Bitget announces its Proof of Reserves

Bitget has announced its Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves to improve transparency with its users. Assets are backed with a minimum 1:1 reserve ratio.

Bitget and new Proof of Reserves page to allow users to verify their accounts

The Bitget crypto-exchange has announced its new Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves page that allows users to verify via cryptographic methods that assets on the platform are backed. 

Specifically, the Proof of Reserves page provides users with a wealth of information on the topic, including some key elements such as the “Merkle Validator,” which allows users to self-verify their accounts, and monthly Snapshots, which present the balance of the Reserves Pools (Reserve Pools). 

Not only that, so too does user education on Proof of Reserves and the importance of being fully confidential, as well as how the Merkle Tree supports and demonstrates the authenticity and consistency of the data presented by Bitget.

In this sense, snapshots of reserve wallets on the platform and users’ assets serve as reassuring evidence and demonstrate that their assets are held at least in a 1:1 ratio.

What’s more, the “Merkle Validator” feature allows users to verify the safety of their funds in a few simple steps. 

Bitget: How Merkle Tree-based PoR works

In general, the term “Proof of Reserves” refers to a verifiable control procedure through cryptographic evidence, public wallet ownership checks, and recurring audits to certify an exchange’s holdings. 

The custodian provides transparency and proof that reserves exist on the blockchain and that the total amount of such coins held and actually available to the platform exceeds or equals the sum of coins held by all users.

For this purpose, Bitget stores the hash of each user’s account assets in a Leaf Node of the Merkle Tree. Each user can verify that their funds are included in the Merkle Tree by checking the total amount of user assets stored in the Leaf Nodes of the Merkle Tree. The open source code that proves 100% solvency of the platform has been published on GitHub.

Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, commented: 

“Bitget actively responds to the market concerns, and even before FTX filed for bankruptcy, on Nov 9th, we had already promised to publish our Merkle tree Proof-of-Reserves within a month’s time. Today, we are proud to fulfil our promise. 

The release of the Proof of Reserves and the Merkle tree data equips users with updated and informational insights on the financial status of Bitget and enhanced control on their assets stored on the platform, which is echoed in our commitment of maximum transparency and top-notch protection policies for users.”

The $5 million fund for traders affected by the FTX collapse

After the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, all other exchanges had to take steps to process their Proof-of-Reserve, to restore the trust of the crypto community. 

Beyond that, Bitget also took steps to launch its “Builders Fund,” a $5 million fund to help FTX traders and partners after its collapse. 

Specifically, users were able to apply for the fund if they could prove that they were a partner with an affiliate account with FTX and/or had more than 50,000 USDT in assets or a monthly transaction volume of more than 10 million USDT on the FTX platform in the last 30 days since the announcement. 

Hence, this is a fund to give actual support to the crypto community that has suffered losses after the negative events that happened with the crypto-exchange. 

Bitget is registered in Seychelles and wants to increase its staff by Q1 2023

Another significant move by Bitget in the last month was the announcement of its registration in Seychelles with the aim of expanding globally. 

And so, while Kraken has laid off most of its staff, Bitget, on the contrary, has set plans to increase its team from 800 to 1,200 people by the first quarter of 2023. 

Not only that, Bitget has also established regional hubs in Asian and Latin American markets and plans to strengthen its global presence with other regional crypto-hubs such as those in Europe and Africa.