SEC says to double-check statements made by cryptocurrency companies.
In the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated, that given the collapse FTX cryptocurrency exchanges, they consider it necessary to double-check the statements made by cryptocurrency companies – this is exactly the advice the agency gave to auditors who are engaged in assessing the financial and economic performance of such businesses.
The announcement came just hours after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, after being extradited from the Bahamas to the U.S., was released on $250 million bail by court order on Dec. 22, subject to restrictions on certain activities and the need to reside in the same place.
Recall that in December, accounting firm BDO stated announced that it was ceasing to conduct an audit of the financial and economic activities of Tether Inc. Moreover, it declared that the previously issued monthly monitoring reports on the operating activities of this company, which is behind the largest dollar-stablecoin USDT (Tether), are withdrawn. Like consulting firm Mazars, BDO said it is changing its approach to commercial relationships with cryptocurrency firms.
In July, the U.K. Financial Markets Authority criticized BDO and Mazars for the quality of their surveys of cryptocurrency clients. This was largely due to the fact that clients did not provide all the necessary information.
Deloitte is now known to be providing audit services for Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The refusal of some members of the Big 4 auditors to work with other crypto-exchanges is not due to a lack of intention to provide such services, but to the fact that under the general rules of auditing, a potential auditor has the right to refuse to provide an audit report if he does not have access to the necessary documents for that.