Merkle trees can only prove that the assets a platform claims to hold match the numbers in their wallets. But some sneaky exchanges already have countermeasures: 1. Launching their own public chains to issue assets—wrapped USDT, BTC, all doable. 2. Proof of reserves only shows the asset side, while the liability side remains completely opaque. The exchange might actually be staking those coins After this deep bear market, it’s very likely another well-known exchange will blow up as a sacrifice to the gods