A proof of reserves is a report in which an exchange shows that it holds the crypto assets its customers have deposited with it. This article compares what the 5 exchanges reviewed on Squaby had published, using the facts recorded for the Squaby Score, and explains what such a report can and cannot show. Each exchange name links to its review, where every source and check date is listed.
What Squaby found
Bybit published a recent report that customers can check, with an independent attestation.
Binance published a recent report that customers can check, without an independent attestation.
Kraken published a report that is older than 90 days or that customers cannot check against their own balance.
Bitpanda and Coinbase had no published proof of reserves that customers can check, as far as Squaby found.
Proof of reserves at the reviewed exchanges: Squaby finding, points and check date
Snapshot dated October 1, 2026 (Merkle tree and zk-SNARKs; users can check their own balance). No independent attestation was named.
Kraken
Latest snapshot dated June 30, 2026, 112 days before the check, so older than 90 days. The report names an independent accountant (The Network Firm LLP) and users can check their own balance.
Bybit
Snapshot of September 23, 2026, verified by Hacken (report dated September 29, 2026), with a Merkle tree that users can check. Hacken calls it a point-in-time verification of in-scope on-chain assets, not a financial audit.
Bitpanda
Bitpanda says its funds are reviewed by a third party and that customers can request the results of previous reports. No published report, auditor name, date or user-verifiable method was found.
Coinbase
Coinbase points to its audited financial statements as a listed company. No proof of reserves that customers can check against their own balance was found.
The table is not a ranking of safety and not a recommendation. It shows one of the 38 criteria of the Squaby Score.
How the Squaby Score rates it
A proof of reserves earns up to 25 points in the "Security and trust" category, which counts for 25% of the total. The published rule reads: Attested: published within the last 90 days with a user-verifiable method (for example a Merkle-tree check) and an independent attestation. Verifiable: published within 90 days with a user-verifiable method, no independent attestation. Stale: published, but older than 90 days or without a verifiable method. None: not published.
Recent, verifiable and independently attested: 25 points
Recent and verifiable, no independent attestation: 18 points
Older than 90 days or without a verifiable method: 10 points
Not published: 0 points
Squaby re-checks every exchange every 3 months, so a report published after the check date changes the result at the next re-check. The full method is on the Crypto Exchange Rating Methodology page.
What a proof of reserves can show
The customer balances at one moment. Many reports put every customer balance at the snapshot time into a Merkle tree, a structure that lets each customer check that their own balance was included without seeing anyone else's.
The assets on the other side. The exchange lists the wallets or balances it says it controlled at the same moment, so the two totals can be compared asset by asset.
An outside check, if there is one. An independent firm may review the snapshot. Read what the firm says it checked, and what it says it did not check.
What it cannot show by itself
Debts outside the customer list. The comparison covers the customer balances in the report. Other obligations of the company are not part of it.
Where the assets came from. A snapshot shows that assets were there at one moment. It does not show whether they were borrowed or moved in for that moment.
Anything after the snapshot date. Reserves and customer balances change every day, so an older report describes a past state.
A full picture of the company. Audited financial statements of a listed company are a different kind of report: they cover the company as a whole and are not checked against each customer's balance.
A proof of reserves is one piece of information about an exchange. It is not a promise that customer funds are safe today or in the future.
How to read the results
"Not published" means that on the check date Squaby did not find a proof of reserves that customers can check against their own balance. It is not a finding about solvency, and an exchange may publish other information instead; the notes above say what Squaby found.
A recent report without an independent attestation lets customers check their own balance, but the totals rest on the exchange's own statement.
An older report may have been reviewed by an independent firm, but it describes a moment that is now months in the past.
Availability, products and legal entities differ by country. A report may cover only some of an exchange's companies or products, so check which ones it names.
How to check it yourself
Open the exchange's proof of reserves page (linked in the sources below) and note the snapshot date.
If the page offers a balance check, use it while signed in to your account, and compare the balance it shows with your own records for that date.
Look for the name of any independent firm and read what it says it checked.
Keep in mind that the result describes one moment, not the exchange's situation today.
AI tools help find sources, read documents and draft text. AI output is never used as a source. Every recorded fact comes from a primary source with a check date, and a person decides every judgment call before it is published. See the Editorial Policy.
Corrections
If you find an error or an outdated fact, report it as described in the Editorial Policy. A confirmed error is corrected in the recorded fact and in this article.
Disclosure
Squaby may earn a commission from partner links on other pages of this site. This does not change the facts or scores presented here, and nothing in this article is investment advice. See the Risk Disclaimer.