The companies work with well-known crypto exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, Crypto.com, Gate.io, OKX, and FTX.
Since the collapse of FTX showed that centralised crypto exchanges need to be more open, the best crypto trading platforms have started working with auditors to reassure users that their assets are safe. But two of the most well-known auditors stopped doing crypto auditing all of a sudden, leaving exchanges in the dark at a very important time.
At the moment, the French auditing firm Mazars Group’s website shows that the crypto auditing section, called Mazars Veritas, is no longer available. The company worked with Binance, KuCoin, and Crypto.com, which are all well-known crypto exchanges.
Mazars hasn’t made an official statement as of this writing, but Binance says that the auditing firm has said it’s temporarily stopping work with all of its crypto clients around the world.
A spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph that after what happened with FTX, people have been looking for more proof that other exchanges won’t fail. They told us that:
“FTX went bankrupt because it didn’t make sure its assets were worth more than what it owed to its customers. So, it makes sense that people want more than one way to make sure this won’t happen again.
The company said that for now, they have reached out to other accounting firms, including the Big Four, and will work to find other technical solutions.
Also, accounting firm Armanino is said to have stopped auditing cryptocurrencies. The company has worked with OKX, Gate.io, and the troubled FTX exchange, among others. Forbes reported, based on unnamed sources, that the company may be under pressure from its non-crypto clients because it was named in a class-action lawsuit for not being able to spot problems in FTX.
In 2014, the accounting firm started offering crypto auditing services like proof-of-reserve audits and stablecoin attestations. These services are in high demand right now because of the FTX crash, which made users more wary of centralised crypto trading platforms.
