> Also: the US is but one place in the world. There are quite a few folks on this earth that aren't burdened with a US passport, and quite a few places that don

> Also: the US is but one place in the world. There are quite a few folks on this earth that aren't burdened with a US passport, and quite a few places that don't have capital gains on crypto sales. Many other countries are taxing bitcoin as well. In fact it's the rare exception (Google seems to indicate about a dozen) that doesn't tax bitcoin. Your original statement about bitcoin being a way of avoiding capital gains taxes is simply false for most people. > It is my admittedly limited understanding of US tax law that - as long as you don't sell - you aren't getting taxed on gains (unrealized capital gains). And of course capital gains only happen when you sell. That's why it's a gain (the difference between the sale price and purchase price). That's the same way selling stocks works too. You only pay the capital gains tax when you sell.