Binance Proof-of-Reserves Auditor Mazars Pauses Work Temporarily for Crypto Clients: Report

Mazars, the auditing firm working with major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has paused all work for clients in the crypto industry, news outlet Coindesk reported on Friday, citing an emailed statement from Binance.

"Mazars has indicated that they will temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally, which include Crypto.com, KuCoin, and Binance. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to work with Mazars for the moment," a Binance spokesperson said to Coindesk.

Mazars had performed a so-called proof-of-reserves check on Binance's bitcoin holdings earlier this month, finding its bitcoin reserves on a single day in late November were overcollateralised.

The audit firm has deleted the webpage containing a report on the check, published on December 7.

Mazars and Binance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The pause by Mazars comes amid intense scrutiny, sparked by the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange, of how such platforms hold user funds.

Binance was this week hit by a surge in outflows, which Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called "business as usual." Binance also paused withdrawals of a major stablecoin for a period on Monday, blaming delays in the traditional banking system.

It was earlier reported that Binance has witnessed a surge in trading activities for Sun Token, Ardor, Osmosis, FUNToken, and Golem. With the offbeat trade movement of SUN, ARDR, OSMO, FUN, and GLM, users wondered if some accounts on Binance were compromised with stolen keys.

However, the official Twitter handle of Binance revealed that the company conducted an internal probe to check if bad actors were targeting the exchange.