#71: Internal Controls for Digital Assets with David Byrd from EY

When it comes to internal controls, management is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining effective internal controls.

Auditors on the other hand would test for the operating effectiveness of these controls.

Many auditors today lack the specialized expertise needed to provide assurance for companies holding digital assets, but if we are rooting for cryptocurrencies to become mainstream, auditors will have to quickly come to grips with how to provide assurance for digital assets.

Blockchain has the potential to allow auditors to have absolute assurance over on-chain transactions, which is an enormous leap forward from the limiting sample-based approach currently used.

To help us know understand the knowledge gap, I spoke with David Byrd, a Partner and the Blockchain Strategy Leader at E&Y US.

Topics covered;

• TAQ intro (0:00)
• Episode intro (1:04)
• David’s story into blockchain (2:43)
• Challenges specific to digital assets (4:28)
• Centralized Custody vs. Self-Custody (7:40)
• Good practices around storage of private keys (11:59)
• Sponsor Harris & Trotter's Scholarship & Job Guarantee Program (16:28)
• Completeness and accuracy of data on blockchains (18:32)
• Thanks to our sponsor Web3Finance Club (25:15)
• How not having a SOC 2 –Type II report will affect your audit process (26:57)
• Understanding audit readiness (33:33)
• Independence threat of audit readiness (37:51)
• Digital assets services provided by EY US (39:16)
• Proof of reserve post-FTX meltdown (42:08)
• Real-world blockchain use cases (45:11)
• How web3 auditors & accountants can upskill (47:19)
• The 3 main points to summarize (51:33)
• How we can make the future of crypto better (53:19)
• How to reach out to David (54:17)

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LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-byrd-2727054/

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