IRS Crypto Reporting: What You Must Know to Stay Compliant

When you buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrency, the IRS crypto reporting, the U.S. tax agency’s requirement to track digital asset transactions. Also known as cryptocurrency tax compliance, it’s no longer optional—it’s mandatory. If you moved crypto in 2024, the IRS already knows. They get data from exchanges, blockchain analytics firms, and even your bank transfers. Ignoring it doesn’t make it disappear.

Most people think only big trades matter, but the IRS counts every swap, every airdrop, every staking reward—even if you didn’t cash out. Selling Dogecoin for USDC? That’s a taxable event. Getting $8 in BITICA from a sign-up bonus? That’s income. Even if the token is worthless, the IRS still treats it like cash at the time you received it. That’s why tax loss harvesting, like the strategy covered in our posts, isn’t just smart—it’s essential. You can offset gains by selling losing positions, but only if you document everything. Tools like crypto tax software help, but they’re useless if you didn’t track your wallet history in the first place.

What makes this even trickier is that the IRS doesn’t just look at your exchange statements. They cross-reference on-chain data like exchange inflows and outflows, which show whether you’re holding or dumping. If you’re mining crypto in Venezuela under state control, or using a Nigerian exchange like Quidax to dodge inflation, those transactions still count. Even if you’re using a decentralized exchange like Tinyman or ArcherSwap, your trades leave a trail. The IRS doesn’t care if you think it’s private—it’s not. And if you’re claiming a SUNI or TRO airdrop, you better be ready to report it as income, even if the token has no value. There’s no loophole for ghost tokens or dead projects like Quotient or PKG. The IRS doesn’t care if the project vanished. You still owe taxes on what you received.

You don’t need to be a tax expert to get this right. You just need to know what counts, keep simple records, and act before the IRS comes knocking. Below, you’ll find real guides on how to lower your crypto taxes legally, spot risky exchanges that could trigger audits, and understand what the IRS actually tracks behind the scenes. No fluff. No theory. Just what you need to stay out of trouble.