A new and detailed investigation by Forbes has raised significant questions about the management and custody of customer assets and stablecoin collateral by Binance. There are many possible explanations for the nature and intent of certain on-chain transactions highlighted by Forbes, and they could be entirely innocuous. But Binance’s so far confused and sometimes contradictory responses to the findings do not inspire confidence, particularly in a post-FTX era of rightfully widespread suspicion of centralized custodians with off-chain balance sheets.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance moved $1.8 billion of collateral meant to back its customers’ stablecoins to hedge funds last year, according to Forbes. In a statement sent to CoinDesk, a Binance spokesperson said in part that the transactions identified by Forbes relate to internal wallet management and did not affect the collateralization of user assets. Forbes Director of Data and Analytics Javier Paz discusses the key takeaways from the article.