Fourteen years after Bitcoin’s genesis block launched a profound disruption in financial services and other industries through the rise of blockchain technology, United States authorities are finally becoming more interested in cryptocurrencies’ future and economic impact.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board was established on December 14. discussed new accounting and disclosure requirements for entities holding crypto assets in financial statements, following an agenda consultation with investors — the first in five years. These proposed rules will be published in the first half 2023.
The Securities and Exchange Commission was established a few days before. delivered a sample letter regarding the recent developments in the crypto markets, asking companies to consider in their disclosures “the need to address crypto asset market developments in their filings generally, including in their business descriptions, risk factors, and management’s discussion and analysis.”
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According to legal experts, many financial service and crypto industry players will feel the changes. “It should have a multi-pronged and ultimately profound macro and micro impact on financial markets generally and the crypto industry specifically,” said Mark Kornfeld, securities and financial fraud shareholder at the law firm Buchanan Ingersol and Rooney. Cointelegraph heard from him:
“First, the Commission, much like it did after the Madoff Ponzi scheme was disclosed to the world at large, will be aggressively monitoring and doing full-blown regulatory examinations of in time thousands (if not more) conducting business in and around this space. All in the market should reasonably anticipate and fully expect a sizable uptick in regulatory enforcement proceedings by the Commission, and, continued legal challenges to, the Commission’s jurisdictional authority.”
Cryptocurrency can also be used reportedly With the Criminal Investigation Division hiring hundreds of new agents to tackle cybercrime and digital assets, this is becoming an important focus for the Internal Revenue Service. Along with its own data scientists, the IRS is hoping to cooperate with crypto firms, aiming to create a “symbiotic relationship” to fight financial crime.
Legislators in the United States are also under pressure to set a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies after last November’s dramatic collapse of crypto exchange FTX, setting the stage for upcoming scrutiny in the crypto market in 2023.
However, there are some who think the long-term outcomes will be beneficial. “The net result should prove to be a more regulated and transparent climate, increased market stability, and much-improved investor and consumer protection in a space that has until recently operated in an environment fairly characterized as relatively secretive and opaque,” said Kornfeld.