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Crypto Exchanges Agree With Changpeng Zhao’s Proposal To Publish Proof-Of-Reserves

Published date:

February 2, 2026

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Several prominent crypto exchanges, including OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin, have announced their plans to publish Proof-of-Reserves to provide full transparency to their customers.

A Merkle Tree, also known as a binary hash tree, is a type of data structure that is used for preventing the manipulation of blockchain data.

Proof-of-Reserves require third-party auditors to store the hash values of users’ account balances within Merkle Trees. The auditors then verify the amount of users’ assets with their account balances on the exchange.

All crypto exchanges should do merkle-tree proof-of-reserves.

Banks run on fractional reserves.
Crypto exchanges should not.@Binance will start to do proof-of-reserves soon. Full transparency.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 8, 2022

On November 8, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, announced his plans to complete Proof-of-Reserve audits. He also suggested that other crypto exchanges should complete Merkle Tree Proof-Of-Reserves.

OKX agreed with Changpeng Zhao’s proposal and added that the exchange has hired Armanino to oversee its Merkle Tree audits.

Similarly, Johnny Lyu, KuCoin's CEO, declared the platform will release Proof-of-Reserves in a month.

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Besides them, six other exchanges: KuCoin, Poloniex, Bybit, Deribit, Houbi, and Gate.io also claimed to publish Proof-of-Reserves.

Following FTX’s liquidity crunch, many crypto analysts have voiced their support for implementing Proof-of-Reserves, with Jack Yang, Founder of LPT, noting

"The incident of the FTX thunderstorm will definitely promote the development of crypto in a more transparent and compliant direction."

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Ayush Pande

Written by:

Ayush Pande

Writer

As a tech enthusiast who's always on the prowl for the latest developments concerning crypto and hardware, you can find him covering news stories or tinkering with PCs.

About the Author

As a tech enthusiast who's always on the prowl for the latest developments concerning crypto and hardware, you can find him covering news stories or tinkering with PCs.

About the Author

Radica Maneva

Reviewed by:

Radica Maneva

Senior Editor

Radica is a Senior Editor at Bitcompare. She has worked for more than a decade at leading publications as an Editor across various industries, including crypto and finance.

Bitcompare is a trading name of Blue Venture Studios Pty Ltd.

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