They are required to book losses but not gains per accounting rules, but new FASB rules have changed and they will probably adopt that change in the coming quarters to book their actual unrealized gains which are about $6b at the moment.
Discussion
6b gains vs 5.9b losses?
How's that
Because when it goes down from their cost basis they have to book the loss under default FASB rules, but when it goes up they aren't allowed to mark it to market. Under the new rules they will be able to but they haven't changed their accounting method yet. I think the new rules went into effect at the beginning of this year. So if they buy at 100,000 and it goes to 90,000 it goes on their book as a -10 loss. If it goes from 90 later to 120,000 it still has to say 90 on their books until they adopt the the new FASB rules
FASB is already in play. The value of their assets in the Q1 reporting is not tracked based on their cost basis. It’s a snapshot of the value of the assets at the beginning of the quarter vs the value if the assets at the end of the quarter.
This isn’t accurate but I’m not gonna say more about stupid fiat accounting things.
Their adoption of the new FASB rules at the beginning of this year is public knowledge. What they earning reporting will show is their bitcoin’s fair value from January 1 to March 31 2025 for Q1, adjusted for any intra-quarter purchases. Their total cost basis is not directly used to calculate their quarterly earnings, also public knowledge.