The fact is that the IRS is *deep* into blockchain analysis and asset attribution. If you have ever purchased crypto via your bank account or on an exchange and transacted it out to your personal wallet that wallet is known and attributed to you personally and any subsequent transactions can be tracked. On the 2020 Form 1040 the very first question asked was "Have you had any crypto activities this year?". You gonna start your tax filing with a lie?
This reminds me of something that happened in Germany. A trader declared every year his profits. One year he didn't. So the tax people wrote him:"We miss you profits from last year." The trader answered: " I miss them too."
The option to lie on your taxes has always been available for millions of people paid in cash, and for at least tens of thousands of people who buy things like art, wine, or overseas property where they self report their basis and sales price. Some of them lie, others don't. But this certainly isn't a new concept that just popped up with crypto.
I love the line where they say "report your tips"... Really? How big of a chode can the IRS suck? There is no limit to the width of their mouth.
Crypto's made it available now for all people. Very low entry level as you can even buy for $10 BTC. The number of people who now have the opportunity to cheat increased by millions. Crypto's increased the "problem" by at least a thousand fold. Before there were guns people had the possibility to kill each other. Since guns are used there are much more people getting killed as it became much easier.
Since the capital gains rate is zero for single taxpayers with income up to $41,675, most of the crypto fan bois don't have to worry about it anyway
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409 It's only if your total income is less than $41K Sorry if I got you excited about it being 0 if your capital gains were less than $40K