103.5% reserves with a negative balance
Binance has just released another Proof-of-Reserves report, and for the first time I noticed something that’s both surprising and revealing - though it turns out it has actually been showing up in these reports for quite a while. Take a look:
- Customer balances: 608,017 BTC
- Binance balance: 600,060 BTC
That’s a shortfall of 7,943 BTC. The exchange has given those coins to someone else.
Proof-of-Reserves was introduced back in 2022 so that customers could verify that this kind of thing wasn’t happening - that every coin deposited on the exchange was really there. But instead, month after month, Binance openly shows the exact opposite. They don’t even try to hide the fact that they don’t actually hold all the Bitcoin they owe their customers on demand. This gap quietly appeared in the PoR report on February 1, 2025 - and it’s been sitting there for seven months straight.
Why do I say it appeared “quietly”? Because on the PoR page, the biggest font says: “BTC Ratio 103.50%.” Slightly smaller, you see: “Customer Net Balances 608,017.442; Binance Net Balances 629,273.721.” And only in the fine print does it say: “Exchange Balance 600,060.318; Third-Party Custody 29,213.403.”
Binance isn’t technically lying - but it certainly isn’t highlighting the numbers that show your Bitcoin isn’t really there.
Meanwhile, 7,943 BTC at today’s prices is worth more than $850 million. When Tether was caught misusing roughly the same amount of clients' funds, it triggered a prosecutor’s investigation and ended with a hefty fine.
And it’s not just Bitcoin. The same pattern shows up with other cryptocurrencies too: USDT, ETH, SOL, XRP, ARB, UNI, SSV - Binance doesn’t fully hold those assets either.
Keeping your crypto on exchanges is risky! Every cryptocurrency can be stored safely in your own wallet. And if you need to swap one coin for another, there’s always rabbit.io.
