CoinSwitch says it has a surplus of users' crypto assets worth Rs 1,083 cr

business-standard.com:

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch on Friday revealed that it currently holds about Rs 1,083.45 crore of its users’ assets and has enough reserves to meet withdrawals made by them even in “turbulent” times.

The firm, backed by the world's leading investors such as Andreesen Horowitz (a16z), Tiger Global, and Sequoia Capital, released its proof of reserves report in a bid to bring more transparency to its users. The report, by financial auditor INMACS, states that the company held more assets than its users’ holdings on its platform and that it did not borrow or reinvest against any of its users’ crypto assets.

According to the report, CoinSwitch has 7.21 times more cash holdings in rupees, compared to that held by its users on its platform. In the case of Bitcoins (BTCs), CoinSwitch holds 1.71 BTCs for every bitcoin held by its users. For another popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum, this ratio stands at 1:1.03, the report says.

Eighty five per cent of the crypto assets owned by CoinSwitch users are held in its custodial wallets while the remaining 15 per cent are held on other exchanges such as CoinDCX, WazirX, Binance, and CoinSwitchX. The report is based on an audit of holdings and balances conducted on November 4. The company on Friday shared the addresses of its major wallets, allowing users to verify its claims.

As of January 6, 2023, the company held about Rs 933.83 crore worth of assets in these wallets. At the time of evaluation, it accounted for 86.2 per cent of all user assets in its custody. The remaining assets, worth Rs 149.62 crore, are held on different exchanges such as CoinDCX, WazirX, and Binance.

“Since we have made our wallet addresses public, users or researchers may use any of the publicly available