How can accountants make sense of crypto?
In this Insights In Focus episode, we discuss the pros and cons of crypto and its impact on the work of finance professionals.
Blockchain and cryptoassets
Blockchain promises to be a disruptive technology for the accountancy and auditing professions. Based on this revolutionary record-keeping technology, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have been grabbing headline attention for over a decade. But the questions of how accountants can work with them – whether advising, recording, or auditing on cryptocurrency and other crypto-assets such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – are still being explored. Here we collate useful information and resources on blockchain and cryptoassets.
Need to know
In this section
Features and articles
ICAEW responds to proposals for digital pound
Following Bank of England and HM Treasury’s consultation on proposals for a retail central bank digital currency, or digital pound, Reuben Wales, ICAEW’s Head of Financial Services, outlines ICAEW’s key recommendations.
Crypto assets: to regulate or not to regulate?
Around 2.3 million UK adults hold crypto assets and yet it’s a largely unregulated sector. However, high-profile failures due to poor controls, market abuse and fraud mean interest in crypto-asset regulation is growing.
UK fintech investment drops 57% year on year
KPMG analysis finds geopolitical tensions and tech challenges contributed to the fall in fintech investment – although British firms attracted more than half of European funding.
UK proposals on retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)
Following Bank of England and HM Treasury’s consultation on proposals for a digital pound, Reuben Wales, ICAEW’s Head of Financial Services, outlines our key recommendations as proposals are taken forward.
Helpsheets and guidance
Virtual assets (ICAEW & IFAC AML – The Basics 7)
Part 7 of ICAEW and IFAC joint series on the basics of anti-money laundering.
Tax and bitcoin sales
FAQ on the tax treatment of the sale of some bitcoin that a client was holding as an investment.
Special Report 65 - Smart Reporting
This special report will be a handy go-to guide – we take you through the latest techniques and thinking behind the new smart world with which CFOs, and aspiring CFOs, must contend.
Guidance on crypto assets
This guidance gives an introduction to crypto-assets for accountants, and how members may encounter clients with these assets. The guidance then outlines the Money Laundering risks that could be associated with clients who hold crypto-assets, and the issues that members will need to consider in their risk assessments.
Webinars and recordings
Beyond Bitcoin
This webinar will evaluate the prospects for crypto in 2023 and beyond looking at what's hot and what's not.
Beyond Bitcoin: Cryptoassets and associated tax challenges in 2022
This webinar examines the advancements of the volatile crypto market and NFTs.
How technology is transforming audit
Technology is transforming audit.
Tech essentials - cryptocurrency
Following on from the Tech Faculty’s Tech Essentials guide to cryptocurrency, David Lyford-Smith will cover how to handle cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain, bitcoin and the future of the accountancy profession
Join Mark Taylor and David Lyford-Smith of ICAEW, and Aynsley Damery of the Clarity Project, for the second in our series of IT Faculty ‘Tech Talks’, this time on the subject of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and how these will affect the future of the accountancy profession.
Blockchain - a game changer in Accounting?
In this webinar, Ben Taylor, Partner, IT Advisory at EY, explains how Blockchain technology has the potential to streamline and accelerate business processes, increase cyber security and reduce or eliminate the roles of trusted intermediaries in industry after industry.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by external guest speakers in interviews or other publications included on this website are, by their nature, those of the speaker. They are not necessarily fully endorsed by the ICAEW or purport to reflect the official policies and views of the ICAEW or its members.
Industry press
The Library & Information Service provides a hand-picked collection of industry press articles as a benefit of membership. If you are unable to access an article, please see our Help and support or contact library@icaew.com
Blockchain implementation and cybersecurity
The article discusses the items that management teams and management accountants need to discuss, analyse, and stress-test with regard to blockchain implementation and cybersecurity.
Distributed ledger technology: cutting through the paradox
Article discusses how distributed ledger technology (DLT) is expected to accelerate its transformation of the financial services industry but legal and regulatory frameworks for financial services have taken time to adapt. The author argues that it is essential that legal systems grappling with digital assets are mindful of the risks and pitfalls of inconsistency with other legal systems and a consistent application of governing law should be considered.
Coin of the realm
The article discusses the startup firm Worldcoin, particularly its marketing of its cryptocurrency by exchanging the digital currency in exchange for biometric information in several countries. The article describes the scanning process, privacy issues, and Worldcoin's pledge to delete the information following the ability of its artificial intelligence (AI) neural network to detect fraud.
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Useful links
International Standards for Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters
This publication contains the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and a set of amendments to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), along with associated Commentaries and exchange of information frameworks (collectively referred to as the International Standards for Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters), as approved by the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs over the course of 2022/2023.
Blockchain: Legal and regulatory guidance
2nd edition of the Law Society's report on blockchain. Covers a range of key issues for legal practitioners to be aware of when advising on distributed ledger technology (DLT) related matters. Includes the growing types and uses of DLTs and their implications on areas of litigation including smart contracts, data and governance, blockchain consortia, data protection, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution, competition, tax and ESG.
NFTs: Legal, tax and accounting considerations you need to know
PwC report on the 'sparse guidance to date on various legal, regulatory, accounting, and tax issues related to NFTs' (Non-Fungible Token).
Accounting by holders of crypto-assets
EY publication that considers the accounting by holders of cyrpto-assets under IFRS.
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