Binance Proof of Reserves 2026: Ratios, zk-SNARK and SAFU

Binance runs a Proof of Reserves (PoR) every month: it snapshots all user balances at 00:00 UTC on the 1st and publishes the result by the 7th. The latest report is the 1 September 2026 snapshot (Bitcoin block height 964957). It covers 54 assets and is verified with a Merkle tree plus a zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proof. In this report, all four major assets (BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC) show a reserve ratio of at least 100%.

This guide pulls together the numbers on the official page, the three things the zk-SNARK checks in Binance's PoR, how to verify your own balance, the size and claim rules of the SAFU fund, and the 2019 incident Binance announced at the time. One thing up front: binding a fee rebate only needs your UID. It never touches your assets or your account permissions.

Key points

Fixed schedule: snapshot at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month, results published by the 7th. The first report was dated 22 November 2022.
1 September 2026 report: BTC 100.16%, ETH 100.00%, USDT 102.91%, USDC 112.06% (official page figures, checked 2026-09-28).
Verification: the "Verification Mechanism" field on the official page reads zk-SNARKs. No accounting firm is listed; the proof relies on cryptography and open-source tools anyone can run.
SAFU fund: about US$1 billion as of February 2026 according to Binance, with public wallet addresses. If it drops below US$800 million, Binance tops it back up to US$1 billion.
Protection you can add yourself: anti-phishing code, a withdrawal whitelist (up to 200 addresses) and a waiting period for newly whitelisted addresses (24, 48 or 72 hours).

The September 2026 report: major assets

Figures below come from Binance's Proof of Reserves page and the official public endpoint behind it. Snapshot 2026-09-01 00:00 UTC, Merkle root 126c4cc5…6be53d, checked 2026-09-28.

Asset	Net user balances	On-chain wallet balance	Of which third-party custody	Reserve ratio
BTC	682,355.564	683,448.518	9,771.711	100.16%
ETH	3,982,738.635	3,982,772.99	146,323.334	100.00%
USDT	about 32.31 billion	about 33.25 billion	about 0.27 billion	102.91%
USDC	about 7.13 billion	about 7.99 billion	about 0.04 billion	112.06%
BNB	43,374,148.018	43,593,997.879	512,560.255	100.51%

Amounts are in units of each asset. Reserve ratio = on-chain wallet balance ÷ net user balances. The live official page prevails.

Three things to note when reading the table:

The wallet balance has two parts: Binance's own exchange wallets and assets held with third-party custodians. For BTC, 673,676.807 coins sit in exchange wallets and 9,771.711 with custodians.
ETH shows 100.00%: the raw ratio in the official data is 1.000009, meaning wallets held only about 34 ETH more than users' balances; rounded to two decimals it reads 100.00%. Any ratio of 100% or more means that, at that moment, the wallets held enough of that coin to cover users' net balances.
The excess is not Binance's total assets: the page states that "the amount of excess assets in the Proof of Reserves addresses is not indicative of the overall amount of Binance's own assets". Do not read the surplus as Binance's capital.

How Binance's PoR works: Merkle tree plus zk-SNARK

The official page describes four steps: prove that the wallet addresses belong to Binance (cold and hot wallets), calculate each user's net balance at the snapshot time, generate zk-SNARK proof files, and build a Merkle tree from each user's hashed UID and balance. If any account or balance changes, the Merkle root changes.

The Merkle tree lets you confirm that your balance was included. The zk-SNARK proves the tree adds up correctly without revealing anyone's balance. According to the page, the circuit checks three things for every user node:

The user's balances are included in the total of all net user balances.
The account's total net balance is zero or higher, so negative balances cannot be used to shrink total liabilities.
The change of the Merkle root after updating a leaf is valid, with no falsified data.

Point 2 is the main upgrade over a plain Merkle tree. With a Merkle tree alone, fake accounts with negative balances could in theory lower the total, and the non-negative check rules that out. Binance has open-sourced the tooling on GitHub (zkmerkle-proof-of-solvency).

Verify it yourself: was your balance included?

Following Binance's official verification guide:

Download the verifier tool from the official GitHub repository.
Log in to Binance and go to [Profile] → [Wallet] → [Verification], then expand the report. Check that the verification type is "Merkle Tree + Zksnarks". You will see your Record ID (unique to your account and that report), the assets covered and your balances at the snapshot. Click [Download Merkle Tree].
Place config.json, proof.csv and the verifying key from the zip into the verifier's config folder, then run the verifier for macOS, Linux or Windows to check the root hash.
Run it again with the -user flag and your user_config.json to verify your own leaf and Merkle path.

Binance notes that the report is a snapshot, not real-time assets, so it may not match your current balance. If you opened your account after the snapshot, or held none of the covered assets at the time, there will be no record for you.

The zk-SNARK proves the liability side, the sum of user balances, was not faked. The other side, whether the coins are really in the wallets, is checked on-chain using the address list published on the PoR page (Download All Address). The ratio only means something when both sides line up.

What PoR can and cannot show

Proof of Reserves is a useful transparency tool, but it answers a narrow question. These are general properties of the method, not a judgment about Binance:

It is a point-in-time snapshot: it shows the state at 00:00 UTC on the 1st. Movements before or after are outside its scope.
Only listed assets are covered: the page lists each verified coin; anything not listed is not part of the proof.
The liability side is user net balances: it shows the wallets cover what users hold on the platform, but it is not a full set of financial statements and says nothing about other liabilities or operations.
Custodian balances need separate confirmation: assets held with third-party custodians cannot be checked from on-chain addresses alone.
No accountant sign-off: the verification field currently reads zk-SNARKs. It is a cryptographic self-attestation that anyone can recompute, not an audit opinion from an accounting firm.

In short, PoR lowers the risk of "on the books but not in the wallet", but it is neither regulation nor insurance.

The SAFU fund: size, addresses and claims

SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) is an emergency fund set up by Binance itself. According to a 2022 announcement, it was established in July 2018, when Binance began allocating 10% of all trading fees to build it up.

Current rules follow the SAFU FAQ (updated 2026-02-02):

Size: as of February 2026, SAFU holds crypto assets worth about US$1 billion; the value moves with the market.
Public addresses: BTC 1BAuq7Vho2CEkVkUxbfU26LhwQjbCmWQkD and USDC 0x420ef1f25563593aF5FE3f9b9d3bC56a8bd8c104, both checkable on-chain.
Rebalancing: if BTC price moves push the fund below US$800 million, Binance restores it to US$1 billion.
Losses that may be covered: for example, losses from compromised login credentials caused by a vulnerability or deficiency in Binance's systems or security protocols. Binance has full discretion over which losses and claims qualify.
Deadline: claims go through Binance Support within 90 days of the loss.

Keep in mind that how SAFU is used is at Binance's discretion, and Binance says the intended use may change. Losses from falling for phishing or handing over your password or codes are not among the situations described above.

The May 2019 incident (official announcement)

One exchange-side security incident Binance announced publicly was the hot-wallet theft in May 2019. According to Binance's announcement at the time:

A large-scale breach was discovered on 7 May 2019 at 17:15:24 UTC. Attackers had obtained many users' API keys, 2FA codes and possibly other data through phishing, viruses and other methods.
They withdrew 7,000 BTC in a single transaction that hit only the BTC hot wallet, about 2% of Binance's BTC holdings then. Other wallets were unaffected.
Binance said the SAFU fund would cover the loss in full and user funds would not be affected. Deposits and withdrawals were suspended for a security review estimated at about one week, while trading stayed open.

Part of that attack came through stolen user API keys and 2FA codes, which is why the account settings below are worth five minutes.

Account security: start with the anti-phishing code

However strong the platform side is, a hijacked account is stopped by your own settings. The one most directly tied to spotting fake messages is the anti-phishing code: once set, every genuine Binance email and SMS includes your code. If it is wrong or missing, the message may be phishing. The code is 6 to 8 characters, uses at least three of uppercase, lowercase, digits and underscores, and cannot contain special characters. Path: [Profile] → [Account] → [Security] → [Advanced Security] (official guide).

Withdrawal-side protections, including the withdrawal whitelist (up to 200 addresses), the hold period on newly whitelisted addresses (24, 48 or 72 hours) and the withdrawal pause after security changes such as a password reset, are covered in Binance deposits and withdrawals; enabling or changing the whitelist requires 2FA or passkey verification.

A note for users in Taiwan

Binance is not on Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) list of virtual asset service providers that have completed AML registration. The list and each exchange's status are in Offshore Crypto Exchanges in Taiwan: FSC Register Check. A Proof of Reserves is voluntary transparency; it is a separate matter from being supervised by a regulator and does not replace it.

Does a fee rebate affect asset safety?

Not directly. A rebate site only needs your UID to match trading fees; your assets stay in your own Binance account. The auto-rebate is paid back by Binance to your account and the extra rebate is settled daily, so the rebate site cannot move your funds. More in Are Crypto Fee Rebates Real? Is Binding a Code Safe? Quant Nova's Binance rebate is 30% for new users at Lv.1, 35% at SVIP (reachable through trading volume), and up to 40% at the invite-only Supernova tier. Rates and binding steps are in the Binance fee rebate guide.

FAQ

How often does Binance update its Proof of Reserves?

Monthly. The snapshot is taken at 00:00 UTC on the 1st and results are published by the 7th.

Is Binance's PoR audited by a third party?

The verification field on the official page currently reads zk-SNARKs, with no accounting firm listed. Its credibility comes from the cryptographic proof and open-source tools that anyone can download and rerun.

What does a 100% reserve ratio mean?

At the snapshot, the published Binance wallets held at least as much of that coin as all users' net balances combined. It is a point-in-time figure, not a guarantee for every moment afterwards.

Will SAFU cover my loss from phishing?

The situations Binance describes involve losses caused by vulnerabilities in Binance's own systems or security protocols, and eligibility is at Binance's full discretion. Losses from leaking your own password or codes are not among the listed situations. Claims must be filed with support within 90 days.

Do I need to hand over my password or API key to get a rebate?

No. Only your UID. Quant Nova never asks for your password, 2FA or API keys. Treat anyone claiming to be a rebate site who asks for them as a scam.