ACCOUNTING FOR CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Abstract

The topic of cryptocurrencies has been on the news feeds, magazine covers, business newspapers, financial Internet portals and periodicals for several years in a row. To date, the main cryptocurrency can be called BitCoin (hereinafter referred to as Bitcoin). Often, when trying to discuss bitcoin, the most common response from the interlocutor will be: “I heard about them, but I’m not entirely sure what they are, how they work and how to work with them.” Despite its popularity, the cryptocurrency is deprived of attention if we are talking about legislative and other regulatory acts. Also, the instructions of the Accounting Service (RTJ) do not contain information on which balance sheet item cryptographic assets should be placed on and how to keep them accounted, and the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) published only recommendations on how to reflect the cryptocurrency in accounting. In 2014, when entering the word "Bitcoin" in a search engine of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the following message was received: "Sorry, no results were found for the search terms you entered." And although cryptocurrency is currently gaining its popularity as a medium of asset exchange, there are no specific accounting guidelines. (Raiborn & Sivitanides, 2015, 25).. The article takes a structural approach by defining the characteristics of blockchain technology for accounting practice. When writing an article in the theoretical part, the principle of operation of the blockchain technology was considered, as well as the market and the mechanism of operation of cryptographic assets. In the practical part of the work, it was considered on which balance sheet item it is possible and not to reflect cryptographic assets, however, which accounting method is preferable to choose based on the activities of the enterprise.