18.5 AICPA Digital Assets Working Group
The AICPA Digital Assets Working Group has provided nonauthoritative
interpretative guidance on how to account for and audit digital assets. A digital
asset is defined in the AICPA’s Blockchain Universal Glossary as follows:
A digital record made using cryptography for verification and
security purposes on a digital decentralized ledger (referred to as a
blockchain). A digital asset is characterized by its ability to be used for a
variety of purposes, including as a means of exchange, as a representation to
provide or access goods or services, or as a financing vehicle, such as a
security, among other uses.
The AICPA Digital Assets Working Group’s guidance is available in the AICPA Practice
Aid Accounting for and Auditing of Digital Assets (the
“AICPA Practice Aid”). Among the accounting and auditing issues addressed in the
AICPA Practice Aid are various revenue recognition topics, including those related
to crypto-asset lending and mining transactions.
In addition, the AICPA Practice Aid contains nonauthoritative interpretative
guidance, based on the AICPA Digital Assets Working Group’s discussions with the SEC
staff, on how to apply SAB
121. Issued on March 31, 2022, SAB 121 provides the SEC staff’s
views on accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto assets, although it does not
have direct revenue implications. For more information about SAB 121, see Deloitte’s
April 6, 2022 (updated July 28, 2022), Financial
Reporting Alert.
Entities should continue to monitor changes in interpretations related to accounting
for digital assets and consider consulting with their accounting advisers.