Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has declared its Proof of Reserves (PoR) at $285 million, adding that 90 per cent of its assets are held in Binance wallets, it was reported on Wednesday.
From Coinbase’s job cuts to WazirX’s Proof of Reserve (POR) Declaration, here are some latest developments in the crypto world.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has declared its Proof of Reserves (PoR) at $285 million, adding that 90 per cent of its assets are held in Binance wallets, it was reported on Wednesday.
WazirX's proof of reserves was published by CoinGabbar, a third-party portal that tracks crypto assets.
Its total assets currently stood at $285 million, represented by the US dollar-linked USDT stablecoin. Some 92 per cent, or $259.07 million worth of assets, are stored in Binance wallets, and the remaining $26.45 million are held in other exchanges.
"The total assets held by WazirX are greater than the assets held by WazirX on behalf of its users," a WazirX said in a blog. "With this, we are not only India’s largest crypto exchange by volume but also India’s largest crypto exchange by reserves."
Commenting on the declaration, Rajagopal Menon, vice president of WazirX, said, “We are committed to building India's top crypto exchange responsibly and securely, and full transparency is a key part of that commitment. By making our wallet addresses, list of exchanges, and independent Proof of Reserves report available to the public, we hope to provide our users with the trust and security they deserve.”
Coinbase To Cut 20% of Jobs
To reduce costs and improve performance, Coinbase plans to cut 950 jobs or around 20 per cent of its workforce, and close "several" projects, it said. It is the second major layoff at the crypto exchange, which eliminated 18 per cent of its workforce, or nearly 1,100 jobs, last June.
There was “no way to reduce our expenses significantly enough, without considering changes to headcount,” Coinbase co-founder and chief executive Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
Armstrong said the actions are a part of the company's efforts to reduce operating costs by around 25 per cent from one quarter to the next. The business reported in an 8K filing with the SEC on Tuesday that it expects to incur around $149 million to $163 million in restructuring expenses, comprising roughly $58-68 million in cash charges relating to employee severance and other termination benefits.
“As we examined our 2023 scenarios, it became clear that we would need to reduce expenses to increase our chances of doing well in every scenario. While it is always painful to part ways with our fellow colleagues, there was no way to reduce our expenses significantly without considering changes,” he wrote.