Kraken has announced the completion of its 2024 Proof of Reserves, a third-party verification process designed to give clients greater visibility into whether their account balances are fully backed by onchain assets. According to the company, the latest attestation became available on November 1, 2024 and covers more than $21.5 billion in client assets.
What the attestation covers
The reserve verification includes several widely held digital assets, notably BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC, USDT, and XRP. Kraken said the Proof of Reserves framework includes information on client liabilities, an approach that allows users to cryptographically verify that their balances were included in the process, and an attestation confirming the exchange’s control over the relevant onchain assets.
This structure is intended to provide a clearer picture of the relationship between what the platform owes customers and the assets it controls onchain. Rather than relying only on company statements, users are given a method to independently confirm that their balances were part of the attestation set.
Third-party accountant involved
For the 2024 exercise, Kraken engaged The Network Firm, a registered CPA firm, to attest to its control over the wallets holding client balances. The role of the third-party accountant is central to the process, because the attestation is meant to independently verify that the exchange controls the wallet addresses associated with the assets backing customer accounts.
Kraken’s announcement emphasizes that the reserve proof is not limited to a simple asset snapshot. It also incorporates client liabilities and a cryptographic verification method, adding additional layers of transparency for customers who want to check whether their balances were properly included.
Why Proof of Reserves matters
Proof of Reserves has become one of the most closely watched transparency measures in the crypto industry. In broad terms, it is used by exchanges to demonstrate that customer balances are backed by assets held onchain. While the exact methodologies can differ across platforms, the basic aim is to provide customers with greater confidence in an exchange’s custody practices and financial transparency.
In Kraken’s case, the 2024 attestation points to a substantial scale, with more than $21.5 billion in client assets covered by the verification. By including major crypto assets and making the attestation available to users, the company is seeking to reinforce confidence in how client funds are held and accounted for.
Focus on transparency and user verification
A notable aspect of Kraken’s update is the emphasis on customer verification. The exchange said clients can use a cryptographic method to confirm their account balances as part of the reserves process. This gives users a way to go beyond passive disclosure and directly interact with the verification framework.
That combination of disclosed liabilities, third-party attestation, and user-side cryptographic checks has become an increasingly important benchmark for centralized exchanges trying to demonstrate operational transparency. In Kraken’s latest update, those components are presented as part of a broader effort to show that client assets are fully backed by controlled onchain holdings.
With the new attestation now available, Kraken joins the growing list of crypto platforms using reserve reporting as a recurring trust-building mechanism. The company’s 2024 Proof of Reserves, covering over $21.5 billion in client assets, adds another data point to the industry’s ongoing push for clearer, independently verifiable disclosure standards.