Bybit has released its 40th monthly proof-of-reserves report, and the headline figure stands at $19.6 billion in covered mainstream assets — up from $18.1 billion in the previous report published in late August. In an industry where exchange solvency remains a recurring concern, the monthly disclosure draws close attention.

What the September Snapshot Shows

The figures rest on a snapshot taken at 03:00 UTC on September 23, 2026, with the report itself released on or around September 30, 2026. Third-party auditor Hacken, a blockchain-security auditing firm, verified the numbers.

Much of the rise in total value stems from broader coverage rather than deposit growth alone. Bybit added 10 new tokens to the report, expanding the in-scope list to 50. According to the report, every one of those 50 tokens carries a reserve ratio at or above 100%. The newly added tokens entered with reserve ratios ranging from 101% to 125%.

Headline Assets

Bitcoin: User assets stood at approximately 56,131 BTC, while reserves came in at 58,722 BTC, producing a reserve ratio of 104% — unchanged from the prior report.

Ethereum: Users held 551,869 ETH on the platform, against reported reserves of 570,018 ETH. The ETH reserve ratio edged up to 103% from 102%.

Tether: USDT liabilities fell to approximately $3.59 billion, backed by roughly $3.96 billion in reserves, for a 110% reserve ratio — the thickest buffer among the three headline assets.

How the Verification Works

Proof-of-reserves disclosures became a common practice among major exchanges after FTX's collapse in November 2022; Bybit launched its program the following month, in December 2022, and has published a report every month since.

Verification relies on Merkle trees: each user's balance sits at the bottom of the structure as a leaf, and those leaves are hashed together layer by layer until they collapse into a single fingerprint at the top. Change one balance anywhere, and the top fingerprint changes too. That construction lets individual users confirm their own balance was counted without the exchange exposing anyone else's account.

The exchange serves more than 80 million users.

Reading the Numbers

For Bybit customers, the central takeaway is straightforward: every token in scope was fully backed at the time of the snapshot. A ratio above 100% means the exchange holds more of an asset than the total user balances recorded for it — a surplus cushion rather than an exact match.

The expanded list carries weight as well. Coverage of 50 tokens gives users of the newly added assets the same verification tools previously limited to a narrower set.

The $19.6 billion figure warrants context. Much of the increase from $18.1 billion reflects the 10 added tokens rather than pure deposit growth; Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings rose slightly, while USDT liabilities slipped.

There are natural limits to what any snapshot can capture. The report reflects balances at a single moment on September 23, for the 50 tokens in scope — assets outside that list sit outside this particular verification. The cycle continues monthly, and the 41st report will give the newly added tokens their first month-over-month comparison since joining the disclosure.

Source: Crypto Briefing