Michael Saylor, executive chair of Strategy, isn’t impressed with the recent craze of institutions posting on-chain proof-of-reserves. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference on May 26 in Las Vegas, he called the trend “a bad idea” that could create more security headaches than it solves.

Proof of Reserves Isn’t the Transparency Hero Everyone Thinks

Proof-of-reserves is meant to prove that crypto exchanges, custodians, and funds really hold enough assets to back customer deposits. This move became popular after the catastrophic collapse of FTX and Mt. Gox, when the industry was desperate to regain trust. Big names like Binance, Kraken, OKX, and Bitwise have jumped on the bandwagon to show off their balances and try to prove they’re not hiding anything.

But here’s where Saylor throws a wrench in the works: posting wallet addresses and other on-chain proof publicly is like drawing a giant target on your back.

“It dilutes the security of issuers, custodians, exchanges, and investors,” Saylor said. “No serious institutional security expert would recommend publishing all wallet addresses where transactions can be traced back and forth.”

When pressed about whether Strategy would share its own proof-of-reserves, Saylor dodged a direct answer. Instead, he suggested asking AI to analyze the security risks of publishing wallet addresses. “It would churn out 50 pages of security problems,” he joked. The takeaway? He’s not sold on the idea.

The Big Picture on Bitcoin Holders and Transparency

Proof-of-reserves may show what a company owns, but it often leaves out what it owes. This one-sided snapshot doesn’t fully capture the financial health of an institution, Saylor warns.

Strategy, Saylor’s company, is the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, boasting a whopping 576,230 BTC on its balance sheet, worth about $62.6 billion. Not far behind is Bitcoin mining giant MARA Holdings with 48,137 BTC. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, more than 110 publicly traded companies worldwide have jumped into the Bitcoin game.

While transparency is important, Saylor believes there’s a smarter, safer way to prove trust without giving away security secrets. Until then, the debate over proof-of-reserves transparency is far from settled.

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