Pionex proves reserves with a Merkle tree plus a third-party check. The Merkle tree lets you confirm your balance was counted, and Pionex says it is updated weekly. The third-party part is an agreed-upon procedures (AUP) report by Hong Kong accounting firm Elite Partners, assisted by Moore, with a snapshot at 14:00 Hong Kong time on 13 December 2022: BTC 117.60%, ETH 110.00% and stablecoins combined 103.69%, but USDT on its own only 90.02% (Pionex help center and the report PDF Pionex hosts, checked 2026-10-17).
That is the most recent dated, numbered third-party result Pionex publishes that we could obtain. This guide covers what the report says and leaves out, how the Merkle tree works, how to verify it yourself, and what PoR can and can't prove. The proof-of-reserves section on Pionex's website could not be read programmatically this time (it returns 403 to automated requests), so we have not verified the latest weekly reserve figures; check them after logging in.
Key points
- Method: a Merkle tree (one leaf per user) plus a third-party AUP report.
- The only check with numbers: snapshot of 2022-12-13, issued by Elite Partners (Hong Kong) with Moore's help, signed 19 January 2023, covering Pionex.com and Pionex.us.
- Results: BTC 117.60%, ETH 110.00%, USD 102.85%, stablecoins 103.69%; within stablecoins, USDT 90.02%, BUSD 316.50%, USDC 28.15%.
- Not an audit opinion: the report says an AUP is not an assurance engagement and expresses no opinion; amounts were withheld at Pionex's request.
- Scope: in-scope client liabilities were about 79.6% of the platform total, and all leveraged-token liabilities and their assets were excluded.
What the December 2022 AUP report says
From Pionex's announcement Pionex 100% Proof of Reserves (PoR) has completed the Independent Third-party Audits and the attached report PDF:
| Asset | Collateralisation ratio (reserves ÷ client liabilities) |
|---|---|
| BTC | 117.60% |
| ETH | 110.00% |
| USD | 102.85% |
| Stablecoins combined | 103.69% |
| of which USDT | 90.02% |
| of which BUSD | 316.50% |
| of which USDC | 28.15% |
The snapshot is 14:00 HKT on 2022-12-13, and the Merkle root hash is 45a03517514bf6526989eddf82bb5e233d35b940438679938002e88414d740ab. The report states that Pionex controlled in-kind assets in excess of in-scope client liabilities at that time.
Stablecoins were counted together: USDT alone was 90.02% and USDC 28.15%, and only BUSD at 316.50% brought the total to 103.69%. Put simply, for every 100 USDT of users' USDT balances, Pionex held about 90 USDT, with the rest backed by other stablecoins. That differs from Ourbit, which states that one asset can't cover a shortfall in another (see Ourbit proof of reserves), so keep it in mind when comparing.
Scope and limits of the report
The report is explicit about its limits. The main ones:
- An AUP, not an audit: performed under ISRS 4400 (Revised); the report says it "is not an assurance engagement" and expresses "no opinion or an assurance conclusion", with procedures agreed by Pionex management. Pionex's announcement calls it an audit; the report itself is an agreed-upon procedures engagement.
- About 80% coverage: in-scope client liabilities were 79.60% of total client liabilities in USD, and in-scope assets 80.57% of total assets, covering BTC, ETH, USD and stablecoins only.
- Leveraged tokens excluded: all leveraged-token liabilities and the assets backing them were outside scope.
- No amounts disclosed: at Pionex's request, the report gives ratios but not actual asset and liability amounts.
- A single point in time: the report reflects the specified time only, and the practitioners have no duty to update it.
- Internal accounts removed: accounts identified by management as Pionex's own were excluded from liabilities by script.
On how assets were proven, the report notes that because of how Pionex sources liquidity and custodies assets, Moore had management list the third-party exchanges used as liquidity providers and their sub-accounts, then watched management log in to each sub-account (including 2FA) and collected balance evidence. ETH staking (Lido stETH and Curve steCRV) was assessed separately, with steCRV 0.91% of in-scope assets. In other words, at least part of the reserves sat in sub-accounts at other exchanges, not all in Pionex's own on-chain addresses.
How the Merkle tree works
From Pionex's What is Merkle Tree:
- Leaves: one per user, made from the user ID and the coins and balances held at a point in time, hashed into one value.
- Combining upward: hashes are paired and hashed again, layer by layer.
- Root hash: a single value remains at the top, the Merkle root.
- Verification: knowing your ID and balance, you can compute your leaf and, using the other published hashes, work up to the root; if it matches Pionex's, your balance was included.
In the report, Moore randomly sampled 10 hashed user IDs and found all of them in the Merkle tree. Pionex's FAQ says it now relies on weekly Merkle tree updates to keep confirming sufficient reserves, and that users can enter their details in the platform's "Proof of Reserves" section to check that their assets are included in the leaf nodes. The help center doesn't name the hash algorithm or link the open-source verification code it mentions.
A Merkle tree only proves that the ledger includes you; it can't prove the platform holds the assets. Pionex's own article says as much: proving sufficient assets needs a third-party check. The only dated public third-party report is the one from December 2022.
What PoR can and can't prove
It can show
- That at the snapshot, in-scope reserves were at least in-scope client liabilities (in December 2022, with stablecoins pooled).
- That your balance was included in client liabilities.
It can't show
- Anything after the snapshot: changes since December 2022 aren't covered; weekly Merkle updates prove the ledger, not the assets.
- What was out of scope: about a fifth of liabilities, all leveraged tokens, and coins other than BTC, ETH, USD and stablecoins.
- Risk at the other exchanges: with reserves in sub-accounts elsewhere, trouble at those exchanges is invisible to PoR.
- Other liabilities: borrowings and commitments outside client balances.
For frequency, per-asset treatment and third-party checks across exchanges, see the crypto exchange proof of reserves comparison.
How to verify it yourself
- Log in to Pionex and open the platform's Proof of Reserves section (as the FAQ calls it), enter your details, and check that you appear in the Merkle leaves with the right balance.
- Compare with your account balance at the snapshot time, including assets inside bots.
- For the third-party side, download the AUP report PDF and read the scope, ratio and limitation pages.
We couldn't load the Proof of Reserves section this time, so screens and fields are whatever you see after logging in.
How this relates to rebates
Binding a rebate needs only your UID. The rebate platform has no access to your account or assets, so reserve and security risk is the same whether or not you bind; see is a crypto fee rebate safe. Sign up for Pionex with code FEEOTTER for a 50% rebate (15% automatic rebate from the exchange + 35% extra rebate), 2.5 times a typical 20% code, on spot, futures and bot orders alike.
Worked example: a spot grid trading 300,000 USDT a month at the 0.05% spot fee (Pionex trading fee overview) pays 150 USDT. FEEOTTER returns 75 USDT; a typical 20% code returns 30 USDT, a 540 USDT gap over a year. The PoR caveat still applies: money in a bot is money on the exchange, so withdraw profits to your own wallet regularly rather than leaving them all year.
To sign up see how to register on Pionex; full rates and grid examples are in the Pionex fee rebate guide. High-volume traders and VIPs at other exchanges are welcome to contact Fee Otter support; we work with the exchange's official team to request trading benefits, which the exchange decides.
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