Swiss crypto tax glossary.

Acquisition

A transaction that increases your holding of an asset, such as a buy, reward, airdrop, or manually reconstructed opening position. Acquisition history is needed for FIFO cost basis.

Address

A public blockchain destination for sending or receiving crypto. Addresses help trace transfers, but they do not always identify whether the wallet belongs to you or someone else.

Airdrop

Crypto received without a normal purchase. Depending on the facts, an airdrop may need to be reviewed as income rather than treated like a simple private purchase.

Asset

A crypto token or coin such as BTC, ETH, SOL, or USDC. In a tax annex, each asset usually needs a year-end quantity and CHF value.

Blockchain

A shared transaction database maintained by a network. For tax reporting, blockchain activity can reveal wallet movements, swaps, fees, and rewards that may not appear in an exchange CSV.

Bridge

A transaction that moves value between blockchains. Bridges often appear as outgoing and incoming wallet movements and may need review so they are not mistaken for sales.

Capital gain

The result from selling or disposing of an asset for more than its cost basis. For many Swiss private individuals, private capital gains are generally treated differently from taxable income.

Centralised exchange

A platform such as Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Bitstamp, Swissquote, or SwissBorg that holds user accounts and exports trade or ledger history.

Cost basis

The acquisition value of an asset, usually expressed in CHF. It is compared with disposal proceeds to calculate a realised gain or loss.

Crypto derivative

A financial contract whose value depends on a crypto asset, such as futures, options, or perpetual contracts. Derivatives can create more complex tax treatment and should often be reviewed by an advisor.

Decentralised exchange

A protocol that lets users swap crypto directly from a wallet. DEX activity can be harder to reconstruct because the export may come from a wallet tool rather than a normal exchange account.

CSV export

A spreadsheet-style file downloaded from an exchange or wallet platform. CryptoDeclare reads CSV and Excel exports to build a normalised transaction timeline.

DeFi

Decentralised finance activity such as liquidity pools, lending protocols, swaps, bridging, or yield farming. DeFi exports can be harder to classify than standard exchange trades.

Disposal

A transaction that reduces your holding, such as a sale, crypto-to-crypto swap, spending transaction, or outgoing taxable event. Disposals usually need cost basis history.

ESTV / AFC

The Swiss Federal Tax Administration. CryptoDeclare aligns its report structure with Swiss tax reporting concepts and references official guidance where relevant.

FIFO

First in, first out. A cost basis method that matches disposals against the earliest available acquisition lots first.

Fiat currency

Government-issued currency such as CHF, EUR, or USD. Swiss tax reporting usually needs values converted into CHF.

Fork

An event where a blockchain splits and holders may receive a new asset. Forks can require manual review because the tax treatment and valuation depend on the facts.

Futures contract

A derivative that tracks the future price of an asset. Futures activity can be outside a simple spot-trading workflow and may require advisor review.

Gas fee

A blockchain transaction fee, commonly seen on networks such as Ethereum. Fees may affect net proceeds, cost basis, or the transaction ledger depending on the activity.

ICTax

A Swiss tax value reference database often used for official securities and crypto reference values. Year-end values can be relevant for wealth declaration.

Ledger CSV

A detailed transaction export from CryptoDeclare showing the underlying rows behind the report. It is useful for review by the taxpayer or advisor.

Lending income

Crypto or fiat-like rewards received for lending or earn products. It should generally be separated from private capital gain calculations.

Margin / leverage

Borrowed exposure used to increase a position. Leverage can be a sign that the activity is more complex than a straightforward private portfolio.

Manual transaction

A row entered manually when an exchange export is incomplete. This can help document opening balances, missing buys, staking rewards, or wallet movements.

Mining income

Crypto received from mining or similar activity. It may need income treatment and is different from simply selling privately held crypto.

Missing acquisition history

A warning that the report sees a disposal but cannot see enough earlier purchases or acquisitions to calculate full FIFO cost basis.

NFT

A non-fungible token representing a unique digital asset or right. NFT activity can involve purchases, sales, minting costs, royalties, or wallet transfers that need clear documentation.

Option

A derivative giving the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a set price. Crypto options should usually be reviewed carefully for reporting treatment.

Perpetual contract

A crypto derivative similar to a futures contract but without a fixed expiry date. Perpetuals can create complex gains, losses, funding payments, and leverage exposure.

Private investor

A taxpayer holding crypto as private wealth rather than as a professional trading or business activity. This distinction can affect the treatment of gains.

Private key

The secret credential that controls access to a wallet. It should never be uploaded or shared for a tax report; transaction exports or public addresses are the safer documentation route.

Professional trader

A taxpayer whose activity may be considered professional or business-like, for example because of high trading intensity, leverage, derivatives, or dependence on trading income.

Proof-of-stake

A blockchain consensus model where validators secure the network by staking crypto. Rewards from proof-of-stake activity should usually be separated from capital gains.

Proof-of-work

A blockchain consensus model where miners use computing power to secure the network. Mining rewards can create income-style reporting questions.

Public key

A cryptographic identifier related to a wallet. In practice, tax reporting usually relies on transaction exports and addresses rather than private wallet secrets.

Realised gain / loss

The result calculated when an asset is disposed of. It compares disposal value with cost basis and is separate from unrealised price movements.

Staking

Locking or delegating crypto to help secure a proof-of-stake network and receiving rewards. In a tax report, staking rewards should normally be separated from capital gains.

Stablecoin

A crypto asset designed to track another currency, often USD or EUR. Stablecoins still need transaction history, CHF conversion, and year-end balances in a report.

Swap

A crypto-to-crypto exchange, such as selling ETH for SOL. A swap can be both a disposal of one asset and an acquisition of another.

Tax annex

A supporting document attached to a tax return. CryptoDeclare generates an annex with summaries, notes, and ledger detail for review.

Token

A crypto asset issued on a blockchain, often representing utility, governance, stablecoin value, or another protocol-specific right.

Trading

Buying, selling, or swapping crypto assets. For Swiss reporting, trading creates transaction history that may be needed for FIFO results, even if private capital gains are not taxed as income.

Trading pair

The two assets in a market, such as BTC/CHF or ETH/USDT. Trading pairs help identify which asset was disposed of and which asset was acquired.

Transaction ledger

The detailed list of imported and normalised transactions behind the report. It helps make the calculation reviewable rather than a black box.

Transfer

Moving crypto between accounts or wallets. Transfers between your own wallets should not normally be treated as sales, but they matter for tracing acquisition history.

Unmatched disposal

A disposal that cannot be fully matched to earlier acquisition lots. This is a completeness warning, not something a report should silently ignore.

Unrealised gain / loss

A price movement on crypto you still hold. It is different from a realised result because the asset has not been disposed of.

Validator

A participant that helps secure a proof-of-stake network. Delegating to validators can generate staking rewards that need to be identified separately in a report.

Wallet

A tool or address used to hold crypto. Wallets can be custodial, like an exchange account, or self-custody, where you control the keys.

Wealth tax value

The CHF value of assets held at year-end, typically 31 December. For Swiss tax reporting, crypto holdings usually need to be included as wealth.

Yield farming

Using DeFi protocols to earn rewards, fees, or incentives. It can generate many small transactions and often needs careful classification.

Year-end portfolio value

The total CHF value of your crypto holdings at the end of the tax year. This is one of the key outputs in a Swiss crypto tax annex.