Crypto journal entries cheat sheet: the standard postings on one page

The five postings that cover most crypto activity: purchase, disposal, income received in crypto, internal transfer and gas fee, each written as a debit and credit pair. Account names here are generic; map them to your own chart of accounts before use. Figures are illustrative.

General information, not legal, accounting or tax advice. Accounts and treatment should follow your entity's framework and policy, confirmed with a qualified advisor.

How to read this sheet

Account names below are generic: Digital assets, Cash, Realised gain on digital assets, Realised loss on digital assets, Crypto income, Network fee expense. Your chart of accounts will use its own names and may split digital assets by token, wallet or purpose. Map each line before posting. The structure of the entry does not change; only the account label does.

Every entry balances. If a crypto posting does not balance, the usual culprits are a fee that was dropped, a cost basis that was not relieved, or an internal transfer that was booked on one side only.

1. Purchase

Debit Digital assets for the cost of the token plus the acquisition fee. Credit Cash (or the stablecoin account, if settled in stablecoin) for the total paid. The acquisition fee capitalises into basis rather than being expensed, which means it reduces the realised gain later instead of hitting the income statement now.

2. Disposal

Debit Cash at net proceeds, meaning gross proceeds less the disposal fee. Credit Digital assets at the cost basis consumed, which is the basis of the specific lots your cost-basis method selects. The difference balances the entry: a credit to Realised gain if proceeds exceed basis, a debit to Realised loss if they do not.

Worked example

An asset carried at a cost basis of 100 is disposed of for 400. The entry debits cash 400, credits the crypto asset 100 to remove it at its carrying amount, and credits a realised gain of 300 to balance. Had proceeds been 60 instead, the same structure produces a realised loss of 40 as a debit. These figures are illustrative.

Which lots are consumed, and therefore how large the gain is, is decided by the cost-basis method the entity has adopted and documented. Apply it consistently across every disposal.

3. Income received in crypto

Staking rewards, mining proceeds, airdrops and tokens received as payment or salary bring new value onto the books. Debit Digital assets at the value on receipt and credit the relevant income account for the same amount.

The critical point is what happens next: that receipt value becomes the asset's cost basis. When the token is later disposed of, only the movement since receipt lands in realised gain or loss. Set the basis to zero and the same value is recognised twice, once as income and again as gain.

4. Transfer between the entity's own wallets

Debit the receiving wallet account and credit the sending wallet account, both at carrying amount. There is no gain or loss. Nothing has been disposed of; the asset has moved.

This is the single most common way crypto books go wrong. A naive import sees an outflow from one address and an inflow to another and books a sale followed by a purchase. The result is a realised gain that never happened, an income statement that is wrong, and a cost basis that has been reset without cause. Identify own-wallet movements explicitly and evidence them from your wallet register.

5. Gas and network fees

A network fee may be capitalised into the cost of the asset it relates to, or expensed, depending on what the transaction was for and on the entity's documented policy. Write the position down once and apply it, rather than deciding transaction by transaction.

Note the second-order effect: because gas is usually paid in the network's native token, settling the fee is itself a small disposal of that token. The token leaves at its carrying amount, the fee is measured at the value given up, and any difference is a realised gain or loss. Spreadsheets miss this routinely; across a busy period it accumulates.

Before you post

• Map the generic accounts above to your own chart of accounts, once, and keep the mapping central.
• Confirm the cost-basis method in your accounting policy and apply it to every disposal without exception.
• Flag own-wallet transfers before classification, not after the gain has been posted.
• Keep lot-level workings behind each realised gain or loss so a reviewer can re-perform it.
• Post summarised period entries to the general ledger and retain the transaction detail beneath them.

For the full mechanics behind each posting, see the crypto journal entries guide. To build a single entry quickly, use the crypto journal entry generator. CryptaCount produces these postings automatically across 90+ blockchain networks and 100+ exchange and wallet connectors, and pushes them into QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage or Zoho.