CryptoQuant lists the most transparent resource exchanges

The report ranked exchanges based on reserves, trading activity and transparency, with KuCoin scoring 96.7 out of 100 points.

According to Exchange Leader CryptoQuant’s latest annual report, KuCoin has achieved the highest Proof of Resource (PoR) transparency score among major crypto exchanges.

The findings put the Seychelles trading platform ahead of several larger competitors in a category that many traders see as central to assessing exchange ability.

Reports on stock exchange ratings and trading activity

The report, which examined the exchange’s performance in terms of trading volume, resource disclosure, and derivative activity in 2025, shows that KuCoin achieved a PoR transparency score of 96.7 out of 100, the highest in the dataset.

The result of KuCoin reflects the monthly proof-of-reserve framework, which allows users to check their balance using the Merkle-tree embedding tools. The exchange also publishes wallet addresses and obtains third-party certificates from security firm Hacken.

CryptoQuant said the exchange has sent more than 39 consecutive monthly stock reports, the last of which was on February 6, 2026. Reserve ratios for publicly traded assets were greater than 100%.

Bybit ranked second on the transparency scale with a score of 93.2 and is also supported by regular PoR disclosures and Haken attestations. Kraken was also ranked A, although its quarterly reporting cycle lowered its score compared to the monthly reporting cadence of KuCoin and Bybit.

Meanwhile, larger exchanges scored lower in this category, with Binance receiving a score of 75.2, which reflects extensive wallet disclosure and user balance verification tools, but does not include a full independent audit of all exchange balances.

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Coinbase ranked much lower with a score of 44.3, mainly because it does not publish comprehensive wallet address maps or provide on-chain verification of customer balances.

The Transparency Rating is part of the CryptoQuant Exchange Leader Index, which measures platforms using six pillars: trading volume, reserves, transparency of proof of reserves, mixed trading balance, volume growth and reserve growth. In the overall index, MEXC, Binance and Bybit occupied the top three positions in 2025.

Trading of derivatives dominates the activity of the exchange

The report also looked at trading patterns on major exchanges, revealing that most major platforms now record more activity in derivatives markets than spot trading. MEXC, Bybit, Bitget, Binance, Gate and Coinbase generated between 70% and 90% of their volume from perpetual futures contracts.

However, KuCoin is among the exchanges with a more balanced mix between spot and derivatives trading. CryptoQuant placed it in the same group as HTX and Kraken, where both segments contributed significant volumes rather than one dominating the other.

In terms of total trading volume, Binance is still the largest exchange, processing approximately $32.4 trillion in annual trading volume by 2025. About $25 trillion of that amount came from derivatives markets and about $7 trillion from spot trading.

Growth varied widely across the industry, with Gate recording the fastest expansion in derivatives activity as perpetual futures volume rose more than 400% for the year. Coinbase also made big gains after completing its acquisition of Deribit and introducing DEX trading on Solana, while MEXC nearly doubled its spot trading volume over the same period.