Bybit’s 40th proof-of-reserves report shows customers holding more bitcoin and ether on the exchange and less USDT than in the previous snapshot.
The reserve-ratio page and release use balances as of September 23, 2026, 03:00 UTC. Hacken signed a verification report dated September 29, six days after the balances it checks.
User Bitcoin was 56,131 BTC, against 58,721 BTC in the wallets Bybit put in scope — a reserve ratio Bybit prints as 104%, unchanged from the last report. User Ether was 551,868 ETH against 570,018 ETH in wallets, which Bybit prints as 103%, up from 102%. User USDT fell to about $3.59 billion, with about $3.96 billion in wallets, for 110% coverage and an 11% decline in the user-USDT line versus the August snapshot.
The report does not say whether that USDT left the platform, moved into other coins, or sat in a product outside the comparable line. A single monthly cut cannot separate those.
The $19.6 Billion Figure Is Not Only New Deposits
Bybit put “mainstream” covered assets at $19.6 billion, up from $18.1 billion in Report 39, taken on August 26, and $16.2 billion in Report 38, taken on July 22.
Part of the latest step is scope. Ten tokens joined the table: SUI, PUMP, LIT, CAP, SPX, ZEREBRO, XPL, USDTB, PENGU, and ZRO. Bybit said the list covers the 50 highest-AUM tokens on the platform, so the universe grows as the platform’s composition changes.
All 50 printed at or above 100%. The new names ranged from 101% to 125%, with XPL at 125%, and LIT at 121%. USDC remains the outlier: about $334.8 million in user assets against about $748.3 million in wallets, or 223%.
The report does not explain that gap. One ordinary reading is that an exchange’s own USDC sits in the same wallets as customer USDC, and proof of reserves does not separate corporate holdings from user claims. That is a limitation of the method rather than a finding about Bybit.
The Crypto Times first covered Bybit’s Merkle-tree PoR in December 2022. In July it noted stablecoin balances leaving large venues. This snapshot is consistent with a thinner USDT book. It is a monthly photograph, not a record of money moving.
What Hacken Checked
Hacken’s letter is a technical check of in-scope assets: wallet control demonstrated through outgoing transactions, the liabilities file, the Merkle construction, and the published root. It is not a statutory audit of Bybit, the company. It does not cover tokens outside the 50-coin list, off-platform receivables, or whether coins in those wallets are borrowed or pledged.
Independent datasets do not always match the published totals. In an August analysis using Bybit as a case study in verifying reserves, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham reported that Bybit’s July 22 report claimed $16.2 billion while Arkham’s own data for the same date showed about $14 billion. A gap of that kind can reflect differences in which wallets each side counts rather than a shortfall, but it illustrates why a published ratio and an outside measurement are not the same artifact.
Users can still run the leaf check on the Proof of Reserve page. A matching leaf means that UID was in the tree at 03:00 UTC on September 23. It does not mean the balance is there today.
Proof of reserves answers one question—whether disclosed wallets covered disclosed user balances for the coins in the report at that minute. It does not answer why user USDT fell 11%, whether withdrawals would clear in a rush, or what sits outside the 50 tokens in scope.
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