US Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) has released a new statement regarding the status of cryptocurrencies in the United States. The agency declared that seized crypto assets should be considered as “non-monetary property” as part of an effort to standardize the accounting and reporting of seized and confiscated digital assets.
FASAB, responsible for developing and issuing accounting standards for the U.S. government, issued a Technical Bulletin (TB) to clarify these standards. The bulletin emphasized that cryptocurrencies do not possess all the characteristics of monetary assets and are not effective as a unit of accounting, medium of exchange, or store of value.
The agency also stated that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) should be recognized as official digital forms of government-backed money, serving essentially the same purposes as physical cash. However, other digital assets, including cryptoassets, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), security tokens, and privacy coins, should be considered non-monetary property.
FASAB explained that digital assets, apart from CBDCs, are not considered fiat and do not possess all the characteristics of monetary assets. It clarified that cryptoassets are not an effective means of exchange and do not represent a stable store of value necessary to effectively serve as money due to significant market value fluctuations.
The bulletin advised reporting entities to determine the market value of seized and foreclosed digital assets using a publicly observable active market for a particular digital asset. This statement aims to provide clarity and guidance for the accounting and reporting of digital assets in the United States.
