Justin Sun reveals Poloniex issues prevent proof of reserves

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—by Protos Staff

Justin Sun has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to explain that “all exchanges in the industry have already implemented proof of reserves (PoR).” He followed up this pronouncement by further emphasizing that “there is only one explanation for why” exchanges have yet to do it — “they are unable to meet the requirements.”

This reveal was somewhat surprising as Poloniex, a cryptocurrency exchange owned by Sun, has not implemented PoR, and as such we are forced to conclude that Poloniex is also “unable to meet the requirements.”

Poloniex has a page on its website that claims to be a “Proof of Reserves,” but this page only shows how much Tron is on Poloniex, neglecting every single other asset. 

Poloniex proof-of-reserves and WBTC backing missing

These issues become especially interesting in light of the fact that Sun has recently focused so many of his criticisms on the newly launched cbBTC, Coinbase’s wrapped-Bitcoin product. He has repeatedly emphasized that the lack of disclosure surrounding where the bitcoins are stored represents a fundamental problem with cbBTC. 

However, again, Poloniex is a problem. Poloniex offers a popular Bitcoin on Tron product that is far larger than cbBTC. This product has a market cap of approximately $6.7 billion, far larger than the $110 million that cbBTC represents. Poloniex also refuses to disclose where the bitcoins for this product are held.

Even more troubling, the Poloniex product represents more than half of all bitcoin at Sun-advised HTX, making Sun’s insistence on these cbBTC issues even more inexplicable.

Justin Sun-advised HTX plays games with its reserves

Read more: Launch of cbBTC, WBTC competitor, sparks Justin Sun hypocrisy

Poloniex has previously committed to providing a PoR audit, but no audit has been provided for Poloniex, and Sun now insists that “auditors can’t guarantee that the funds are still on-chain.”

Protos has reached out to Poloniex about these issues, but at press we have not heard back. 

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