PCAOB Spotlights Audits Involving Cryptoassets

In a Spotlight article released this week, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board highlighted considerations for auditors and audit committees of companies transacting in or holding cryptoassets. Auditing such assets can involve a number of challenges. As the Spotlight notes, each company's involvement with cryptoassets may be multifaceted given the myriad of transactions that might involve a cryptoasset, such as "earning a fee, or 'reward,' for validating new blocks on a blockchain . . . , purchasing goods or services in exchange for cryptoassets, exchanging one cryptoasset for another, or selling cryptoassets for a fiat currency, such as the US dollar."  Other transactions might involve "providing trading services to third parties or acting as an intermediary, such as between a customer and a trading platform or mining operation."