According to CoinDesk, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has decided that the first U.S. accounting rule specifically for cryptocurrency will require companies to use a fair-value approach. This means that certain digital assets must be measured at what they would trade for in the markets. The board evaluated comments on the change during a Wednesday meeting and gave staff permission to draft a final version of the new accounting standard, which will be effective for fiscal years starting after December 15, 2024. The final language is expected to be approved in a written vote before the end of the year.

The FASB, a nongovernmental standard-setting board overseen by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), had proposed the rule in March. The suggested changes departed from the usual practice of marking these assets for their unrealized losses, which has been seen by the industry as a barrier to wider crypto adoption. Specifically moving crypto into the accounting rules means companies will make gains and losses a part of their quarterly income reports. Richard Jones, the board's chairman, said that investors who allocate capital based on the use of financial statements overwhelmingly supported the change, as it would provide them with better information to make decisions.

The board is encouraging companies to seek early adoption of the new standard. Michael Saylor, the founder and former CEO of MicroStrategy, tweeted that this development 'eliminates a major impediment to corporate adoption of $BTC as a treasury asset.'