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Level 2
February 22, 2024
Question

Celsius distributions

  • February 22, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 16 views

So my situation is this: Let's say I had 500 USDC, 0.005 BTC, and 0.07 ETH at Celsius. I received 0.006 BTC and 0.09 ETH in the settlement, probably because the majority of my Celsius holdings were USDC. So I actually received a little bit more BTC and ETH in the settlement. I'm still thinking to do a manual transfer for each, and then the extra BTC and ETH amounts marked as income? Or marked as conversion from USDC as "Realized Profit/Loss"?

 

Or should I just treat the USDC, BTC, ETH as investment loss, and then the new BTC and ETH that I received in PayPal as income?

 

I would be interested to know which is better way. Thanks again for any insights that you may have!

2 replies

Level 15
February 29, 2024

When an investment becomes worthless (or almost worthless in this case) you can take the loss as soon as you are certain that it is done.  Sometimes that means the court case finishes or you get a report in the mail.  In your case that means you received a final settlement and you're done.  

 

So what you will need to do in this case is figure out the value of what you had in Celcius (not what it was worth, what you actually paid for it).  And then you will enter the transactions as -

 

Date purchased - actual purchase date

Amount paid - what you actually paid for the crypto

Date sold - the date that you received the settlement

Amount sold - the value of the crypto you received on that date

 

You could lump it all in in one transaction and call it the Celsius settlement or you could do it in three s\transactions based on those three types of currency that you listed.  If you do it the second way then it sounds like two of them would have a profit and one would be a total loss which probably offsets everything.  But that's up to you.

 

Lastly, you'll be left with cryptocurrency that you'll be carrying forward.  That will have a purchase date of the date you received the settlement and a basis or cost equal to the amount you entered for it's value an the date that you received it.  That will be information to file away for when you sell it.

 

@alkaloid 

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alkaloidAuthor
Level 2
March 2, 2024

@RobertB4444 Thank you for your info!  One more clarification - so as you said below:

 

Lastly, you'll be left with cryptocurrency that you'll be carrying forward.  That will have a purchase date of the date you received the settlement and a basis or cost equal to the amount you entered for it's value an the date that you received it.  That will be information to file away for when you sell it.

 

So the BTC and ETH that I received in PayPal, they can be treated as purchases, not income?  Does that mean if treated as purchases, don't need to pay tax as income?

 

Thanks again for your help!!

 

Level 15
March 7, 2024

They ARE income, but you're using that income against the Celsius losses that you took.  So you aren't paying taxes on receiving them now.  You WILL pay taxes on any profit you make when you sell them so you need to keep records of what they were worth on the day that you received them so you know the basis of the currency when you sell it.

 

@alkaloid 

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Level 15
January 16, 2026

1.  Yes.  Since you haven't sold them yet assigning a value that follows them until you sell them is fine.

 

2.  That is exactly how I would figure out the value.

 

3. If you never received the money at Celcius and it was never actually added to your account then it can't be part of the basis of the currency.  If it never existed it can be ignored.

 

@michinori-kaneko 

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Level 2
January 17, 2026

Hey Robert, thanks for your input. I'm grateful to hear your thoughts on no.1 and no.2, but would like to further get your thoughts on no.3.   

 

You mentioned "If you never received the money at Celcius and it was never actually added to your account then it can't be part of the basis of the currency" but I think this is inaccurate.  My account value and holdings did increase on Celsius, I just never cashed out but I could have if I did so before their default.  It was an interest payment, so effectively its like I got the interest , then i bought additional shares with that money.  I paid taxes on the interest because i got 1099 at the end of the year. So effectively my cost basis on those shares i received as interest payment should be what I paid taxes on interest income via 1099? Please let me know your thoughts. 

DaveF1006
Level 15
January 21, 2026

Yes, that interest does become part of the basis of your Crypto. It follows the rule of constructive receipt.  Since you paid tax on the interest, the interest becomes part of your cost basis for the Crypto since you never withdrew it in the first place and left in in the account.

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