Report: Only 6.5% of American crypto investors reported transactions to the IRS from 2013 to 2021

Techub News reports that, according to Bloomberg, Tyler Menzer, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University, and his co-authors analyzed IRS anonymous tax data and found that many American cryptocurrency investors may not have reported their digital asset holdings to the IRS. Between 2013 and 2021, 12% to 21% of American adults had held cryptocurrencies, but only 6.5% reported cryptocurrency transactions to the IRS. The analysis suggests that some investors failed to honestly report income and transactions related to cryptocurrencies, leading to potential tax revenue loss.

Additionally, the study found that cryptocurrency holders are more likely to hold Meme tokens, tend to be younger and have lower incomes, and their trading behaviors differ significantly from traditional stock investors. Data from CoinTracker shows that, for the 2025 tax year, crypto investors on average reported 836 transactions, with short-term holdings averaging a loss of $636, and long-term holdings averaging a profit of $2,692.