To Big4 audit also "rejected" Binance

The exchanges are looking for another auditor to corroborate the reserve assets after being "neglected" by the giants Mazars Group and Armanino.

After auditing firms Mazars Group and Armanino unexpectedly stopped providing services to crypto exchanges, many are questioning "whose part of this will go to." According to Binance, no major company is willing to do this.

After the FTX "disaster", the trend of publishing proof-of-reserves (Proof-of-Reserves) also began to emerge. To do this, crypto exchanges must seek support from reputable auditing firms around the globe.

Binance, KuCoin, and Crypto.com all chose Mazars as their asset verifier in early December. According to the publication, these exchanges all meet the reserve ratio of over 100%. Armanino is the unit that FTX. The US and Kraken put their trust.

However, on the afternoon of 16/12, Mazars Group unexpectedly stopped providing services to crypto exchanges, and deleted the previous audit results from the website, but it is still unclear why. Earlier, many people thought that the report was made completely subjective, since based on the data provided and requested by Binance. In particular, now is also a sensitive time, when Binance is facing a lot of FUD and large-scale withdrawals.

Then, according to Forbes, Armanino will soon say no to the cryptocurrency sector and stop cooperating with FTX. US as well as Kraken.

https://t.co/dkHBuhTllW Accounting firm Armanino Ends Crypto Audit Practice https://t.co/WdftnYsaXCpic.twitter.com/8kvWWqSKvc

— Forbes (@Forbes) December 15, 2022

The "Big Four" accounting firms, including Deloitte, Ernst & Young (E&Y), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Klynveld Peat Goerdeler (KPMG), are also reluctant to partner with the private crypto company, Binance representatives informed Blockworks.

Deloitte is working with Coinbase, which went public on the stock market in 2021, for its auditing services. Ernst & Young has also revealed a partnership with TaxBit, a crypto tax software developer that raised $100 million last March.  

A Binance spokesperson added that the team has been in contact with many large entities and is still looking for such a company for the proof-of-reserve attestation.

Additionally, stablecoin issuers seem to be one step ahead of traditional auditing firms. Circle publishes its monthly reserve report, based on the endorsement of the top 7 auditor Grant Thornton from 2018. Since August of this year, Tether has partnered with the world's 5th largest auditing firm BDO Italia to support its periodic stablecoin reserve report.