re: Crypto and taxes.

Cryptocurrencies are considered "property" by the IRS. They don't meet the legal or the economic definitions of currency. That's why "cryptocurrency" is a misnomer. They're digital assets.

There are tests to determine if an asset can be deemed a security or not. The biggest part of that test is if the coin/token issuance is dependent on the management/development team completing something to give the underlying asset value (then it would be considered a security).

Some industry players got together and formed a Crypto Rating Council to evaluate the risk of a given token/coin being considered a security or not. On a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being not likely a security and 5 likely being a security, BTC rated as a 1 (not likely a security) and XRP rates as a 4 (likely a security).

https://www.cryptoratingcouncil.com/asset-ratings