MEXC taps Hacken for proof-of-reserves audits to boost transparency

The exchange will publish monthly, independently verified reserve reports, giving users third-party confirmation that assets are fully backed.

MEXC has expanded its partnership with blockchain security platform Hacken to introduce monthly, independently verified Proof-of-Reserves (PoR) audits, marking a shift toward a more formalized transparency framework for the exchange.

The monthly audits will add independent verification to MEXC‘s existing PoR system, creating an external record of reserves that cannot be altered internally. Hacken will publish each report independently, without MEXC’s review or approval, starting in late November. The checks will compare MEXCs reserves with user balances across major assets.

MEXC said its current reserve ratios remain above 100% across major assets, with users able to verify their balances through the exchanges Merkle tree system on a dedicated proof-of-reserves page.

A Merkle tree PoR lets users verify that their assets are included in an exchanges total balances by checking cryptographic “hashes” instead of revealing full account data.

Hacken is a blockchain security and compliance company with expertise in Web3 and AI-assisted tools. Since 2017, it has worked with more than 1,500 clients, including the European Commission, MetaMask, the Ethereum Foundation and Binance.

MEXC, founded in 2018, says it serves over 40 million users across more than 170 countries and regions. CoinMarketCap data ranks the exchange ninth by trading volume, at roughly $3.65 billion.

PoR becomes cryptos trust benchmark

Since FTXs collapse in November 2022, centralized exchanges have been trying to restore user confidence. In the weeks after FTXs bankruptcy, more than $20 billion flowed out of major platforms, according to CoinGecko data.

Binance was the first major exchange to disclose its reserves after the collapse. It published an initial report on Nov. 10, 2022, followed days later by a Merkle Tree version that allowed users to verify its Bitcoin holdings.

Around the same period, OKX, Deribit and Crypto.com also released proof-of-reserves reports, but most disclosures were one-off snapshots rather than ongoing audits, drawing criticism from the community for offering only limited transparency.

Sources: David Gokhstein

In 2022, Kraken underwent a cryptographic audit by Armanino LLP, which verified that its Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) holdings matched customer balances. The exchange said that the independently validated process provided a level of transparency that legacy financial companies rarely offer.

Bybit has been using Hacken to conduct PoR audits since June 2024. According to Hacken, the reviews check user liabilities, verify wallet ownership cryptographically, confirm that reserves exceed liabilities and use a Merkle tree system that lets users verify their own balances.