Crypto exchange Binance appears to have weathered the storm of actions taken by the United States Department of Justice against the exchange and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao. In fact, Binance’s assets under custody have exceeded $100 billion as of March 18.
According to the announcement, the assets under custody for Binance users have more than doubled since the start of the year, jumping from $40 billion. Binance assures users that it holds all their funds at a 1:1 ratio, along with additional reserves that can be verified using the exchange’s proof-of-reserves (POR) system. The recent surge in digital asset prices has undoubtedly contributed to the increase in user assets under Binance’s custody.
Currently, Binance’s proof-of-reserves shows collateralization ratios of over 100% for all major cryptocurrencies and altcoins. However, experts have cautioned that proofs-of-reserves only reveal half the necessary information on reserves and fail to account for an entity’s liabilities in calculating its net equity. In response, Binance’s CEO Richard Teng has asserted that the exchange’s capital structure is free of debt.
On March 12, Binance announced its decision to sever ties with its venture capital arm, Binance Labs. Despite Binance Labs achieving impressive returns of over 14 times on its invested projects and having a portfolio now valued at $10 billion, the exchange clarified that Binance Labs is only licensed to use its trademark and has no other connection to the cryptocurrency exchange or any affiliated business or entity.
In related news, the dismissal of the class-action lawsuit against Binance has been overturned by an appeals court.