Seeing a Proof of Reserves ratio is one thing. Being able to check what sits behind it is another.
For crypto traders, that distinction matters. An exchange can publish reserve figures showing how its assets compare with user balances, but the real value of Proof of Reserves (PoR) comes from transparency that can be independently examined. Can you tell whether your own balance was included? Can you trace that balance back to the published data? And if you want to go beyond the exchange interface, can you run the verification yourself?
Toobit approaches PoR from both sides. It publishes reserve ratios for covered assets while using a Merkle sum tree to give traders a way to verify their own inclusion in a reserve snapshot. For those who want to take the process further, audit data can also be downloaded and checked locally with an open-source verifier.
That turns Proof of Reserves from something traders simply read into something they can actually test.
Why reserve transparency matters in 2026
Crypto markets have grown significantly, but so has the amount of value moving through exchanges, wallets, stablecoins, and other blockchain infrastructure. For traders keeping assets on a centralized exchange, the question is no longer only what they can trade or how quickly they can move funds. There is also the question of what stands behind the balance displayed in their account.
The wider security environment gives that question more weight. CertiK estimated that hacks, scams, and exploits resulted in approximately $3.35 billion in Web3 losses in 2025, followed by another $1.315 billion in the first half of 2026. Those figures do not indicate anything about the reserves of a particular exchange, but they show why traders have become more interested in evidence they can examine rather than broad assurances about asset safety.
Proof of Reserves is one response to that demand for greater visibility. It gives exchanges a way to show the relationship between specified reserve assets and corresponding user balances, while cryptographic verification can give individual traders a way to check whether their own assets were included in the underlying data.
For traders assessing an exchange, that creates a more useful standard: don’t just ask whether reserves are published. Look at what the report covers and how much of it you can verify yourself.
Proof of Reserves goes beyond a percentage
The number that attracts the most attention on a Proof of Reserves page is usually the reserve ratio. In simple terms, it compares the assets disclosed in reserve with the corresponding user balances included in a particular snapshot.
At 100%, the disclosed reserve assets equal those included balances. A ratio above 100% indicates that the disclosed assets exceeded the corresponding user balances when the snapshot was taken. Toobit’s Proof of Reserves states that covered assets are backed at a ratio of at least 1:1 and supported by regular independent verification.
Toobit reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, USDC, and USDT as of September 1, 2026.
In the September 1, 2026 snapshot, Toobit reported reserve ratios of 104% for BTC, 102% for ETH, 106% for USDC, and 105% for USDT. A 104% BTC reserve ratio, for example, means the disclosed BTC assets were equivalent to 104% of the corresponding BTC user balances included in that report.
The snapshot date is an important part of that interpretation. Exchange balances do not stand still after an audit is completed. Traders continue to deposit, withdraw, transfer, and trade, so a reserve ratio describes the position captured by that particular report rather than guaranteeing that the same percentage will remain unchanged.
There is another question the percentage cannot answer on its own. Even if an exchange shows reserves above 100%, how does an individual trader know that their balance was included in the liabilities used for the calculation? This is where Merkle-tree verification becomes an important part of the PoR process.
The Merkle tree connects the numbers to your balance
Publishing a list of every trader and every balance would make liability data transparent in one sense, but it would create a serious privacy problem in another. Merkle trees provide a way to make individual entries verifiable without exposing the complete underlying dataset.
A Merkle tree organizes account records cryptographically. Individual records are represented by leaf nodes, which are combined and hashed through multiple levels until they produce a single value known as the Merkle root. That root acts as a cryptographic representation of the larger dataset, while individual leaves can still be checked against it through their corresponding Merkle paths.
For Proof of Reserves, this creates a bridge between the exchange-wide report and the individual trader. Instead of seeing only that Toobit reported a particular reserve ratio, you can check whether the account data associated with your balance formed part of the liability tree for that snapshot.
Toobit uses a Merkle sum tree for this process. The cryptography behind it can become technical, but traders do not need to calculate every hash manually to benefit from it. In practice, Merkle-tree verification gives you a way to check your own inclusion without exposing or accessing other traders’ account information.
From a reserve claim to something you can check
The easiest place to begin is your own Proof of Reserves report. After logging in through the official Toobit website, open the Proof of Reserves section and go to View my reports. From there, you can select the relevant audit report and access the verification information associated with your account.
The report date matters here. If you deposited BTC after a snapshot was taken, for example, that later deposit would not be part of the earlier audit. Withdrawals, transfers, and other changes can create the same difference between the balance shown in your account today and the balance represented in a previous report. The goal is therefore to verify your inclusion at the time of the snapshot rather than expecting an older report to mirror your current account.
Traders who want to inspect the verification more directly can locate the Merkle leaf associated with their report. The leaf serves as the account-level cryptographic identifier used to connect your data with the wider Merkle tree. By entering it into Toobit’s asset verification function, you can check the corresponding path and determine whether it connects correctly to the Merkle root for that audit.
This is where PoR becomes more tangible. The reserve ratio tells you how the disclosed assets compared with the included user balances overall, while your Merkle result tells you whether your own account data was part of that liability set. One provides the wider reserve picture; the other gives you a way to place your own balance within it.
Going one step further with open-source verification
Built-in verification is useful, but some traders may want to perform the check outside the exchange interface. Toobit provides an open-source PoR verifier for exactly that purpose.
The process starts with the audit data. From the relevant PoR report, you can download the JSON file associated with that snapshot and locate your Merkle leaf under View my reports. The JSON file provides the data needed to reconstruct the verification process, while the Merkle leaf identifies the account record you want to check.
After downloading or cloning the official verifier repository, you can place the audit data in the required directory and run the tool locally according to the repository instructions. The verifier recalculates the relevant hashes, follows the path through the Merkle tree, and compares the result with the root represented by the audit data.
A matching result provides evidence that the supplied leaf belongs to the Merkle tree represented by that report. Instead of relying only on a verification message displayed through the exchange interface, you have reproduced the check using the published audit data and open-source code on your own device.
That extra step is not necessary for every trader. Some may be satisfied with checking their report and Merkle path directly on Toobit, while others may prefer to inspect the process more independently. The important point is that both levels of verification are available. For the full process, see our guide to viewing and verifying your Toobit assets.
Verification starts at the source
Open verification only helps when you know the data and software being checked are genuine. Downloading audit files or running a local verifier therefore adds another consideration: where those files came from in the first place.
This is particularly relevant in crypto, where phishing and impersonation remain persistent threats. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded 191,561 phishing and spoofing complaints, while the wider crypto industry continues to deal with fake websites, fraudulent support accounts, and malicious files designed to imitate legitimate services. A tool presented as a convenient way to “verify your reserves” is not something traders should download from an unsolicited message or unfamiliar website.
When checking Toobit PoR, start from the official website and follow the official links to the relevant audit data and verifier repository. A legitimate verification process should not require you to share your account password, two-factor authentication code, recovery phrase, or other private credentials with another person.
The data itself also needs to match. A Merkle leaf from one audit period should be checked against the corresponding data from that same snapshot. Mixing files or account information from different reports can produce a failed or meaningless result even when nothing is wrong with the underlying reserve data.
What a successful check really tells you
A successful Merkle verification is meaningful because it confirms something specific: the account data represented by your leaf was included in the liability dataset associated with that audit’s Merkle root.
The reserve ratio answers the other side of the question. If BTC reserves were reported at 107%, that tells you how the disclosed BTC assets compared with the corresponding BTC user balances included in the snapshot. If your BTC balance also verifies successfully through the Merkle tree, you have evidence that your account formed part of the liability data behind that report.
These two checks are closely related, but they should not be confused. A reserve ratio above 100% does not by itself establish that a particular trader’s balance was counted, while a successful Merkle verification does not independently establish how much reserve was held against the complete set of liabilities. Looking at both provides a more useful picture.
This distinction is also why personal verification adds value to PoR. Instead of treating the published percentage as the end of the process, traders can examine how their own account connects to the data behind it.
Where Proof of Reserves has limits
Proof of Reserves improves visibility, but it does not answer every question about an exchange. A PoR report is not the same as a complete financial-statement audit and does not necessarily disclose every corporate liability, obligation, or financial condition outside the scope of the assets and balances being examined.
Timing creates another boundary. Reserve snapshots capture a particular moment, while crypto markets and exchange balances continue moving afterward. A successful check therefore provides evidence about the report you verified, not a guarantee that reserve ratios will remain identical in the future or that every withdrawal will always be processed immediately during periods of network congestion or other operational conditions.
PoR also addresses a different risk from individual account security. Merkle-tree inclusion cannot protect a trader from phishing, malware, compromised credentials, or an incorrectly authorized withdrawal. Reserve transparency, custody controls, account protections, and independent security assessments each cover different parts of the exchange experience, which is why they are more useful when considered together.
The right way to read Proof of Reserves is therefore neither as a guarantee nor as an empty transparency exercise. It is evidence with a defined scope, and its value depends on understanding what that evidence actually shows.
Why checking for yourself changes the picture
Proof of Reserves is often reduced to a simple question: is the reserve ratio above 100%? That number matters, but it is only the starting point.
The more useful feature is the ability to look behind it. Toobit traders can review the reserve ratios for covered assets, check whether their own account data was included in the relevant Merkle tree, and take the process further by downloading audit data and running the open-source verifier locally.
That creates several layers of information instead of one headline figure. The reserve ratio provides visibility into how disclosed assets compared with included user balances at the snapshot. Merkle-tree verification connects an individual account to those liabilities, while local verification gives traders another way to examine the underlying data themselves.
No single PoR report can remove every risk associated with keeping crypto on a centralized exchange, and a snapshot should never be interpreted beyond what it actually covers. But transparency becomes more useful when it can be tested rather than simply stated. For traders researching Toobit’s reserves, the next step after reading the percentage is straightforward: check the report, verify your own inclusion, and understand what the result tells you.
Proof of Reserves works best when you do not have to stop at trust. You can verify.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making any trading, custody, or verification decision.
