Businesses increasingly hold or use crypto-assets for treasury investments, international settlements, Web3 activities, NFTs, staking and supplier payments. These operations can create a difficult accounting picture: multiple wallets and platforms, inconsistent data, few standard documents, balances that are hard to substantiate and extensive manual processing.
The original article presents Crypto Accounting as a tool intended to automate crypto accounting production while structuring the accounting firm’s working file. The product descriptions below reflect that presentation; automation still requires professional review and an agreed scope.
Transaction classification
Many tools require users to correct large numbers of transaction lines, configure rules and classify transactions individually. Crypto Accounting is described as analysing and classifying transactions by economic nature, including staking, liquidity pools, airdrops, trading, mining and rewards.
The intended benefit is to reduce manual reclassification and the errors it can introduce at year-end. Any unresolved classification or incomplete history still needs to be investigated.
From blockchain data to the accounting system
Data is collected from exchanges, non-custodial wallets and cold wallets through APIs, CSV imports or direct blockchain reading. The connection is read-only: the service does not need control of private keys or funds.
The original presentation describes automatic retrieval and reconciliation, conversion into journal entries and a structured FEC export. It also describes integration with conventional accounting software:
- Pennylane: a dedicated partnership and native integration for exporting crypto entries and the FEC.
- TIIME: export from the crypto working file into accounting entries without re-entering the same data.
- Other accounting systems: FEC-compatible exports, with further integrations in development at the time.
Check the current integration scope and import requirements with the provider and your accounting software.
Realised gains, unrealised movements and the dashboard
The platform is described as calculating gains and losses by asset and by wallet or platform using the selected method, such as FIFO or weighted average cost. Results remain linked to the underlying transactions.
It also provides unrealised gains and losses for periods including year-end and monthly closings. The dashboard shows holdings, realised and unrealised results, and points requiring attention: negative balances, missing prices, incomplete classifications or assets flagged as scams.
This allows analysis by asset and platform and helps align the dashboard with the accounting report.
A structured working file
The challenge is documentary as well as technical. Data must be collected, consistency checked, balances supported, evidence retained and the work performed recorded.
The article describes a guided workflow:
- Onboarding and KYC: identifying the client and opening the file.
- Profile: documenting the context and nature of the crypto activity.
- AML/CFT: recording due diligence, the risk profile and checks.
- Inventory: listing wallets and platforms.
- Processing and closing: configuring the workflow, processing transactions and preparing the period-end position.
- Summary: bringing the file together for review.
Supporting outputs described include the platforms used, wallet inventory, import history, holdings, detailed transactions in euros and crypto, asset movements and balances, year-end valuations and an audit trail linking figures to source transactions. The aim is to standardise work and reduce time spent rebuilding records.
AML/CFT within the working file
Identification, risk profiling and documentation of flows and checks are included in the workflow rather than treated as an unrelated add-on.
The original article places this in the European regulatory context: Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 on information accompanying transfers, including the crypto Travel Rule; DAC8 on tax reporting and exchange of information; and MiCA on crypto-assets and their service providers. These instruments address different obligations and do not replace a firm’s own assessment of the rules applicable to a client.
A separate Compliance & AML offering is described for more extensive KYC/KYB, AML screening and supporting documentation.
Notes to the accounts and management representations
The workflow extends to notes to the accounts based on the working-file data and a management representation letter concerning the quantities held.
Crypto holdings may involve private keys, external wallets, foreign platforms and decentralised environments. An accountant may not be able to obtain comprehensive independent confirmations. A read-only connection also cannot establish that the client has disclosed every account and wallet.
The representation letter therefore records the director’s dated and signed statements concerning:
- The list of disclosed wallets and platforms.
- The quantities held at the closing date.
- Ownership or control of the assets.
- The absence, to the client’s knowledge, of undisclosed wallets or accounts.
- The completeness of the information provided.
The letter formalises management’s statements and supports the record of work performed. It does not by itself substitute for other necessary accounting procedures.
For businesses and accounting firms
The original presentation describes three user groups: companies and professionals holding crypto-assets; accountants working on client files; and CASPs, Web3 businesses and institutional users with large volumes.
The product was developed with the involvement of a chartered accountant contributing to the ANC’s digital-assets working group. The intended result is a crypto working file that can be handled through a consistent accounting process.
A connected workflow
Increasing volumes, complex transactions and changing regulation make a structured approach necessary. The article describes a workflow connecting data imports, gain calculations, the working file, accounting exports, notes and management representations using a common read-only dataset. It also presents the service as hosted in Europe and designed around GDPR requirements.
The objective is accounting work that is traceable and sustainable. Contact the firm to discuss the tool’s suitability, data requirements and review process for your business.