I went back and forth on your arguments for a while.

- I don't think govs should have reserves. If they can save, it just means they stole too much and should give it back. If they insist on pumping my bags, I'll take it, but I wouldn't vote for that.

- For public corporations : I would just abolish securities laws. I would let the private market figure it out. And since I'm really not someone who would ever invest in a public corporation, I guess it's hard to imagine what I would prefer to invest in.

But proof of reserves means publishing the public key, which is a security risk if you have billions sitting on that address. If you say you'll move the funds afterwards, it defeats the purpose because it could just be moving funds around (people do that all the time in the fiat world to qualify for mortgages or visas, etc).

And again, it's not proof of liabilities.

Even more importantly, it's not proof of the "legalese". I can control an address but have signed a contract that makes that bitcoin vulnerable to The Great Taking (David Webb explains really well the interaction of UCC section 8 and bankruptcies).

Basically, it's security theater.