Cryptocurrency Capital Gains

When you sell, trade, or spend cryptocurrency capital gains, the profit you make from selling crypto after buying it at a lower price. Also known as crypto profit tax, it’s not just a number on a spreadsheet—it’s money the IRS and other tax agencies want to know about. If you bought Bitcoin at $30,000 and sold it at $50,000, that $20,000 isn’t free money—it’s taxable income. And it doesn’t matter if you traded it for another coin, used it to buy a laptop, or sent it to a friend. The moment you dispose of it, the tax clock starts ticking.

Most people think crypto is anonymous, but blockchain taxation, the system governments use to track crypto transactions for tax compliance doesn’t care about privacy. Every wallet address leaves a public trail. Exchanges like Bitstamp, a regulated crypto exchange with strict KYC and reporting rules now send 1099 forms to users and tax authorities. Even if you use a non-custodial DEX like MonoSwap or Ebi.xyz, you’re still responsible for tracking your own gains. There’s no escape hatch. The tax agency doesn’t need your password—they just need your transaction history.

What trips people up? Not knowing when a gain actually happens. Buying crypto? No tax. Holding it? No tax. Trading ETH for SOL? That’s a taxable event. Using crypto to pay for groceries? Taxable. Even receiving airdrops like the NFTLaunch (NFTL) token or BonusCake CAKE rewards can count as income the day you get them. And if you mined crypto, like Iran does at scale to bypass sanctions, that’s income too—based on the market value when you got it. The rules aren’t complicated, but they’re easy to miss if you’re not tracking every move.

You don’t need to be an accountant to handle this. You just need to know what counts, keep simple records, and understand your obligations. The posts below show real cases: how people got caught ignoring crypto capital gains, how exchanges report activity, what happens when you trade on unregulated platforms, and how to avoid penalties. Whether you traded once or held for years, this collection gives you the facts—not the fluff—so you know exactly where you stand.