What's happening with Crypto?

Exchanges like Coinbase have also begun to send Form 1099-MISC to taxpayers who earned $600 or more on crypto rewards or staking. Crypto trading volume may have fallen off a cliff in the last few weeks, but the overall market value of digital currencies is still up about 75% this year.

What is cryptocurrency and how does it work?

What is cryptocurrency? A cryptocurrency is a digital-only token. It uses cryptography (hence the shortened name, "crypto") to regulate how the tokens are created, how they're traded, and how secure they are. And (here's the key appeal for many) it doesn't use or need a central bank or government to control or manage them.

What is a semi-anonymous cryptocurrency?

They're semi-anonymous. Cryptocurrencies can be designed so that no one can see who you are or what you're spending your crypto on—though the transactions associated with a wallet address are publicly viewable. They're not controlled by a government.

What does the IRS' John Doe summons mean for crypto exchanges?

This spring, courts authorized the IRS to issue John Doe summonses to crypto exchange operators Kraken and Circle as a way to find individuals who conducted at least $20,000 of transactions in cryptocurrency from 2016 to 2020.