Digital asset audit guidelines announced... private keys and smart contract risks presented

Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) on June 11 issued Digital Asset Audit Guidance No. 3, directing audit teams to treat private-key ownership and smart contracts as core risk and complexity factors when auditing digital assets. The guidance requires auditors to understand blockchain technology and the underlying business model and to obtain evidence proportionate to those risks, while also flagging evolving business models and token price volatility as sources of added audit complexity. It applies specifically to audit teams performing digital asset engagements. The move matters because it formalizes how Singapore auditors must assess custody and smart-contract exposure as tokenized finance grows. Watch for how audit firms operationalize key-ownership verification and smart-contract testing, and whether other regulators follow with comparable standards.