By Michael Scott
ByBit CEO Ben Zhou refuted the rumors that the crypto exchange plunged into insolvency. Zhou published a post on X (formerly Twitter) dismissing the rumors as none had actual facts to support the statements.
Zhou defended the Dubai-headquartered crypto exchange, refuting the claims that the Bybit platform suffered an exploit, leaving it insolvent.
Bybit CEO Downplays Insolvency Claims
Zhou disapproved the claims circulated on Wednesday, May 22, on X. The rumor triggered aggravated misinformation aided by memes that copied an FTX-affiliated post shared on X modified to mention Bybit.
Bybit CEO termed the incident engineered by prop desks worse than teenage girls in gossip. The post shared a snippet of the Bybit proof-of-reserves to disassociate from the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Some cracked jokes about withdrawing funds from the platform. Others expressed concern and sought an in-depth understanding of the situation.
Another user, s0ybo1 disputed the news, terming them false, pointing out a bug within the proof-of-reserves graph snipped from the Arkham Intelligence. The user indicated that the graph appears broken, as individual wallets suggested otherwise.
The misinformation prompted the rumor as the graphs suggested draining in Bybit’s wallets.
The erroneous graph triggered concerns about Bybit having suffered a hack or battling insolvency. Autonomous scrutiny into Bybit’s wallets showed the wallets still held funds balances.
Bybit would clear the rumors a day later, stating the claims as unbacked rumors. Zhou would warn users on Thursday, May 23, disputing the claims as false and lacking supporting evidence.
Bybit Shares Proof-of-Reserves to Downplay Rumors
Zhou would disclose Bybit’s proof of reserves (PoR) via a link alongside a Nansen dashboard exhibiting all Bybit wallets and assets held.
The PoR revealed that Bybit’s trading platform held assets whose value surpassed the user deposits. Besides, the assets were available to meet withdrawal requests from users.
Bybit wallets held 11.237 billion worth of assets, with Bitcoin accounting for 30.21%, USDT 19.30%, and Ethereum 11.68%, as per Nansen data. The wallets held MNT 6.34%, SOL 4.38% and 28.08% in other altcoins.
The Nansen dashboard data indicated that the balances exceeded $ 11 billion in crypto assets. The data illustrated the total value of the token holdings, though it was not illustrative of all the assets that Bybit held.
However, the blockchain analytics platform disclaimed that the dashboard data hardly offers a comprehensive statement of the actual assets or reserves of the Dubai-based crypto exchange.
Besides the insolvency rumors, Bybit suffered regulatory challenges earlier this month. France’s securities regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, echoed its warning to the investors on May 16 that Bybit had yet to meet the requisite registrations to offer digital assets services in the country.
The regulator confirmed it had the authority to block the trading platform “providing its services illegally” in the country.
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