FASB to Review Accounting Rules for Digital Assets Held on Balance Sheets: Report

A clearer framework for how companies might account for crypto could pave the way greater institutional adoption.

AccessTimeIconMay 11, 2022 at 5:03 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:39 p.m. UTC

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on Wednesday reportedly unanimously voted to begin a project to review the accounting for exchange-traded digital assets and commodities.

The news was tweeted out by MicroStrategy (MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor, whose company holds more than 129,000 bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet. The FASB site shows "Accounting for Exchange-Traded Digital Assets and Commodities" on the board meeting agenda for today, but has not yet been updated with the results of any vote.

As Saylor has previously noted, current rules may discourage companies from holding bitcoin on their balance sheets as the accounting forces charges when prices head lower, but does not allow for anything to be recouped when prices rise.

Bitcoin bulls believe a clearer and more evenhanded approach would make it far easier for companies and other institutions to hold the crypto in their treasuries.

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Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's co-regional news chief, Americas. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.


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