The IRS uses CoinMarketCap, and it’s asking the industry for other ideas

Currently, the IRS uses ‘various public sources’ for finding digital asset prices, but it’s hoping to improve its selection of vendors

article-image

Rob Crandall/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

The IRS is looking to up its game in terms of ensuring crypto tax compliance, and it wants the industry’s help. 

The IRS’s Digital Asset Initiative Project Office (DAIPO) issued a Source Sought Notice last month asking “industry partners and other parties” to send in solution and product ideas to help the agency improve its pricing and market data capabilities. A Source Sought Notice is issued by a government agency when they are seeking potential sources for collaboration and information.

“We are primarily interested in solutions which can provide efficiencies to aid in compliance efforts to include, but not limited to, identifying digital asset transactions and transaction patterns, bulk data analysis, computing tax consequences of digital asset activity and assessing and analyzing digital asset transactions,” the IRS said in its request

Currently, the IRS uses “various public sources” for finding digital asset prices, including CoinMarketCap and Investing.com, the agency said. The IRS is looking for additional pricing data vendors who are able to provide pricing data by the hour, minute and second. 

The IRS also wants help with how to process and analyze blockchain data and help with asset gain and loss computations. Blockworks requested comment but did not receive a reply.

The request for information is part of an agency-wide initiative announced in April to ramp up its detection of compliance violations when it comes to complex assets such as crypto. 

“For issues known to have high, ongoing risks of noncompliance or complexity, such as digital assets and listed transactions, we will prioritize resources to increase enforcement activities, including criminal investigation as appropriate,” the IRS wrote in the April report, which was mandated as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

The Source Sought Notice also comes as tax experts and investors continue to wait for new guidance from the IRS and the Treasury on changes in how digital assets may be taxed. The crypto industry is specifically looking out for the new Form 6045, which will include an updated definition of “broker,” potentially having a major impact on what firms and individuals are expected to report. 

The IRS and Treasury have promised changes are coming, as Congress mandated more than 18 months ago, but have not provided any updates on the timeline or expected release date. 

Industry members and potential vendors who respond to the IRS’ request for information may be invited to participate in a series of virtual meetings between July 19 and August 4, the agency said. The deadline to submit responses is July 12.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

About 270 million HYPE has been claimed, valued around $7.6 billion

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?