This opening lesson frames digital assets as a tax category, not just an investment trend. Students learn why U.S. tax law generally treats cryptocurrency and other blockchain-based assets as property, how that treatment drives reporting obligations, and why even routine crypto activity can create taxable events.
Professor David Grant introduces the core vocabulary used throughout the course: digital assets, convertible virtual currency, basis, fair market value, realization, capital gain, ordinary income, and information reporting. The lesson also distinguishes what belongs in this foundation from later technical topics such as DeFi, staking, NFTs, mining, loss harvesting, and return preparation.
Check back — resources for this lesson will appear here.