가상화폐 회계처리 현황 및 시사점

This study aims to provide policy guidelines for accounting and disclosure of virtual currencies through investigating the status of domestic firms’ virtual currency holdings. The number of firms which hold cryptocurrencies have been increased since 2017. However, although there is disclosure guideline that requires firms to disclose the information about virtual currencies in the note of financial statement, there is no unified accounting standard. To be specific, many firms include the amount of virtual currency holdings under “other intangible assets”. Therefore, this study intends to provide disclosure guidelines for the acquisition and disposal of cryptocurrencies through the analysis of the status of cryptocurrency holding and case studies for the users of financial statement. Since 2017, the number of firm-year observations of virtual currency disclosure is increasing. Most of firms are listed on the KOSDAQ market and belong to the software development and supply industries. Moreover, most of firms disclose virtual currency held by their consolidated entity. Initially, most of companies disclose their virtual currency holdings included in the ‘other intangible assets’ without mentioning the exact amount. However, many companies recently have announced the exact amount of cryptocurrency holdings. In addition, the average amount of cryptocurrency held by companies is increasing. On the other hand, there are not many companies that classify virtual currencies by the type and disclose them. Wemade and FSN(Future Stream Networks) are selected because we expect to provide implications regarding disclosure guideline based on the cases of Wemade and FSN. Firstly, Wemade is a company that not only holds virtual currency for investment purposes but also sells virtual currency issued by itself. In other words, it is a good example not only for investors but also for company that has cryptocurrencies as issuers. Moreover, FSN is a company that discloses about the virtual currencies held by its consolidated entity for investment purposes in detail. According to Wemade’s 2020 consolidated financial statements, cryptocurrencies are included in other intangible assets and with the statement at the bottom “other intangible assets include cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.” On the other hand, there was a limitation that it may be difficult to know the exact amount of virtual currency held by Wemade for investment purposes because it is included and displayed in “other intangible assets”. However, in 2021, Wemade has additionally provided specific information including book value or the number of cryptocurrency holdings according to the type. As a result, unlike in the past, it is possible to know the exact amount and type of virtual currency Wemade holds for investment purposes. Similarly, FSN displays Bitcoin(BTC), Tether Coin(USDT) separately and other coins are grouped into others. In this way, detailed information about the quantity and amount of virtual currency held by a company will help financial statements users to understand company’s financial status. In 2022, Wemade corrected the sales volume from 560.7 billion won to 337.3 billion won, which is caused by the adjustment of sales revenue of cryptocurrency to liabilities. Such changes in sales of over 200 billion won can confuse the financial statements users, it seems that clear accounting guidelines related to virtual currency is needed. This study has policy implications regarding cryptocurrency accounting and disclosure as follows. Firstly, there is a need for clear guidelines on how to disclose cryptocurrencies in the notes of financial statements for financial statement users. To be specific, it is necessary to separately disclose the exact amount of cryptocurrency rather than include it under other intangible assets. Moreover, if the amount of virtual currency is significant relative to the amount of total asset, we can also consider disclosing the value of cryptocurrencies in the statement of financial position or related information in “other matters required for the protection of investors”. In addition, for firms that issue and hold cryptocurrencies for the purpose of sale in their usual business activities, it seems that clear guidelines based on the content of the cryptocurrency white paper are needed. The information in the cryptocurrency white paper, such as the obligation to perform for firm’s clients or the risk of cryptocurrency such as the possibility of external attacks on vulnerable algorithms should be clearly disclosed in the financial statement.