Crypto Taxation Rules: What You Owe and How to Stay Compliant
When you trade, sell, or earn cryptocurrency, the crypto taxation rules, legal requirements for reporting cryptocurrency transactions to tax authorities. Also known as cryptocurrency tax laws, they treat digital assets as property, not currency. That means every swap, sale, or airdrop can trigger a taxable event—and ignoring this isn’t an option. The IRS, HMRC, and other agencies aren’t guessing anymore. They’re tracking wallets, demanding exchange data, and fining people who don’t report.
What you owe depends on where you live. In the UK, a country with strict crypto tax enforcement and a lowered capital gains allowance, selling Bitcoin for profit means paying up to 24% in capital gains tax. In Russia, where mining is banned in some regions and all transactions must be reported, you pay 13% to 30% on income from crypto, with no deductions. And in places like Nigeria or Argentina, where people use crypto to survive inflation, the rules still apply—just with less enforcement. The core truth? Whether you’re trading on Binance, staking on a DEX, or claiming an airdrop, you’re creating a paper trail.
It’s not just about selling. If you earn crypto as income—through staking, mining, or an airdrop—it’s taxed as ordinary income. That means the value at the moment you receive it becomes your cost basis. Later, when you sell, you pay capital gains on the difference. Mixing services, wrapped tokens like wETH or WBTC, and cross-chain swaps don’t hide you from taxes. The IRS and HMRC already know how these work. Even if your exchange doesn’t send you a 1099, you’re still required to report.
Most people lose money not because crypto crashed, but because they didn’t track their trades. One missed transaction, one unreported airdrop, one wrong cost basis—and you could owe thousands in penalties. That’s why the posts below cover real cases: how UK residents calculated their 2025 tax bill after the allowance dropped, how Russians report mining income when it’s technically illegal, and why claiming a free token can land you with a tax bill before you even sell it. You’ll find guides on what records to keep, how to calculate gains across multiple wallets, and what happens when you ignore the rules. This isn’t theory. It’s what’s happening right now to real people.
