Proof of reserves has gone from a rarely used practice to an industry-wide expectation, as crypto exchanges compete to show users that customer assets are fully backed.Leading exchanges now run proof of reserves cryptographically, using Merkle trees, and in some cases zero-knowledge proofs, which let users confirm their own balance is included in the reported total liabilities without revealing anyone else’s.Verifiable reserves are necessary but not sufficient for institutional trust, which also demands asset segregation, regulatory oversight, and insolvency protections, the fuller trust stack that PoR anchors but does not complete.This research primer is commissioned by BinanceVerifiable Trust: PoR replaces blind trust with verifiable proof that customer assets are backed at least one-to-one.A Liquidity Signal: Because stablecoins are the settlement rails of crypto markets, verifiable backing of stablecoin balances also signals that it commands the dollar liquidity to honor redemptions and withdrawals under stress.Proof of Assets establishes that the exchange controls the onchain wallets it claims, usually through cryptographic signatures to prove ownership.Proof of Liabilities aggregates what the exchange owes its users.Technical Leadership: Binance open-sourced its zk-SNARK-based PoR verification system, letting other exchanges adopt the same method and setting a public benchmark for verifiable reserves.Reserve Backstop: The Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) is an emergency insurance reserve Binance created in 2018. Bootstrapped from a portion of trading fees collected and held in publicly known onchain wallets, it holds around $1 billion, a buffer ready to cover any shortfall in customer balances.Deep Stablecoin Liquidity: Binance's PoR covers major stablecoins, including USDT and USDC, and its disclosures have shown both with reserve ratios well above 100%. It also holds the largest stablecoin reserves of any exchange by a wide margin. These are the assets users most often withdraw and settle in, so their coverage is the clearest indicator of whether the exchange can meet large-scale redemptions without disruption.Asset Segregation: Institutions expect customer assets to be kept distinct from the exchange's own funds, so client holdings can't be commingled with corporate assets. This segregation is the specific safeguard whose absence turned FTX's losses into customer losses.Regulatory Oversight: Institutions want exchanges operating under a recognized regulatory framework. Operating under that kind of oversight eases the compliance and counterparty risk that keeps regulated allocators on the sidelines.Insolvency Protections: Institutions want to know what protects their claims if the exchange becomes insolvent tomorrow. That means clear mechanisms such as insurance or emergency reserves, defined creditor treatment, and statutory protections that ring-fence customer assets in bankruptcy.