Big 4 ask employees to reveal their cryptocurrency investment for 2021

New Delhi: The four major service firms namely Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG have asked their employees, executives, and partners to reveal the amount they or their family members have invested in cryptocurrency throughout the year.

Being a part of their risk-assessment process, the firms have also asked for details of their investment in non-fungible tokens or other crypto assets.

According to the people associated with the firms said that two of the firms – Deloitte and PwC partners have been told to disclose investments in crypto assets as small as Rs 10. The sources said that the firms fear conflict of interest if partners or any of their family members have brought crypto assets.

“Most of these investments are done by the executives and young partners as most of the older ones stick to traditional investments such as equity and real estate,” said a senior partner at one of the firms. “But we want to be above board as many of our projects involve directly working with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government.

Take the case of a young tech partner at a large firm who bought some cryptocurrency to learn how the system works. “It’s not like I invested millions – I bought a few cryptocurrencies to understand the technology and how it works so that I get better clarity when we work on blockchain projects. I had to disclose everything and the firm actually told me to stay away from stablecoins,” he said.

Even though the executives are also told to disclose their investment in cryptocurrencies, the primary focus of the firms is on the partners. Notably, there are approximately 1,600 partners in the four major firms who head specific service functions such as consultancy, audit, or taxation.

Reportedly, partners were asked to disclose all their liabilities and assets every year such as equity, mutual funds among others. However, from this year, they have been asked to present their investment in cryptocurrencies as well.

However, none of the firms have restricted their employees or partners from investing in cryptocurrencies.