Gate.io, a leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 innovator, has announced upgrades to its proof of reserves (PoR) process, which includes a new open-source method utilizing zero-knowledge technology. Following the upgrade, the PoR process will now cover the top 100 digital assets, with certificates published regularly for enhanced transparency.
Gate.io pioneered PoR in 2020 by enlisting a third-party auditor to verify exchange wallets, compile user balance data in a Merkle tree, and publish the anonymized data. This allowed users to securely and privately verify that their account balances were reflected in the data compiled, therefore confirming the exchange truly holds their assets.
The process was repeated following the collapse of FTX. While this method does provide security, privacy, and independent verification, it was identified that there was still room for improvement.
The latest upgrade has introduced zero-knowledge technology (zk-SNARKs) to Gate.io’s existing PoR process. Primarily, implementing zk-SNARKs addresses concerns about the previous method, which left open the possibility of including fabricated accounts with negative balances to alter the data. In addition, the enhanced process upholds and improves upon the following: