Mazars Group, an international audit firm, has temporarily stopped "proof of reserved" works with its global crypto clients. The current largest exchange Binance confirms the suspension, which took effect on Friday, Dec. 16.
Mazars Group Pauses Work With Crypto Firms
A Mazars spokesperson verified that the company will be pausing its activity related to proof of reserves.
According to a report by CNBC, Mazars Group has halted all related operations with its global clients, such as Crypto.com, KuCoin, and Binance.
In an interview with the news outlet, a Binance representative said that Mazars would be pausing its work in the meantime, which means that it would not work with the auditing firm.
The spokesperson from the crypto exchange added that the company is currently exploring the best possible ways to disclose the information in the next few months.
With that, Binance wants to be extra transparent about the issue, but it might take some time before it decides to share further details about the event.
According to Decrypt, the exchange will proceed with its Merkle Tree-based proof of reserves (PoR) pilot.
What Happened Last Time?
Last week, one of Mazars' clients Crypto.com, reportedly released the proof of reserves report. The crypto exchange informs the former that the reserves have taken care of the customer's deposits.
Furthermore, Crypto.com has already "provided independent verification of our secure on-chain digital assets matching our customer balances 1:1." It added that its proof of reserves went smoothly and successfully after the collaboration.
Crypto.com told its customers that they could now go to the website to proceed to the balance verification. The company assures that in 2023, it will aim to improve the transparency of the transactions.
Meanwhile, KuCoin, another crypto client of Mazars, has confirmed that its proof of reserve report was already accomplished. A spokesperson from the company said that the company was also open to working with other auditing firms when it comes to third-party verification reports.
Related Article: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Diverted Investor Funds to a Private Hedge Fund - SEC
Binance Coin Drops on Friday
After Mazars announced that it would cut ties with Binance and other clients, the value of BNB or Binance Coin suddenly plummeted during the Friday trading.
The crypto exchange observed that there was a 5.2% decrease in its native token. At the time, CoinGecko released the updated status of BNB, which currently sits at 7.7% at $242.99.
In other news, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried got arrested by the authorities in the Bahamas, Tech Times reported earlier this week.
The US government joined forces with the Bahamian government to seize Bankman-Fried, who is accountable for the shocking collapse of FTX back in November.
According to Damian Willaims, the US Attorney of the Southern District in New York, the former FTX founder will be extradited to the country.
The two governments agreed that Bankman-Fried has a huge responsibility for breaking the public trust, as well as violating what lies beyond the law.
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