Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is launching a new feature that allows its customers to check their cryptocurrency balance via a crypto audit performed by Armanino LLP.
In a press release released on Thursday, the exchange said that, in practice, the initiative will allow customers to prove that their Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) balances are backed by real assets held in custody.
Kraken added that the audit carried out recently proved that the platform holds $19 billion in BTC and ETH.
This includes $3.5 billion worth of Ether held on Kraken’s on-chain staking service, the main validator for ETH2.
Kraken launches Proof of Reserve
Proof of Reserves is described by Kraken as “an advanced cryptographic accounting procedure”.
The idea is to carry out the verification procedure every six months in the coming years. As the company highlighted, this regularity will ensure that Kraken meets stringent accountability standards.
About the initiative, Jeremy Welch, director of products at Kraken, highlighted:
“Security and transparency for our customers has been at the heart of our culture as a company and at the heart of our practices and operations from the beginning. The Proof of Reservations audits will demonstrate that for Kraken, customer safety and security is a priority.”
To put the initiative into practice, Kraken has partnered with global accounting firm Armanino.
Armanino will follow the attestation standards used by the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants .
“While the audit only covers 2 of the 100+ assets available for trading on our exchange, it adheres to and seeks to advance recommended standards for new cryptographic audits that we expect will be widely adopted in the digital asset industry,” Kraken said.
Cryptocurrency balance audit
According to Noah Buxton, blockchain practice lead at Armanino, in this audit, the company “excitingly” applies the historical best practices of certified public accounting firms.
Kraken further highlighted that only anonymous balance information will be provided to Armanino. That is, no confidential customer data will be made available.
Finally, Kraken said it works to expand the number of assets that will be covered in future audits.
To check your balance:
- Log into your Kraken account;
- Follow these 3 steps to generate a ‘Record ID’ or ‘Merkle Leaf’ for your Kraken account and this audit.
- Enter this ‘ID Record’ on the Armanino auditor’s website.
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