The Accountant Quits Podcast

Proof of stake (PoS) blockchains will form the foundation of a more inclusive and user-owned Internet. If institutional token holders are primed to enjoy the staking rewards embedded within these blockchains, either by acting as validators or delegators on the network, accounting for those rewards remains a headache. Reason being that there is currently limited guidance from the accounting standards, be it US GAAP or the IFRS, on revenue recognition for staking rewards. To help us better understand the accounting treatment on proof of stake networks, I spoke to Mackenzie Patel, a CPA and Senior Revenue Accountant at Figment, a validator on over 50 POS networks. Topics covered; Mackenzie’s story of how she got into web3 and started working at Figment (2:56) What is proof of stake (including rewards & governance) (5:26) Considerations when choosing a validator (6:56) How validators secure the network (7:45) DeFi staking v/s POS staking (10:12) Liquid staking and DeFi opportunities (11:40) What does Figment do (13:32) How to start staking with Figment (14:39) Revenue recognition of staking rewards for a validator under 5 step principle (17:32) Challenges when recognizing staking rewards under the accrual concept (25:51) Accounting rewards as token receivable (29:19) Grouping POS blockchains under a network family for recognizing revenue (31:58) How to trust data from block explorers in the absence of SOC report (33:30) How are auditors auditing POS blockchains data (36:58) Working part time at dOrg as a DAO Accountant, & contributing to DAOs (38:43) Prerequisites for web2 accountants to transition to web3 (41:09) Mackenzie’s message to FASB (45:05) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Crypto is subject to high volatility and even large market cap protocols are not immune to over 75% pricing drops. The majority of a web3 project or DAO’s treasury is typically held in their native governance token and turbulent market conditions amplifies the need for good treasury management. One that does not jeopardize the viability of the project and reassures the community on its financial health. To discuss operating in a bear market including survival, growing, hiring, and treasury management, On episode 33, I spoke to Kishan Shah, a former growth equity investor at Goldman Sachs & CFO at venture capital backed and publicly traded tech companies, now helping web3 companies grow faster and manage their treasury. Topics covered; Kishan’s story of how he got into web3 & the emerging primitives of DeFi & NFT (2:07) Web3 projects in a bear market (3:23) DAO treasury volume & DAO contributors analytics (6:49) Considerations for hiring a crypto CFO with minimal web3 experience (8:23) 3 key functions are business health, growth & treasury management (10:09) Capital allocation and what Kishan’s prescribes to web3 contributors (13:33) Financial reporting for DAOs (17:36) Treasury management and why it’s important for DAOs (20:06) How is web3 tooling different than web2 tooling (23:12) Back to basics for accounting (26:20) See Kishan's web3 articles on Mirror (Treasury management, DAO Financial Reporting, DAO Compensation) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

The adoption of cryptocurrencies also lies in the ability of that data to be easily extracted into any accounting software from the different crypto wallets & exchanges. As of today, the legacy accounting softwares do not integrate with cryptocurrencies for pricing, and accounting for crypto involves some workaround. One company which has for mission to simplify financial reporting of crypto is AEM Algorithm, with their product AEM Journaler. AEM Journaler is a Xero certified accounting platform for tracking and managing cryptocurrency transactions and exporting data into accounting systems for financial and tax reporting. And on Episode 32, I speak to its founder Jakub Sawczuk. As a certified accountant, Jakub is working to facilitate the adoption of digital assets by building a bridge between crypto and traditional accounting systems, like Xero. Topics covered; Why Jakub founded AEM Algorithm (2:27) What’s different with crypto accounting (4:33) The challenge for bookkeeping is getting from block explorer to accounting software (7:25) How AEM Journaler works? (9:38) Crypto exchange gains/losses with every transactions and how to report (11:46) Walkthrough of holding Ethereum as investment, and importing that data from exchange to Xero (14:37) Creating bank accounts in Xero that represent wallet addresses (18:39) Good practices for crypto accounting in Xero (20:51) Merge multiple wallet addresses into 1 single account in Xero (22:57) Challenges for crypto accounting in Xero (24:51) Request Finance commercial break (28:23) Reporting of DeFi transactions into Journaler (30:18) What’s different with AEM+, the mobile crypto wallet (33:56) Why build an invoicing module in AEM+ (36:55) Barriers for crypto adoption (38:48) Closing thoughts on how to simply crypto accounting for individuals/corporates (41:31) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Smart contracts allow the transfer of digital assets automatically without the need for manual periodic transactions, in the form of a payment stream. Payment stream you ask? Allow me to break it down for you through a simple example. As an employee/freelancer, you are familiar with receiving your salary/fees in the form of a lump sum transfer. What if I told you could now receive crypto payment every second, in the form of a payment stream? On Episode 31, I had the opportunity to speak to Michele D’Aliessi, co-founder at Superfluid. Superfluid is pioneering the idea of programmable cash flows, or simply put, allowing a constant flow of transactions that are executed automatically on-chain. Payment streams would be impossible to do in traditional finance and have the potential to change how money works. Topics covered; Michele’s story on how he first became interested with blockchain, and co-founded Superfluid (2:00) What is Superfluid and how it works (8:00) Basic uses cases for Superfluid protocol (subscriptions, salaries payments, dollar cost averaging, vesting) (10:37) DeFi use cases with Ricochet for Dollar Cost Averaging & Idle Finance for optimizing yield as you earn (11:51) NFT uses cases when buying land in the Metaverse (14:37) How to convince my employer to receive my salary in the form of a payment stream (16:39) Superfluid ecosystem (Diagonal, Request Finance) (23:50) Accounting for payment streams (30:07) Challenges faced by Superfluid for adoption (40:50) What Michele is looking forward to in 2022 in terms of adoption (44:09) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

We’re currently at a tipping point. The traditional CFO with a traditional finance background may soon become obsolete , and be replaced by the progressive CFO embracing the possibilities of DeFi. But there are no universities and there is no universal playbook offering a curriculum on how to be a Web3 CFO. To get there, it involves one being crypto curious and not being afraid to experiment by dabbling into DeFi. To help us understand why CFOs should care about DeFi, I had the pleasure to speak to the highly sought after Jamiel Sheik. Jamiel is the founder of Instamint a B2B NFT minting platform, also the founder of Chainhaus, a blockchain / DeFi advisory firm, an educator at Blockchain 101, an online blockchain education portal and founder of the Central Bank Digital Currency Think Tank Topics covered; Jamiel’s story on how he started his crypto journey and the ecosystem he founded (Instamint, Chainhaus, Blockchain NYC, CBDC Think Tank) (2:38) Comparing Web2 and Web3 CFOs, how to transition between the two and what makes a good Web3 CFO (5:00) Insights on how institutions should invest in DeFi, the risks, the possibilities (7:00) Compliance issues when institutions enter DeFi (10:24) Is permissioned DeFi the future of institutional finance? (12:27) The future of work for CFOs (17:17) Commercial Break from Request Finance (21:22) Sneak peak of Jamiel’s new book, topics covered and his vision for this book (23:31) What is Instamint, B2B NFT minting platform, and use cases (27:31) Jamiel’s expectations for 2022, the year of DAOs and DeFi (30:44) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

The legal nature of DAOs is a gray zone and there is no playbook for creating a legally compliant DAO yet, but accounting can nevertheless be done right. The accounting equation is universal and accounting principles are timeless. The only difference now is the addition of blockchain technology, and that now transactions for the DAO reside onchain. With the number of DAOs expected to soar in the years to come, accountants are set to play a key role in the adoption of DAOs. To discuss DAO accounting, I speak to Kevin Ngo, the DAO Accountant at Polywrap DAO. Kevin has forged his own path into web3, by wearing many hats at Polywrap, and using the emerging web3 technological stack for the DAO’s accounting. Topics covered; Story of Kevin, starting at a CPA firm to becoming a freelancer (2:14) How Kevin found out about Polywrap and went full time into DAO accounting (5:42) Managerial accounting v/s compliance accounting for a DAO (8:29) Difference between web2 accounting and DAO accounting (10:57) Can DAOs offer real time accounting (12:55) How Kevin tackles budgeting at Polywrap DAO, and shares actual spending to the community (15:02) Challenges DAOs are facing for accounting (19:26) Skills and knowledge for accountants to transition from web2 to web3 (21:38) Compensation between fiat and DAO native tokens for contributors (23:49) Tools to facilitate DAO accounting (25:55) How should DAO contributors separate DAO income to remain compliant (27:12) Word of advice to DAO founders to simplify accounting (29:16) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

The growth of financial instruments powered by DeFi is inevitable. But if the time for DeFi has come, the accounting bodies are still in their starting block (no pun intended). One firm that has gained traction and made a name for itself as the leading crypto accounting firm in the UK, is Myna Accountants. & Its founder Joe David, has been devoting his working hours to provide much needed answers to crypto accounting. Topics covered; Joe shares his nonlinear career path, and how he founded Myna (2:24) Why more institutions are adopting DeFi (exponential TVL growth) (6:38) Accounting change from ETH as intangibles to CETH as receivables in decentralized lending with Compound (8:52) Accounting challenges for liquidity mining & yield farming (12:57) Wrapped Bitcoin and its accounting implications (16:38) Airdrops accounted for as income (19:10) Challenges faced by clients for DeFi adoption (22:34) Tools like Cryptio & Request Finance facilitate crypto accounting (25:22) Can accounting be a bottleneck for DeFi adoption (29:19) HMRC guidance of DeFi lending and capital gains tax treatment (31:37) Challenge for Myna Accountants to scale (34:58) Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. 👉 Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcasts/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Blockchain has democratized access to financial services by removing the middleman, and fuelled a new movement with Decentralized Finance, better known as DeFi. DeFi enables anyone in the world to have access to financial services on the internet, and uses smart contracts that replaces the intermediary such as a bank. But no intermediary means 2 things; The onus is now on you to manage your assets diligently and; Recognize that you are now on a new learning journey, and will have to get accustomed to a new DeFi jargon (like what a DEX means, what is staking, is non custodial important) To give you an intro into DeFi, I had the pleasure to have Maximilian Bruckner, the Head of Marketing & Sales at 21E6 Capital. Topics covered; How Maximilian became interested with blockchain (2:24) What is DeFi (6:24) How anyone can start with DeFi (7:53) Compare DEX (Uniswap) with centralized exchange (9:14) Difference between staking and liquidity mining (11:55) Trading pairs on a DEX (14:03) Key considerations before investing in a liquidity pool (14:57) What is an impermanent loss (15:49) Risks with staking (smart contract risks, lock-up risks) (17:50) Yield farming and risks involved (22:05) Alternative blockchain networks to start yield farming other than Ethereum (24:24) Anchor protocol, earn 20% interest on UST deposit (25:42) How Abracadabra.money works (27:27) Start by downloading a metamask wallet, and send funds from centralized exchange to wallet (closing thoughts) (31:40) 👉 Brought to you by Request Finance - an all in one platform to manage and track invoices, salaries & expenses in crypto. Earn $10 in REQ tokens when you sign up using promo link at theaccountantquits.com/request 👀 Review If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. 📍 Website For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/ 👋 Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Antoine Scalia, founder of Cryptio, dives into the world of digital asset bookkeeping. He discusses the challenges of tracking and reporting on-chain data and highlights how Cryptio automates the integration of blockchain transactions with accounting software. Antoine elaborates on the complexities of DeFi transactions and the need for robust data infrastructures. He also addresses the unique bookkeeping needs of DAOs and the importance of transparency and partnerships in the crypto space, offering a glimpse into the future of accounting in cryptocurrency.

The onset of web3 being decentralized is fueling a paradigm shift in how work is organized on the internet, and DAOs, short for decentralized autonomous organizations, is the vehicle driving the change. With DAOs being internet-native entities with no central management, where people are incentivized to work on common shared goals, we need new tools that allow these organizations to hold people accountable. One of the emerging tools to address the accountability challenge is Sobol. Sobol provides an accountability map for DAOs that enables them to organize the roles of different participating members and their respective goals. To discuss the future of work with decentralized teams, I had the pleasure to speak to Bryan Peters, the co-founder at Sobol. In this episode you will learn; Why the future of work is built around the idea of decentralized teams How Sobol provides an accountability map for DAOs How to be incentivized working for DAOs through bounty programs today How to build an on-chain resume and its current challenges and much more. If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. Together we can help accountants prepare themselves for a blockchain future. For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcasts/ Follow The Accountant Quits: Instagram: instagram.com/theaccountantquits/  LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits