting firm. However, in February this year, it said that it would cut ties with Trump and his family business, saying that it could no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements it prepared for the Trump Organization, The New York Times reported, citing court documents.

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Learn more: 
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– Bitfinex & Nansen Proof-of-Reserves
– Billion-Dollar Crypto Fund Grayscale Refuses to Post Proof-of-Reserves – Next Firm to Collapse?