Yes, Crypto.com does report to the IRS. Federal law classifies the platform as a digital asset broker, so it files information returns naming you and detailing your activity: Form 1099-DA for sales and other dispositions of digital assets beginning with the 2025 tax year, Form 1099-MISC for staking rewards and similar income, and Form 1099-B for certain contract-based transactions. Whether or not a form lands in your mailbox, you owe tax on every taxable crypto transaction and must report it on your federal return.
Why Crypto.com Files Forms With the IRS
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 expanded Section 6045 of the Internal Revenue Code to cover platforms that facilitate digital asset transfers, which pulled Crypto.com into the same broker category as a traditional stock brokerage.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6045 – Returns of Brokers Broker status carries tracking and reporting duties to both users and the IRS.
Before you can trade on the platform, Crypto.com verifies your identity under Know Your Customer rules and collects your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number. That identifier is what ties the forms it later files to your individual tax record.
The Forms Crypto.com Sends
For the 2025 tax year and beyond, Crypto.com issues three information returns depending on what you did on the platform:2Crypto.com Help Center. 1099 Form for the 2025 Tax Year
- Form 1099-DA reports proceeds from sales, exchanges, and other dispositions of cryptocurrency. This form is new, and 2025 is the first tax year it applies.
- Form 1099-MISC reports miscellaneous income such as staking rewards, referral bonuses, lockup rewards, and certain promotional earnings.
- Form 1099-B covers certain contract-based transactions on the platform.
You receive a copy of each form the exchange files, and the IRS receives an identical copy. Its automated matching systems compare what appears on the forms against what appears on your return.
Reporting Thresholds That Trigger Each Form
Not every dollar of activity generates a form. The trigger depends on the form.
Form 1099-DA has no minimum dollar threshold. Brokers must report gross proceeds from digital asset dispositions beginning with transactions on or after January 1, 2025, so any reportable disposition can produce the form.3Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets
Form 1099-MISC historically issued when a user earned $600 or more in rewards during a calendar year, and that $600 threshold still applies to 2025 tax returns filed in early 2026.4Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information Starting with the 2026 tax year, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill raised the threshold to $2,000 for many items reported on Form 1099-MISC.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1099 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns
Form 1099-K, which covers third-party payment network transactions, uses a separate trigger. The same 2025 law retroactively restored the original threshold, so a user must exceed both $20,000 in gross payments and 200 transactions in a calendar year before a 1099-K is issued.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill The lower $600 threshold that had been scheduled to phase in was scrapped.
One point cannot be repeated too often: staying below any of these thresholds does not erase your tax obligation. The thresholds are administrative triggers for the exchange, not tax-free allowances. Every dollar earned through staking, airdrops, or referral bonuses is taxable income from the first cent, whether or not a form is issued.3Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets
What the IRS Actually Sees
When Crypto.com files a Form 1099-DA, the IRS gets a transaction-level view. For 2025 transactions, the form includes the type of digital asset (identified by a standardized token code), the number of units sold or exchanged, the date of the sale, and the gross proceeds.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2025) Your name and taxpayer identification number sit on the form.
Cost basis is not yet required on the 2025 form, though some brokers may include it voluntarily. Beginning with transactions on or after January 1, 2026, cost basis reporting becomes mandatory.3Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets For 2025 returns filed in early 2026, expect to calculate and track your own basis.
Brokers must deliver Form 1099-DA to users by February 17 of the year following the tax year and file with the IRS by February 28, or March 31 if filing electronically.8Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Certain Information Returns Form 1099-MISC, when issued, reports your total reward and bonus income for the year along with the same identifying information.
The IRS uses this data to cross-reference the exchange’s report against your individual return. Mismatches commonly trigger automated notices, so the numbers matter more than they used to.
Your Reporting Duty Runs Beyond the Forms
Every federal return now opens with a digital asset question at the top of Form 1040: “At any time during the tax year, did you (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?” You must answer it honestly. A false answer on a signed return is a felony under 26 U.S.C. § 7206, carrying penalties up to $100,000 and three years in prison.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 7206 – Fraud and False Statements
The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, so the list of transactions you have to report is broader than most people realize:10Internal Revenue Service. What Taxpayers Need to Know About Digital Asset Reporting and Tax Requirements
- Selling crypto for cash produces a capital gain or loss equal to the sale price minus your cost basis.
- Trading one crypto for another is treated as selling the first asset and buying the second. You owe tax on any gain from the disposal side of the swap.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 (2025)
- Spending crypto on goods or services triggers a gain or loss based on the difference between your cost basis and the fair market value at the moment you spend it.12Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Virtual Currency Transactions
- Staking rewards count as ordinary income at their fair market value the moment you gain control over them.13Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Rul. 2023-14
- Airdrops and referral bonuses are ordinary income at fair market value when received.
Crypto-to-crypto swaps catch people most often. Moving between digital assets without touching cash feels like it should be neutral. It isn’t. Each swap is a disposal of the first asset and needs its own gain or loss calculation.
You report each capital-gain transaction on Form 8949, listing the asset description, date acquired, date sold, proceeds, and cost basis. Your cost basis is what you originally paid, including transaction fees or commissions.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 (2025) Totals flow to Schedule D, where short-term and long-term gains are netted separately. Staking and other ordinary crypto income go on Schedule 1, or Schedule C if the activity rises to self-employment.
The reporting duty exists regardless of any 1099. If you traded on multiple platforms, used decentralized exchanges, or received tokens from protocols that have no reporting infrastructure, you still owe tax on every gain and must report every transaction. Keep your own records; Crypto.com’s transaction export is the most obvious starting point if the bulk of your activity happened there.
What Happens if You Don’t Report
IRS enforcement in this space has sharpened, and the penalty structure works at every level of noncompliance.
For unintentional underreporting, the accuracy-related penalty under 26 U.S.C. § 6662 adds 20% of the underpayment to your tax bill.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6662 – Imposition of Accuracy-Related Penalty on Underpayments Filing late brings a failure-to-file penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. The failure-to-pay penalty is a separate 0.5% per month.15Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty These stack and accrue interest.
For willful evasion, the consequences turn criminal. Under 26 U.S.C. § 7201, deliberately evading tax is a felony punishable by a fine up to $100,000 and up to five years in prison.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 7201 – Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax The Justice Department has pursued crypto cases at this level: in one prosecution, an early Bitcoin investor paid nearly $50 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest after admitting to willfully underreporting his holdings.17United States Department of Justice. Roger Ver Admits to Misconduct and Enters Into Deferred Prosecution Agreement
With Form 1099-DA now feeding the IRS transaction-level data directly from exchanges like Crypto.com, the odds of underreported crypto slipping past matching software are considerably lower than they were even two years ago. Answer the Form 1040 question honestly, report every taxable event, and keep your exchange records with your tax files for at least three years.