New IRS requirements have heightened anxiety among US crypto investors.

US digital asset holders have reacted with caution to updated Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements that significantly expand the scope of disclosures related to cryptocurrency transactions.

Starting in calendar year 2026, Form 1099-DA, "Digital Asset Income Received from Brokerage Transactions," will be in effect. This document will require licensed crypto exchanges to report information not only to the regulator but also to their clients. This form will reflect the full range of transactions—investment volume, financial results from transactions, and any profit or loss. This requirement applies to all crypto platforms registered in the US, including Coinbase.

According to an Awaken Tax survey of 1,000 crypto investors, the majority of respondents expressed concern about the transition from self-reporting to automated information exchange between brokers and the IRS. Company founder Andrew Duca called the new regulatory model overly simplistic. He believes that legislators have effectively equated cryptocurrencies with stocks, ignoring the specific nature of digital assets as a separate class. He emphasized that many users actively transfer funds between wallets, utilize DeFi protocols, and employ complex trading strategies. Under these circumstances, automated reporting may not reflect the true tax base.

The problem is that exchanges, including Coinbase, primarily record asset sales data but do not always have complete information about the initial purchase price and associated expenses. As a result, the responsibility for adjusting the data is effectively shifted to the taxpayer via the updated Form 8949. In specialized communities, including Reddit, users are already discussing ways to systematize reporting and accurately account for transactions.

As a reminder, a bill on digital asset taxation was introduced in the US in December 2025. The bill provides for the accounting of small transactions with stablecoins and a deferral of taxation for staking.