Crypto accounting service Cryptio selected for ConsenSys’ Tachyon, reveals plans for 2020

Cryptio, a Paris-based startup, has been selected for the latest cohort of Tachyon, a blockchain-focused accelerator launched by ConsenSys Ventures.

Founded in 2017, Cryptio is building comprehensive accounting and bookkeeping solutions for crypto and blockchain firms to simplify compliance and tax reporting. It aims to simplify compliance for digital assets and thereby drive mass adoption of Web 3.0 technologies and decentralized finance (DeFi) across the world.

“Cryptio aims to be the major financial data tool that consolidates a business’s crypto activity, presents valuable data insights for their accounting and finance teams, and seamlessly integrates with the traditional tools and systems,” Cryptio said.

To be a part of Tachyon’s third cohort, a part of the firm’s team has moved to New York and has been working closely with ConsenSys.

Speaking to TokenPost, Antoine Scalia, co-founder and CEO at Cryptio, explained that the company positions itself as crypto businesses’ partners, going beyond being just a software company. He revealed that Cryptio is assisting one of its clients in their audit process, being conducted by a Big 4 company, so that the auditor can get “all the answers they need from our software.”

Commenting on the firm’s selection as part of Tachyon, Scalia said:

“We were super interested in getting selected in this cohort because of two things: Consensys and NYC. In fact, Tachyon is part of Consensys, a leading company in the space, with a global presence. Being backed by Consenys gives us instant legitimacy, specially in the US. Second, NYC is one of the most important centers for financial services, and more especially for the crypto space. Being on site means total exposure to this incredible ecosystem.”

More guidance on tax and accounting

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published cryptocurrency tax guidance last year. However, members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to the IRS urging the agency last month to provide more clarity about crypto tax.

Scalia said that similar efforts are now required in most countries around the globe while emphasizing on the much-needed clarity on accounting standards.

“As far as tax is concerned, basic rules have been adopted in most countries. To that regard, France (where we are based) is doing a great job at trying to simplify the tax guidance when it comes to trading. Of course, it’s not enough but given the speed at which new use cases come out, the idea of having comprehensive tax guidance is impossible,” he said.

“The problem lies more in the lack of accounting standards. Indeed, the problem we are solving at Cryptio is translating a crypto activity into the company’s books. In other words, I am paying a vendor in crypto or receiving interest from a lending protocol: how do I translate these transactions in my books? The guidance on those specific things is really needed now in most countries.”

Looking forward

For this year, Scalia said that they will closely watch the developments taking place in the DeFi space.

“We have seen tremendous achievements recently both from new protocols innovating in the [DeFi] space and from traditional startups trying to get to it. That will create incredible new challenges in terms of tax and accounting. We plan to be the key player on this topic,” he said.

He revealed that there is a growing demand from Cryptio’s clients for integration with the existing business financial and accounting tools.

“Hence this is a top priority for us in terms of the product. We want to launch seamless integration with accounting systems such as QuickBooks & XERO. We want to track and record the entire process from the cryptocurrency transaction on the blockchain until the automatic addition of the accounting journal entry. Crypto companies will be able to use cryptocurrencies without having to worry about any regulatory challenges,” Scalia said. “The other major product update will be integrations with major DeFi protocols such as Compound and MakerDAO.”

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