FASB proposes letting some stablecoins count as cash equivalents

A US accounting exposure draft would allow qualifying payment stablecoins to sit under cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet, subject to redemption and reserve tests. Comments close 19 November 2026. What changed The Financial Accounting Standards Board has published a proposal that would clarify when a digital asset can be evaluated as a cash equivalent under US GAAP, and would enhance related disclosures. The definition of a cash equivalent — a short-term, highly liquid asset — is not itself being changed; instead the proposal sets out attributes under which certain digital assets, including payment stablecoins, could fall within it. The stated tests include an on-demand contractual right of cash redemption, a redemption right for a specific cash amount, and segregated reserve assets held by the issuer on at least a one-to-one basis against tokens in circulation, in short-term highly liquid instruments. The exposure draft is open for public comment until 19 November 2026; the board will set an effective date after reviewing responses. The project follows a board vote in October 2025 to take up stablecoin accounting and a July 2025 federal digital-asset working-group recommendation. Some accounting academics have argued the change stretches the spirit of the cash-equivalents definition given past stablecoin de-pegging events.