It appears that crypto exchange Binance has emerged to be largely unaffected by a series of U.S. Department of Justice actions against the exchange and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao, with its assets under custody surpassing $100 billion as of March 18.
As per the announcement, Binance users' assets under custody have more than doubled from $40 billion at the beginning of the year. "We hold all user funds at a 1:1 ratio, plus additional reserves, which anyone can verify using Binance's proof-of-reserves (POR) system," Binance staff said, adding: "Recent weeks have witnessed a remarkable, sustained uptick in digital asset prices, a trend that has undoubtedly played a significant role in elevating the value of user assets under Binance's custody."
Binance's proof-of-reserves currently show over 100% collateralization ratios for all major cryptocurrencies and altcoins. Experts have warned, however, that proof-of-reserves only includes half the relevant information on reserves and does not include an entity's liabilities to calculate its net equity. Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, has since claimed that the exchange's capital structure is "debt-free." The exchange stated:
"Please note that the aggregate figures provided by blockchain market intelligence firms, while useful, are not a perfect representation of the amount of user funds on Binance: some of the assets included in such calculations are Binance's own operational funds. The ultimate source of the most accurate information on user asset holdings on Binance are our monthly POR audits."
On March 12, Binance announced that it would cut ties with its venture capital arm Binance Labs, despite the latter averaging over 14 times return on invested projects and its portfolio now being worth $10 billion. "Binance Labs is licensed by Binance to use its trademark but otherwise has no other relationship with the Binance cryptocurrency exchange or any affiliated business or entity," its staff stated.
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