Accounting For Crypto Assets

Exchange wallets are funds held on centralized exchanges (CEXs). If a taxpayer purchases crypto assets on a CEX like Coinbase or Kraken, then the assets are in the exchange’s wallet. When investors leave funds on exchanges, they are relying on a third party to secure their assets. Exchanges have been hacked and bad actors inside an exchange have stolen and mismanaged funds; in the strange case of the Quadriga Ex exchange founder who suddenly died under suspicious circumstances, the private keys to $190 million of users’ funds vanished.

Relying on exchanges to secure funds is only for active traders and those comfortable with the security vs. convenience tradeoff that this provides.

Hot wallets are the next step up in security after exchange wallets because they allow the user better control over the protective measures they implement. The user can create complex passwords and cybersecurity features to reduce the chances of their funds being compromised.

These wallets are “hot” because they live on your computer, generally as an app or as a plugin to a web browser. As they require an internet connection to use, malware, keyloggers, and other common hacking tools can be used to gain access to this type of wallet.

Hot wallets are only as good as the security measures put in place to protect them. As a result, they should only be used with small balances of cryptocurrencies to reduce risk exposure.

A cold storage wallet is used for storing crypto assets where the private keys and access to the wallet are offline thereby protecting the funds from unauthorized access, hacks, and other vulnerabilities. There are physical devices, like Ledger’s Nano S or Trezor’s One, or simply something analog like a sheet or paper containing the private keys to the wallet. With the physical devices, the unit is connected to a computer to authorize transactions and generally has a passcode to gain access to the device itself.

The security advantage of storing funds on a cold wallet is that they cannot be hacked unless someone either:

• Has access to your 12- or 24-word seed phrase (or written private key in the case of a paper wallet)
• Has access to your physical device and the device’s passcode

Multisig wallets require multiple signatures (multiple wallets approving the transaction) to sign or confirm transactions and can be secured with either a hot or cold storage wallet. This method provides for much greater security as there is no one single point of failure. A multisig wallet secured via cold storage is the gold standard for security with crypto assets, but this protection comes at the expense of convenience. This type of storage should be employed for large asset balances that are kept for longer time frames.

While seemingly counterintuitive to the ethos of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, enterprise custody solutions can serve a purpose for high-net-worth (HNW) individuals who prefer a third party to hold and maintain custody of their crypto assets.

Companies like Ledger, Kraken, and Coinbase offer custody services for HNW and Ultra-HNW individuals, estates, and companies. These solutions are generally cost-prohibitive for the average investor.

For many public figures within the crypto space, their mere participation in the industry can put a target on their back, as a would-be thief may assume that the individual has access to the location of their private keys or seed phrase.

The main advantage of these services is similar to that of a multisig wallet, as it removes a single point of failure in the event of a robbery or if the holder is taken hostage, with the ransomers demanding they turn over the keys to their crypto. The disadvantage is that you are again relying on the security protocols of a third party. Also, if you’re a crypto “whale,” hire bodyguards!

Gifting crypto assets to individuals generally will not have any tax implications unless you are super-rich; the inflation-adjusted lifetime exemption for federal gift tax (aka “death tax”) is $12.06 million per individual and $24.12 million per married couple in 2022. If you are receiving this much crypto as a gift, you should speak with an estate planning attorney. For the rest of us, gifts of more than the 2022 annual exclusion amount of $16,000 per individual and $32,000 per married couple create a reporting requirement with no financial impact. IRS Form 709 is used to disclose excess beyond the annual exclusion to the IRS, which is applied to your lifetime exclusion.

For example, Brandon and Kendra are married and agreed to split a gift of BTC valued at $100,000 to their son Bentley in 2021. Bentley does not have a reporting requirement; however, Brandon and Kendra each have to file a separate Form 709 showing $35,000 ($50,000 gift, less $15,000 exclusion) toward their lifetime exclusion amounts. The FMV of Bentley’s BTC is established on the date of the gift, but Bentley inherits his parents’ holding period and tax basis. If Brandon and Kendra bought the BTC for $10,000 more than a year before gifting it, Bentley has an unrealized LTCG of $90,000. Because cryptocurrency is property (not currency), if Bentley immediately disposed of the BTC for $100,000 upon receipt, he would have to recognize a taxable gain of $90,000 upon sale. For this reason, it would have been much better for Bentley to have received fiat currency (USD) than property (BTC). Had Bentley received $100,000 in cash he would never owe tax, but on the disposition of the crypto asset (BTC) he pays tax on the disposal of a capital asset.

Note also that Brandon and Kendra could jointly give $30,000 as a gift to an unlimited number of individuals and there would be no reporting requirement; as spouses, they can give unlimited gifts to each other (note that there is an annual exclusion limit of $164,000 in 2022 for spouses who are not U.S. citizens).

If Brandon and Kendra decide instead to donate BTC valued at $100,000 to a charity under IRC Section 501(c)(3) or other eligible organization described in Section 170(c), let’s say Bentley University, cryptocurrency being treated as property instead of currency may be beneficial. Where the couple bought the BTC for $10,000 as property with a LTCG, they won’t have to recognize the $90,000 gain and may be able to deduct the entire gift. Generally, individual taxpayers who donate cryptocurrency and itemize the deduction on line 12 of Schedule A (Form 1040) can deduct property subject to capital gains in full up to 30 percent of their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). This means that if Brandon and Kendra’s AGI is $333,333 or more, they just knocked their taxable income down by $100,000 through donating BTC they paid $10,000 for. Depending upon their overall taxable income, this action could save them anywhere from $15,000 to $23,800 in capital gains tax at the federal level (and more when you consider state taxes). If their AGI is less than $333,333, they can carry over the suspended charitable contributions to future tax years.

Remember, the FMV of the crypto asset is determined on the date of the gift. Also note that cash donations and other non-capital gains property (cryptocurrency held for a year or less, for example) may be deducted in full up to 50 percent of their AGI to the extent of the lesser of the cost basis or FMV. For Brandon and Kendra this would only amount to a reduction in AGI of $5,000, so holding period is paramount. These tax rules vary by tax year and percentages vary by type of charitable organization and the source of funds (i.e., originating from an IRA for someone over 70 1⁄2 for example), so be sure to do your due diligence when planning gifts. Publication 526 explains how to claim a deduction for charitable contributions.

It discusses:
– Organizations qualified to receive contributions
– The types of contributions you can deduct
– How much you can deduct
– What records to keep
– How to report contributions