Accounting Firm Mazars Stops Proof-of-Reserve Audits for Crypto Firms, Binance Audit Removed From the Web

The accounting firm Mazars Group has stopped doing proof-of-reserves (POR) audits for cryptocurrency exchanges and the recently published Binance POR has been removed from the web. Mazars was conducting a number of POR audits for crypto exchanges like Binance, Crypto.com, and Kucoin following the FTX collapse last month.

Reports detailed on Dec. 16, 2022, that the accounting firm Mazars Group has paused doing POR audits for cryptocurrency exchanges. On Friday, a Binance spokesperson told CNBC that “Mazars has indicated that they will temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally, which include Crypto.com, Kucoin, and Binance.” The spokesperson added that “this means that we will not be able to work with Mazars for the moment.”

The news follows the recent criticism from Kraken’s Jesse Powell on Nov. 25, and when he denounced the Binance POR audited by Mazars on Dec. 8. Binance’s POR has been in the spotlight for quite some time and the company has been dealing with lots of speculation, rumors, and FUD. Furthermore, Binance experienced a significant amount of withdrawals on Dec. 13, as more than $3 billion in funds were withdrawn from the exchange.

While Mazars is not doing POR audits for crypto exchanges, for now, the company has seemingly removed Binance’s POR from the internet. The page now says the “server cannot be located” when someone attempts to visit the Mazars-published Binance audit. At the time of writing, Crypto.com’s audit is still on the web and has not been removed.

The Mazars POR audit drafted for the crypto exchange Kucoin is still live on the web as well. The difference between Crypto.com’s and Kucoin’s POR audits, compared to Binance’s POR audit, is that Crypto.com’s and Kucoin’s documents are hosted on their own websites. The Binance audit, completed on Nov. 22, 2022, at Bitcoin block height 764,327, was hosted solely on the Mazars website. At the time of writing, Mazars Group has not commented on the situation or explained why it stopped doing POR audits for crypto firms.

What do you think about Mazars not doing audits for crypto companies and seemingly removing Binance’s recent POR audit from the internet? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.