KPMG Canada Adds Bitcoin and Ethereum to Its Balance Sheet

KPMG Canada today announced it has directly invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum—the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. 

The move is the latest among a growing trend of large institutional players to add cryptocurrency to their balance sheets, including MicroStrategy, Square, and Tesla.

The Canadian arm of the accounting giant said in a Monday statement that the investment reflected their "belief that institutional adoption of cryptoassets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and become a regular part of the asset mix."

KPMG did not say how much they invested but added they bought carbon offsets to maintain a net-zero carbon transaction. 

"Cryptoassets are a maturing asset class," said Benjie Thomas, Canadian managing partner, advisory services, KPMG in Canada. 

"Investors such as hedge funds and family offices to large insurers and pension funds are increasingly gaining exposure to cryptoassets, and traditional financial services such as banks, financial advisors and brokerages are exploring offering products and services involving cryptoassets."

Kareem Sadek, KPMG Canada's advisory partner, cryptoassets and blockchain services co-leader, added that the company would branch out to other industries in the crypto world. 

"We've invested in a strong cryptoassets practice and we will continue to enhance and build on our capabilities across Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the Metaverse, to name a few,” he said. “We expect to see a lot of growth in these areas in the years to come," he added.

KPMG Canada is the latest big company to add cryptocurrency to its balance sheet. Software firm MicroStrategy kicked off the trend in August 2020, when it bought $250 million-worth of Bitcoin. It has continued to buy Bitcoin ever since and currently holds $5.5 billion in the biggest digital asset, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. 

Other companies, like payments company Square and electric car company Tesla, also followed suit. They currently hold $355 million and $1.9 billion, respectively.  

KPMG is a British-Dutch multinational and one of the "big four" accounting organizations, which includes PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young.