Bitfinex CTO releases proof of reserves amid FTX bankruptcy fiasco
The fall of major crypto ecosystems — such as FTX and Terra (LUNA) — this year highlighted the importance of transparency around the true reserves held by crypto exchanges and businesses. Amid the ongoing fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) across the crypto space, crypto exchange Bitfinex revealed its proof of reserves to the general public.
Over the past few days, major crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Kucoin and Crypto.com, committed to sharing their proof of reserve to regain investor confidence. Walking the talk, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino shared the list of the main Bitfinex wallets, last updated on November 11.
GitHub repository containing Bitfinex proof of reserves. Source: GitHubAs shown above, Ardoino shared Bitfinex’s proof of reserves on GitHub, wherein he listed a total of 135 cold and hot wallet addresses. Sparing users the trouble of going through the addresses, he listed down some of the company’s significant holdings, which included 204338.17967717 BTC and 1225600 ETH among top holders.
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Proof of reserves for @bitfinex
Here is the list of the main Bitfinex walletshttps://t.co/TaS7Vy9qfP
Finex holds:
- 204338.17967717 BTC (among top bitcoin holders)
- 2018.5 L-BTC (Liquid)
- ~1000 BTC on LN ⚡️
- 1225600 ETH (among top ethereum holders)
...
Bitfinex developed an open-source library called Antani back in June 2018, which was aimed at providing transparency around proof of solvency, custody and off-chain delegated proof of vote. While overlooked in the past, Ardoino confirmed Bitfinex’s plans to revive the system that would allow users to verify their balances without compromising privacy.
Goals set by Bitfinex's open-source library, Antani. Source: Antani white paperAntani’s whitepaper suggest that users will be able to verify their balances cryptographically, allowing Bitfinex users to confirm the existence of their funds and eradicate depegging risks.
While the revelation saw a warm welcome from the community, members pointed out that the data is incomplete as the information excludes Bitfinex's liability figures.
Related: OKX, Kucoin say proof of reserves will be ready in a month
As a result of the massive outflows from crypto exchanges amid the FTX bloodbath, hardware-based cryptocurrency wallet provider Ledger suffered from a temporary server outage.
“After the FTX earthquake, there’s a massive outflow from exchanges to Ledger security and self-sovereignty solutions,” reasoned Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet while revealing that the systems were back running soon after.