Year | 2015 |
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Author | Boon Seng Tan and Kin-Yew Low |
Publisher | SSRN: Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and Nanyang Technological University - Nayang Business School |
Link | View Research Paper |
Categories |
Bitcoin / Cryptocurrencies |
There is yet any official guidance on the financial reporting of Bitcoin transaction from the standard setters as the crypto-currency become increasingly popular and tax accounting guidance begin to appear in 2014. Designed as a decentralized currency, Bitcoin will not become a reporting currency and will instead complement fiat money. We argue that the accounting principle of faithful representation requires interpreting the economic substance for financial reporting that varies with reporting entity: trading firms recognize Bitcoin like a foreign currency and measure the revenue, or expense, at the equivalent amount of the reporting currency; digital currency exchanges recognize Bitcoin as goods in line with tax accounting treatment. An Economica paper by Radford (1945) describing cigarette being used as commodity money in a POW camp has alluded to this economic basis. This paper applies accounting principle to a practical issue and contributes to the thinking process which may help standard setter issue an interpretation.