Deloitte joins Australian cryptocurrency group

Deloitte is planning to participate in ADCCA through a working group tasked with creating accounting standards for businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies, in particular, Bitcoin.

The group serves to link members voices to government and cross-industry stakeholders, including in the financial service sector, and provides services that ensure members are able to meet best practice standards as they seek to grow their cryptocurrency and Fintech businesses.

ADCCA also advocates for a self-regulatory framework and code of conduct based on industry best practice for cryptocurrencies, which is modelled on the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) framework that currently applies to Australian banks and other financial institutions that deal with fiat currency.

One of the biggest problems facing Bitcoin and related cryptocurrency transactions in Australia is a ruling by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in 2014 that the exchange of cryptocurrencies be treated as the exchange of a service and not a currency under Australia’s Goods and Services Tax (GST,) meaning that each Bitcoin exchange by an enterprise is subject to 10% GST.