According to Michael Burry, the legendary investor who inspired the movie ‘The Big Short,’ audits of Binance and other crypto exchanges are ‘essentially meaningless’ since auditors are unfamiliar with crypto.
Burry said that auditors back in 2005 were facing the same issue he was when he created a “new type of credit default swap.” He believes that it is “not a good thing” if auditors are “learning on the job.”
According to Burry, FTX, Binance, and other crypto companies are all equally unworthy of trust. He recently tweeted a screenshot of Mazars, a global auditor, announcing that they would no longer work with crypto companies.
There is reason to believe that Burry is reliable.
Despite some accountants terminating their involvement with digital currencies, there is reason to believe that Burry is correct in asserting that they do not grasp them.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) noted during a CNBC interview last week that large auditors simply are unfamiliar with crypto.
“Audit firms are reluctant to deal with cryptocurrency firms,” CZ reported.
The so-called ‘Big Four’ firms—PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG—don’t even know how to audit crypto exchanges, he said.
It is unknown whether the four firms will comment on CZ’s remarks, but Coinbase’s annual audited statements are prepared by Deloitte.
Binance operates offshore and serves a much bigger global audience than Coinbase, which is a publicly listed company fully regulated in the US.
