What is proof of reserves?
A cryptographic guarantee that every unit of Bitcoin, Ethereum or stablecoin sitting in your Vision Bank account is 1:1 backed by real on-chain assets we hold in reserve — verifiable by anyone.
Proof of reserves is the crypto industry's answer to the black-box balance sheet. Instead of trusting a company's word that customer deposits are backed, users get a Merkle-tree attestation they can verify themselves — every week, permissionlessly.
The Merkle tree, in one paragraph
Every customer balance becomes a leaf. Pairs of leaves are hashed together, then those hashes are paired and hashed again, all the way up to a single "root" hash. Two properties matter: (1) the root uniquely fingerprints every leaf — change one balance and the root changes; (2) any customer can prove their leaf was part of the tree using only the sibling hashes on the path to the root. No private data leaks, no trust required.
Reserves side
We publish the on-chain addresses that hold client reserves. Their balances are read directly from Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron nodes. The sum must always meet or exceed the sum of the liability Merkle tree — if it ever doesn't, that is instantly and publicly visible.
Why it matters
The 2022 crypto collapses happened because no one could verify what was actually held. Proof of reserves makes that failure mode obsolete. It is the closest thing crypto has to a real-time audit — and it is the standard we've built The Vision Bank on. See our current attestation, or our security model for the operational side.
Frequently asked
What is proof of reserves?
Proof of reserves (PoR) is a cryptographic attestation that a custodian's on-chain assets are equal to or greater than the sum of client balances. It combines a public list of reserve wallet addresses with a Merkle tree of user liabilities, so anyone can verify totals without exposing individual balances.
How does proof of reserves work?
Every liability (a customer balance) is hashed into a leaf of a Merkle tree. The tree's root fingerprints all balances into a single hash that is published. Each customer receives their leaf plus the sibling hashes needed to reproduce the root — mathematical proof their balance was counted. Reserves are shown as signed addresses whose totals must equal or exceed the sum of leaves.
Why is proof of reserves important?
Traditional crypto platforms operate as black boxes: you see a number in your account but no way to prove it is backed. Proof of reserves closes that gap. Without it, insolvency risks can hide for years — see the FTX collapse in 2022. With it, insolvency is instantly detectable by any user.
How often does The Vision Bank publish proof of reserves?
Every Monday. We snapshot user liabilities and on-chain reserves for BTC, ETH and TRX, commit the liability side to a Merkle root, and publish both to /proof-of-reserves. Any account holder can verify their balance against the current root.
How can I verify my balance is included?
Log in, open the Proof of Reserves section, and copy your leaf + Merkle path. Recompute the root by hashing pairwise up the tree — if it matches the published root, your balance was counted. We provide an in-app verifier that does this locally in your browser, so nothing is trusted to us.
Does proof of reserves prove solvency?
It proves the assets side of the balance sheet. A complete solvency proof also requires proof of liabilities (all customer balances are included, not a subset) — which the Merkle scheme provides — and disclosure of any off-chain liabilities. The Vision Bank publishes both sides and does not rehypothecate client custody assets.