French auditing firm Mazars Group, that did the controversial Proof of Reserve (POR) “audits” of crypto giants Binance and Crypto.com, has paused work for all crypto clients globally. However, the published POR audits have raised more questions than they gave answers to and were met with massive criticism on Twitter. Probably, as a result, Mazars has withdrawn from further crypto engagements. The crypto environment is currently extremely toxic.
Mazars Group said in a statement to CNBC that it had “paused its activity relating to the provision of Proof of Reserves Reports for entities in the cryptocurrency sector due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public.”
The statement said that Mazars’ POR reports are performed in accordance with Reporting Standards relevant to an Agreed Upon Procedures report. However, “they do not constitute either an assurance or an audit opinion on subject matter. Instead, they report limited findings based on the agreed procedures performed on the subject matter at a historical point in time.”
As always, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, tries to reassure the public.
There is massive negative sentiment against Binance on Twitter fueled by a myriad of FUD (Fear, uncertainty, and doubt) tweets. Most recently, in a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, prominent Canadian entrepreneur and former FTX spokesman Kevin O’Leary accused Binance of intentionally causing the collapse of competitor FTX, thereby achieving a massive monopoly.
