Taxable Event

A taxable event, sometimes called a realisation event, is a transaction that a tax system treats as the moment when a gain or loss must be measured and reported. In crypto the common candidates include selling coins for government-issued currency, swapping one token for another, spending crypto to buy goods or services, and receiving assets as income from work, mining, staking or airdrops. Simply holding an asset while its market price moves is usually not a taxable event, and moving coins between wallets you control is generally treated as a transfer rather than a disposal. Which events count, how they are categorised and when they are reported vary by jurisdiction, so this is general vocabulary rather than tax advice.