Bitcoin's heat has not yet subsided, and stablecoins have already had their moment in the spotlight. U.S. lawmakers are sparring over related legislation, and according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's remarks last week, the Trump administration also intends to use such digital assets to ensure the dollar maintains its status as the global reserve currency.

This month, stablecoins also drew the attention of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). As one of the largest industry organizations in the U.S. accounting profession, the AICPA issued reporting guidance and standards for "fiat-backed" stablecoins, aiming to enhance the transparency and standardization of issuer reporting.

The AICPA's 27-page document, titled "2025 Stablecoin Reporting Standards," is the result of a project spanning about three years. According to Ami Beers, the AICPA's senior director of assurance and advisory innovation, the document aims to set uniform standards for stablecoin issuer reporting, helping investors better understand how their assets are managed, while providing a framework for CPAs to perform assurance engagements.

"Currently, there is no common framework for stablecoin issuers to report these tokens to investors," Beers said in an interview. "What we are trying to achieve is transparency, allowing issuers to disclose their policies, how they determine which tokens are redeemable, where reserve assets are invested, and how they verify that tokens in circulation are fully backed by reserve assets."

Beers made clear that the AICPA is not issuing accounting guidance for use by financial statement preparers, and emphasized that compliance is "voluntary" in nature. She noted that the document is a standard for presentation and disclosure frameworks that can be used in engagement arrangements when CPAs provide assurance services, to achieve common, consistent, and transparent reporting.

The guidance focuses solely on fiat-backed stablecoins supported by traditional currencies such as the U.S. dollar. Among the larger such stablecoins are USDC issued by Circle and USDT issued by Tether.

According to a report released on March 7 by BPM, a tax, consulting, and accounting firm, current issuer reporting lacks "uniformity," making it difficult for investors to assess their stability. Issuers following the new guidance will need to disclose key information such as the total amount of stablecoins in circulation and the types and amounts of assets backing the stablecoins' value.

Beers compared the relationship between investors and stablecoin issuers to that between a casino and its customers. "It's like in a casino, you get chips, you go to various tables to bet, but when you come back, you want to exchange your chips for dollars," Beers said. "You want to make sure the casino holds the funds and trust that they can repay you those dollars."

This stablecoin guidance comes less than two years after the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a narrowly scoped accounting standard requiring companies to report qualifying crypto assets using fair value accounting.

The AICPA providing such guidance is not without precedent. According to Daniel Figueredo, a consulting and assurance partner at BPM, the FASB is responsible for setting the accounting guidance underpinning U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), while the AICPA sets assurance standards for CPAs. The two often collaborate "iteratively."

"Although the FASB sets authoritative GAAP in the U.S., the principles it is based on need to be refined for practical application," Figueredo said in an email. "For example, before the FASB finalized its recently issued crypto asset standard, the AICPA had already issued digital asset accounting guidance. Given the rapid evolution of digital assets and stablecoins, the AICPA has played an active role in establishing best practices... The FASB may issue formal guidance in the future, and until then, the AICPA's guidance can be used to assist in navigating this area."