Do You Pay Tax on Crypto You Haven't Sold?

Generally, no — in the US you do not pay tax on crypto you have simply bought and held, even if it has risen sharply. Tax applies to realised gains, not paper ones, so an increase in value while you hold is not taxed until you dispose of the asset. The important exception is that receiving new crypto as income is taxable even if you never sell it. This is general information for the 2025 tax year, US-focused, checked 10 September 2026, and not tax advice.

Why holding isn't taxed

Because crypto is treated as property, it works like a share of stock: the gain is only 'realised', and therefore taxable, when you dispose of it. Until then you have an unrealised gain — a bigger number on screen, but not income the tax system recognises. This is why you can watch a coin double and owe nothing while you keep holding it, and equally why a coin can halve without giving you a deductible loss until you sell. The tax event is the disposal, not the price movement. Our overview of how crypto is taxed sets this out alongside the events that do trigger tax.

The exception: income you didn't sell

Here is the catch that trips people up: if you received crypto as income, that is taxable when you receive it, whether or not you ever sell it. Staking rewards, mining, airdrops, lending interest and crypto pay are all ordinary income at their value on the day you gain control of them — so you can owe tax on coins you are still holding, purely because they arrived as income. The value at receipt becomes your cost basis, so a later sale only taxes the change since then. Because these rewards often trickle in and sit unsold, they are the single most common reason someone owes tax on crypto they 'haven't sold', as our DeFi, staking and airdrop guide explains.

Moving and gifting are still not sales

Some actions feel like they might be taxable but aren't, because they don't dispose of the asset. Moving crypto from an exchange to your own wallet, or between two wallets you control, is not a sale — you still own the same coins. Giving crypto as a gift is generally not taxable to you up to the annual exclusion, though very large gifts can require a gift-tax return. None of these is a realisation event. For the full split of what does and doesn't count, see taxable versus non-taxable crypto events. The takeaway: changing where your crypto sits does not, by itself, create tax.

Is a wealth tax on unsold crypto coming?

Because rules change, it is worth being precise: as of the 2025 tax year, the US does not tax unrealised crypto gains for ordinary individual investors, and there is no general 'mark-to-market' tax on simply holding crypto. Proposals to tax unrealised gains for very high-net-worth taxpayers surface in policy debates from time to time, but none applies to a typical holder today. Treat any claim that you owe tax just for holding a coin with suspicion, and confirm the current rules for your country and year — this is exactly the kind of area where dated, sourced information matters more than a confident headline.

What this means for you

In practice: if all you did this year was buy and hold, you likely have no crypto gain to report, though you still answer the Form 1040 digital-asset question honestly. If you received any crypto as income, record its value at receipt and report it, even unsold. Keeping a running log of income events and cost basis makes next year's return far easier, and crypto tax software can track holdings and flag income automatically. As always, this is general information; if you're unsure whether something you received counts as income, ask a qualified tax professional.

Borrowing against crypto instead of selling

Because selling triggers tax and holding doesn't, some people borrow against their crypto rather than sell it. Taking out a loan is generally not a taxable event in itself — you receive cash without disposing of the asset, so there's no gain to report at that moment. That is a real, legal feature of how the rules work, not a trick. But it is not free of consequence or risk, and it is emphatically not advice to do it: crypto-backed loans carry interest, and if the collateral falls in value you can face liquidation, which is itself a disposal that crystallises a gain or loss — often at the worst possible time. The tax deferral is genuine; the financial risk is also genuine. Treat this as an explanation of why holding isn't taxed, not as a strategy to reach for, and get professional advice before borrowing against volatile collateral.

Record-keeping while you hold

Even though holding isn't taxed, the holding period is when you should be keeping the records that make a future sale painless. Note the date and cost of every purchase, keep track of transfers between your own wallets so your basis follows the coins, and log any income events — like staking rewards — at their value on receipt. When you eventually dispose of the crypto, those records are exactly what determine your capital gain or loss, and whether it's short- or long-term. The people who find crypto tax overwhelming are usually the ones reconstructing years of holding under a filing deadline; a little logging while you simply hold turns that into a quick lookup later.