A positive trend emerging from the FTX saga (?)
There aren't many positives we can draw from the whole FTX saga.
(Guess that’s what happens when one of the biggest names in crypto turns out to be a fraud).
But here’s a silver lining that's beginning to emerge:
One of the major problems with FTX, we now know, was that they didn’t have enough crypto/cash/money in reserve to pay out all of the people who had put money in.
So now, the rest of the centralized crypto world are voluntarily opening up their books, to assure users their funds are safe.
Crypto.com has just done so, via an independent auditor - Mazars Group.
The results of the report came out on Friday, have since been released by Crypto.com, and they look pretty good!
...at least at first glance.
Here's what the sleuths of Crypto Twitter have been quick to point out:
The release covers reserve funds, but that only paints half the picture - Crypto.com's debts/liabilities have been left out.
I.e. Crypto.com could have $10B in reserves, but be $100B in debt...and that can become an issue if/when everyone starts pulling their money out.
According to Mazars Group (the independent auditor) this was an 'Agreed Upon Procedure' (AUP), not an audit - which meant they could not 'express an opinion or an assurance conclusion.'
Translation: we could only work with the limited info that was given to us by Crypto.com, we'd need more for this to be a proper audit and give our tick of approval.
Here's what we're seeing:
If general trust in centralized crypto exchanges was solid right now, this report would suffice.
...but trust is in the toilet, so folks are questioning everything.
For the centralized crypto world to regain faith from its users, it makes sense for all major players to turn their transparency up to 11, and provide comprehensive, full picture, third party audits.
Let's hope it happens!
Because regardless of current sentiment, centralized 'on-ramps' into crypto are needed for the space to grow.