Deribit Shifts Majority of Client Funds to Coinbase Custody and Ends Daily Proof‑of‑Reserves Disclosure

Deribit will take down its public Proof of Reserves page on September 1, ending a daily verification tool that let customers confirm their balances and compare total liabilities with the exchange’s published wallet holdings. Regulatory‑mandated reserve, reconciliation and audit procedures will stay in place, but they lack the same real‑time public transparency.

The move follows a wallet‑infrastructure overhaul tied to Deribit’s integration with Coinbase. The exchange said roughly 90 % of client assets have already been transferred into Coinbase custody since Coinbase acquired the derivatives platform in August 2025. Disclosures mention Coinbase generically but do not name the specific legal entity holding the funds.

Deribit’s current system relies on a privacy‑preserving binary Merkle tree and a daily snapshot. Users can employ a unique proof identifier to locate the hashed entries that represent their balances, while anyone can aggregate the liabilities in the file and compare the sum with the wallet balances Deribit publishes.

That public snapshot already covers only a portion of Deribit’s total custodial exposure. The methodology excludes assets held with third‑party custodians—citing Copper ClearLoop as an example—because they lie outside Deribit’s direct control. It does not clarify whether every asset now residing with Coinbase was previously excluded.

After September 1, Deribit has not pledged to replace the public dashboard or continue offering client‑level Merkle proofs. Instead, it says clients and counterparties may request audited financial statements and other due‑diligence materials, which are less frequent and less directly verifiable.

The removal does not affect Deribit FZE’s obligations under Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. VARA requires covered virtual‑asset service providers to keep reserves equal to 100 % of client liabilities, hold them one‑for‑one in the same asset, reconcile them daily and obtain an independent third‑party reserve audit at least twice a year.

Deribit’s notice references both annual and semi‑annual Proof of Reserves audits. VARA’s rule sets the minimum reserve‑audit frequency at once every six months, while a separate provision calls for an annual financial‑statement audit that must be made available to clients and the regulator upon request.

Beyond public disclosures, regulators receive other evidence. Covered firms must submit wallet addresses monthly and quarterly statements showing compliance with financial requirements, including reserve holdings, to VARA.

VARA’s register lists Deribit FZE as an active exchange and broker‑dealer VASP. Its terms permit assets to be held directly or via third‑party custodians, provided they are segregated from the firm’s own assets and clients retain legal title. A separate service‑provider list names Coinbase for custody and self‑custody technology without specifying the exact Coinbase entity.

The discontinuation of the public page does not signal a reserve shortfall. It merely reduces the frequency and accessibility of the checks customers can perform themselves, leaving oversight that is less public, less frequent or available only on request.

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