Congressional lawmakers push for clearer accounting standards for digital assets

On May 12, seven members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter urging the Financial Accounting Standards Board to establish clearer guidance on digital assets. 

The letter says that "lack of thoughtful and carefully developed authoritative guidance from the FASB threatens the ability to create accurate and consistent financial reporting of a large and fast-growing
financial asset class." It presents four different accounting categories as suitable for a company's holdings of digital assets, depending on the manner of usage: cash and cash equivalents, financial instruments, intangibles and inventory. 

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A non-profit, the FASB is nonetheless the recognized leading force in establishing standards for publicly traded companies. In presenting the need for the FASB to step in, the letter points to the growth of Bitcoin on the balance sheets of firms like MicroStrategy and Grayscale.

The letter came from the office of Tom Emmer, who leads the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. The signatories were six other members of the caucus, including lawmakers like Darren Soto and Warren Davidson

A spokesperson for Congressman Emmer told The Block that the Blockchain Caucus was in the process of preparing a new series of educational briefings for lawmakers and their staff "to learn more about what they’re reading in the news, whether that’s NFTs or how blockchain could be used to achieve settlements in trading."

About Author

Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].