Aaron Jacob’s Post

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Leadership & Strategy | Finance & Accounting | Fintech & Digital Assets | Wharton MBA

As we approach the mandatory adoption date for the FASB's new crypto asset accounting rules, I'll let you in on a secret... you may be valuing digital assets incorrectly, and it may be put your financials at risk come audit time (no one wants to be on the SEC's naughty list!). Under the new guidance, in-scope digital assets must be accounted for at fair value (hurray!) and the FASB determined that companies should use the existing guidance outlined in ASC 820 when determining fair value measures. As part of this process, companies need to identify the principal (or most advantageous) market for the assets they're accounting for (pro tip: as outlined in the AICPA's digital asset practice aid you should not be relying on pricing aggregators as the pricing source for your fair market values). This is quite different for crypto assets when compared with traditional financial assets, primarily because there are so many markets where these assets are accessible (for example, if you want to buy Nike stock, you go to the NYSE... but if you want to buy BTC, there are a plethora of exchanges to go to). — Here are 4 tips to performing audit-ready principal market analysis: 1. Understand the Regulatory Framework ASC 820 provides our guiding principles, emphasizing markets with the greatest volume and activity. Adapt these concepts to crypto's dynamic nature and to the facts and circumstances of your organization. 2. Identify Potential Markets for your organization Consider all trading venues: centralized exchanges (e.g. Coinbase, Gemini), decentralized exchanges (Uniswap, SushiSwap), over-the-counter (OTC) markets, etc. and then identify which markets your organization has access too (i.e. you won't include all markets in your analysis). Different assets may have different principal markets. 3. Set a policy for how you will determine trading volume and perform your principal market analysis Define a period of time from which you will look at trading activity (e.g. quarterly) and determine the types of trading activity that you will include in your analysis (e.g. crypto to fiat, crypto to crypto, crypto to stable coin). Then determine which of your relevant markets have the greatest trading volume based on your policy setting. The results of this analysis will drive your principal market determination. 4. Reperform your principal market analysis on a regular basis Markets can change quickly, so you should be re-evaluating your principal market on a regular basis, as defined by your policy. TaxBit has recently launch its Principal Market Analysis tool to make this process simple and easy so you can get your pricing source correct and ensure it is supportable to your auditors (and the SEC). Reach out to learn more!

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Sukesh Kumar Tedla

CEO and Founder of Kryptos | Chairman and Board Member at Swedish Blockchain Association

7mo

Thanks for sharing! Curious to understand, what do you do when exchanges doesn’t offer historical price feeds for assets and also do you consider closeness to the transaction timestamp?

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Sukesh Kumar Tedla

CEO and Founder of Kryptos | Chairman and Board Member at Swedish Blockchain Association

7mo

Thanks for sharing! Curious to understand, what do you do when exchanges doesn’t offer historical price feeds for assets and also

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