A new development has occurred in the US, which has come to the agenda with its oppressive legal regulations in the cryptocurrency market. The market accounting application, which was discussed last month to be applied to companies and businesses that own crypto assets, has finally been approved by the authorized institution. With the announcement made by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the US, a solution has finally been found on this issue.
First Reaction Came from Michael Saylor
The long-standing problem of US-based companies that own crypto assets such as Microstrategy and Tesla has finally been solved. These companies were filing these crypto assets as intangible assets with no ‘value’ in their financial reports. In case of a decrease in the value of these assets, the company had to prepare a loss declaration. However, companies were not allowed to prepare income statements for any increase in the value of these assets.
The person who invited FASB officials to change this practice was, as you would expect, Michael Saylor, the Founder of Microstrategy. The company with the largest Bitcoin reserve among companies had to send a loss declaration to the authorized institution for each loss period. However, no income statement was prepared for the income earned from this reserve. Despite this negative situation, Saylor criticized that the positive rise was not seen by the investors.
SEC’s Time is Running Out
In the new rule set by the institution, a separate category was created for crypto assets. The gain or loss will be declared to the authorized institution for each financial period based on the purchase price of the company. Although the rule will officially come into effect in 2025, companies with crypto assets in their reserves can already benefit from this rule.
This rule change will contribute to the adoption of the cryptocurrency market in the corporate treasury world, led by Bitcoin. Especially companies that want to own crypto assets were afraid of their financial reports being damaged due to this rule. With this change, companies that want to have crypto assets will be able to make suitable portfolio allocations according to the upward potential or volatility of the asset.
The announcement of FASB at such a time has drawn attention from many analysts. While a response is expected from the SEC for Bitcoin spot ETFs, the institution’s positive step has been appreciated by everyone. The outcome of the Grayscale case against the SEC in the near future may lead to positive steps for Bitcoin spot ETF applications in the coming days.
