Accounting for crypto currency and crypto currency: An examination of the regulations related to crypto currencies in the world and in Turkey

Since the past time, people have used various means of payment instead of money. Seashells, beads, stones and precious metals such as gold, silver have been used as a means of payment instead of money until today. With the advancement of technology, the retention of money in cash has declined considerably and faster, safer, alternative currencies have started to be formed to meet changing human needs. In 2008, an article called "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Payment System" was published by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, thus creating the first crypto currency, Bitcoin. The main purpose of accounting is to provide information users with the financial position of the business in question in a fair and transparent manner. Therefore, the issue of registration and financial reporting of crypto currencies is important. It seems that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or another set of standards do not fully regulate cryptocurrency transactions (Raiborn and Sivitanides 2015, 25). The fact that the market values and usage of crypto currencies are increasing day by day has made it necessary to address the issue of accounting. In this study, definitions of various types of crypto currencies were made by classifying crypto currencies, study systems were examined, accounting options of crypto currencies within the scope of IAS/IFRS were examined, and the opinions of international accounting organizations were touched upon in this regard. The countries that prohibit and regulate cryptocurrencies have been studied, the regulations of some sample countries and the explanations of their legal authorities have been included. The approaches of the legal authorities in Turkey about cryptocurrencies are discussed. Although there is an opinion in the literature that crypto currencies should be classified as intangible assets, there are opposite opinions. However, accounting and financial reporting standards accepted all over the world are insufficient for crypto assets, and there is no standard that fully meets crypto currency assets. International accounting, finance and auditing standards to be adopted all over the world for crypto assets should be created, implemented, uncertainty should be eliminated and unity of implementation should be ensured.