Graduation Year

2026

Date of Submission

12-2025

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics-Accounting

Reader 1

Jingyu Xu

Abstract

This study investigates the performance of corporate cryptocurrency holdings in the context of recent accounting regulation changes. It specifically examines how adopting Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2023-08 has affected firms with material cryptocurrency exposure. Using a panel of U.S. public firms from 2019–2025, I classified 138 companies as having material crypto exposure if cryptocurrency comprised more than 0.01 percent of total assets, which was manually calculated. Of these firms, 67 were exposed to the rule change (under GAAP), 66 were not, and 5 were excluded from final calculations due to a lack of relevant information.

Results showed statistically significant effects for treatment on ROE, but none for the other metrics tested, such as ROA, Price-to-Book, and Price-to-Earnings. This suggests that firms were gaining a mechanical boost to their net income without increasing their return on asset allocation.

Event-study coefficients reveal no anticipatory effects prior to the policy change, and a placebo test using a fictitious treatment date yields no significant results. These findings support a causal interpretation that ASU 2023-08 affected profitability primarily through equity-based performance measures.

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