By Tom Whitfield

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is considering a change that would let US companies account for stablecoin holdings much like cash, according to a report by digital-asset finance platform OneSafe. The move, still at the proposal stage, would alter how corporate treasuries report tokenized dollar balances on their balance sheets.

Under current US GAAP practice, many digital assets are measured at fair value, with changes flowing through earnings each reporting period. If FASB classifies qualifying stablecoins as cash equivalents or a cash-like instrument, holders would avoid recognizing routine pricing fluctuations as income-statement volatility — a treatment that has deterred some corporate treasurers from holding tokens even when they prefer the settlement speed.

Why does classification matter?

Accounting classification drives more than disclosure. Cash-equivalent treatment would:

• Reduce earnings volatility from revaluation of tokenized dollar holdings
• Simplify audits by treating stablecoin reserves as near-cash instruments
• Align reporting with how treasuries already use stablecoins — for payments, payroll rails and cross-border settlement

The distinction matters most for companies running significant tokenized liquidity, such as crypto-native firms, payment processors and exporters settling in digital dollars. For them, fair-value accounting creates a mismatch: an instrument designed to hold one dollar of value produces paper gains and losses purely from market pricing and redemption spreads.

The FASB has already modernized crypto accounting once. Its standard on the accounting for and disclosure of crypto assets, issued in December 2023, requires entities to measure certain in-scope crypto assets at fair value with changes recognized in net income each period. That standard, however, applies to assets like bitcoin and ether — tokens without a pegged redemption claim — and left open how payment-stablecoins should be treated.

What are the open questions?

The board still must define which tokens qualify. A cash-like classification would logically require redemption at par into fiat, robust reserve disclosures and regulatory standing — criteria that distinguish regulated payment stablecoins from algorithmic tokens whose pegs have failed historically.

Treasury teams will also watch for depegging guidance. If a stablecoin trades away from its dollar peg, cash-equivalent treatment may no longer hold, forcing holders to reclassify the position and recognize a loss. The accounting question is inseparable from reserve quality: an auditor needs assurance that the token can be redeemed at par before treating it as cash.

What happens next?

A formal FASB proposal would move through the board's standard due process — exposure draft, public comment, and a final vote — before any change reaches US GAAP. Companies holding stablecoins should monitor the board's technical agenda for an exposure draft, since adoption timing will determine when they can align balance-sheet presentation with operational use of tokenized dollars.