[Negative News] PwC to Ramp Up Digital-Asset Business in Earnest… “Regulatory Shifts Are a Turning Point”

As global accounting and consulting firm PwC said it will abandon the cautious stance it has maintained to date and move to meaningfully expand its digital-asset business, a growing segment of the market is interpreting the move not as a signal of growth but as a crisis-response maneuver. With structural instability in the digital-asset market still unresolved, concerns are being raised that potential side effects and systemic risk could increase as even major accounting firms enter high-risk areas in earnest.

According to a Financial Times (FT) report cited on the 5th (local time) by Wu Blockchain, Paul Griggs, leader of PwC’s U.S. firm, said that “the strategic shift began last year,” adding that “as discussions over stablecoin and digital-asset legislation progress in the United States, a foundation is being laid to restore market confidence.” However, the market has criticized the remarks as an overly optimistic reading of legislative discussions that have not yet been finalized.

Expectations were also cited around clarifying stablecoin rules, including the GENIUS Act, but it remains unclear what form the regulatory direction will ultimately take. The industry has also pointed out that the very assumption that regulatory clarity will immediately translate into market stability could be a risky judgment. In the past, rapid expansion has occurred amid expectations of mainstream adoption, only to be followed repeatedly by large-scale corrections triggered by tougher regulation or market shocks.

In the very near term, there are heightened concerns that an aggressive push by global professional-services firms like PwC could send an excessive signal of confidence to the digital-asset market, spurring inflows of speculative money. This could instead amplify market volatility and generate new risks in periods of regulatory gaps.

Over the medium term, if the share of digital assets expands rapidly across accounting, audit, and risk-management services, concerns are being raised that complex risks that existing accounting standards and audit frameworks cannot readily handle may accumulate. With issues such as valuation, internal controls, and accountability for digital assets not clearly established, the deeper major accounting firms become involved, the greater the likelihood that future disputes and erosion of trust could also grow.

Over the long term, there are worries that PwC’s strategic shift could push the broader accounting and consulting industry into a digital-asset-centered competition, resulting in the industry as a whole becoming structurally exposed to a highly volatile, high-risk market. In particular, if the digital-asset market enters a prolonged downturn or regulation unfolds more aggressively than expected, analysts say global professional-services firms that have invested excessively in the area are also likely to face reputational risk and pressure to overhaul their business structures at the same time.

Experts assess PwC’s move less as a straightforward growth strategy than as a “risk-taking expansion” undertaken in a situation where options are limited amid slowing growth in the traditional accounting and consulting market. As the digital-asset industry overall has yet to reach maturity, there is also a growing call in the market to be wary that active entry by large institutions could instead act as a catalyst that amplifies market instability over the medium to long term.