Use Gate.io’s Proof of Reserves to Verify Your Asset Safety in 3 Minutes

How to Use Gate.io’s Proof of Reserves to Verify Your Asset Safety

Gate.io is a renowned cryptocurrency exchange with over 13 million users and over 1,700 trading pairs. As one of the world’s longest-running and largest volume trading platforms, Gate.io adheres strictly to industry standards without manipulating the market. Our commitment has always been towards openness, transparency, fairness, and collaboration. We utilize a mix of centralized and decentralized measures to ensure the security of user assets.

As early as May 2020, Gate.io introduced the concept of exchange reserve proofs and invited the renowned U.S. auditing firm, Armanino LLP, to audit its assets, making it one of the pioneers in presenting reserve proof. This article will guide you on how to use Gate.io’s reserve proof to ensure your funds are secure.

What is Proof of Reserves

Proof of Reserves, implemented via the cryptographic Merkle Tree by third-party auditing firms, assists users in verifying whether an exchange holds 100% reserve funds. Only if the asset reserve surpasses user deposits (this ratio is also termed the collateral rate) can it represent a 1:1 real asset support for the user’s principal without misappropriation.

Gate.io’s Proof of Reserves is conducted by Armanino, one of the top 25 independent accounting and business consulting firms in the U.S. In layman’s terms: user data acts like leaves on the Merkle Tree. The combination of these leaves forms branches (intermediate nodes), which, when combined, make up the trunk (root node). Gate.io processes user data as leaf nodes, generating unique output values via hashing functions. These unique outputs, derived from various users and assets, undergo another round of hashing to consolidate all user data into one Merkle root hash.

Due to this distinct encryption, users can validate their encrypted UID and balance to ascertain their account’s inclusion in the Merkle leaf nodes. If verified with accurate balances, it ensures data integrity and that the platform securely retains user funds. For more details on Proof of Reserves, please refer to “What is Proof of Reserves?“

How to Utilize Reserve Proof for Financial Safety:

It’s recommended to use a PC browser for clearer visuals and better interaction. This tutorial will use the PC version of the Chrome browser as an example.

Access the Proof of Reserves page

1. Navigate to the Gate.io homepage, scroll to the bottom, and click on “100% Proof of Reserves” under the “about” section.
   

2. Alternatively, directly access the page at https://www.Gate.io/proof-of-reserves. On this page, users can quickly naviGate.io to the reserve page and access Gate.io’s open-source code on Github.

As shown in the image, click on ① to directly access the Gate.io reserve page. Click on ② to navigate to Gate.io’s open-source code on Github. Since Gate.io serves global users, you can also click on ③ to switch the page language.

Locate the Proof of Reserves

Scroll down on the reserve page, and you’ll see the report data (as depicted in the image).

1. Through ①, you can filter and view Gate.io’s reserve reports published at different times.
2. ② and ③ represent the pledge rates for BTC and ETH during the report audit, displayed as 108% and 104% respectively. This indicates that, at the time of the report, the amount of BTC and ETH held by the Gate.io exchange was much greater than the amount deposited by users. Funds deposited by users are backed by 1:1 real asset support.
3. ④ represents the Merkle tree root of user asset data. Users can use the technology and data openly available on Github to calculate on their own to see if they match, ensuring the transparency of the reserve proof.
4. Click on ⑤ to download the original report issued by the auditor.

Check if your account is included

To protect user privacy, you must log in during this query step. You can use the mobile app to scan or choose to directly enter your registered account and password.

After logging in, return to the interface will display as shown in the image. The account ID is automatically displayed as an encrypted number, and the balances of ETH and BTC in the account at the time of report auditing are shown. Before clicking on ② Verify, please click on ① to copy your encrypted ID to your computer’s clipboard.

Redirect to the audit report query page

After clicking “Verify” in the previous step, you will be redirected to the reserve report page of Gate.io’s audit firm, Armanino. By clicking on ②, you can download the complete report, and by clicking on ①, you can proceed to the next step to verify your personal account.

Check Balance

After completing the previous step and transitioning to the new interface, scroll down the page to see the query interface as shown in the image. Paste the encrypted account ID you copied earlier into the box, and click “Find My Balance” to display the balance in your account at the time of auditing.

Due to the large amount of user data, there will be a search time of a few seconds after clicking. Once the query is successful, the page displays as follows: a dialog box appears with the word “Success”, showing the balances of BTC and ETH in the account. At this point, you can compare with the data displayed on the Gate.io page to verify whether Gate.io genuinely uses the audit data.

Check Your Position in the Merkle Tree

Click on ① “CHECK THAT YOU WERE INCLUDED IN THE ASSESSMENT” in the image above to query your position in the Merkle tree. Before the page redirects, you need to complete a human-machine identity verification.

After completing the verification, the page will display your account’s leaf node number and its position, proving that you were included in the Merkle tree audit. Your assets were not misappropriated or used for other purposes before the audit day. At the same time, you can use this hash to calculate layer by layer to obtain the intermediate node hash and root hash. Then, compare it with the disclosed hash to verify the correctness of the Merkle tree.

Upgraded Reserve Proof

To better safeguard user funds and data privacy, Gate.io will implement zero-knowledge proof technology, offering unprecedented privacy protection for users. This technology allows users to prove they possess certain assets or meet specific conditions without revealing sensitive information. This ensures that users can trade digital assets freely in a more secure and private transaction environment.

Moreover, the introduction of zero-knowledge proof ensures a more authentic reserve verification. In traditional Merkle tree reserve proofs, if a third party misappropriates funds and inserts an account with negative assets equivalent to the value of the misappropriated assets, the stated value can match the actual value, creating the illusion of a reserve rate of 100% or more. With zero-knowledge proof, accounts with negative asset values can be excluded, preventing the fabrication of reserve rates using negative values.

Conclusion

Beyond the aforementioned reserve proofs, Gate.io provides a $100 million user security fund to ensure the safety of users’ assets. In the face of common asset security threats such as cyberattacks, liquidity crises, and major security incidents, user assets will be protected by the platform’s 100% reserve proof.

Additionally, Gate.io has launched various secure asset storage solutions, investing substantial funds in both centralized and decentralized methods to ensure safe asset storage while still facilitating easy trades. Leveraging these technologies, Gate.io aims to provide tens of millions of global users with secure, reliable, and transparent digital asset trading services.