Moonshot Taxes: How to Do Taxes on Your Moonshot Wallet
Moonshot makes memecoin trading feel almost like using a normal investing app: deposit cash, find a coin, swipe to buy, and cash out when you're done.
The tax treatment isn't quite as simple.
Moonshot is a self-custodial crypto wallet, and its trades happen onchain through decentralized exchanges. That means buying and selling memecoins can create the same capital gains and losses as trading crypto through any other wallet or DEX — even if you never withdraw money to your bank account.
Fortunately, you can do your Moonshot taxes with Awaken. Add your Moonshot wallet address to Awaken along with any exchanges or wallets that funded it, and Awaken can import your Solana activity, track cost basis, calculate gains and losses, and generate the tax reports you need to file.
Here's how Moonshot taxes work and how to get them done.
This guide focuses primarily on U.S. federal taxes. Tax rules vary by country.
Are Moonshot trades taxable?
Yes.
For U.S. tax purposes, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are treated as digital assets, and digital assets are treated as property. Selling one or exchanging it for another can create a taxable capital gain or loss.
Moonshot currently lets users buy coins using SOL or USDC and sell coins back into supported assets. Those trades occur onchain through your self-custodial wallet.
The basic tax treatment looks like this:
Moonshot activity | Typical U.S. tax treatment |
Deposit cash and acquire SOL or USDC | Generally not taxable by itself |
Buy a memecoin with SOL | Potential capital gain/loss on the SOL |
Buy a memecoin with USDC | Technically a disposal of USDC; gain/loss is often small |
Sell a memecoin for SOL or USDC | Capital gain or loss on the memecoin |
Transfer crypto to another wallet you own | Generally non-taxable |
Hold a token as its price changes | Not taxable until a disposition occurs |
Receive a referral bonus or free tokens | Potential taxable income |
Pay trading or network fees | May affect basis/proceeds and can have separate tax consequences |
Buying memecoins on Moonshot
One of the easiest crypto tax rules to miss is that buying one cryptocurrency with another cryptocurrency can itself be taxable.
Suppose:
You bought 5 SOL for $500.
SOL rises and those 5 SOL are now worth $800.
You spend the 5 SOL buying a memecoin on Moonshot.
You haven't sold anything for dollars, but you've disposed of SOL worth $800 that originally cost you $500.
That can create a $300 capital gain on your SOL.
The roughly $800 of value used to acquire the memecoin then becomes part of your basis in the new token, adjusted for applicable transaction costs.
The IRS specifically treats exchanging one digital asset for another as a reportable disposition.
What if I buy with USDC?
Moonshot also lets users purchase tokens using USDC.
USDC is still a digital asset, so exchanging USDC for another token is technically a disposal as well.
Because USDC normally stays close to $1, the gain or loss on the USDC itself may be negligible. But the transaction still needs to be represented correctly in your tax history.
Selling memecoins on Moonshot
Selling a Moonshot token generally creates a capital gain or loss.
The basic formula is:
Proceeds − adjusted cost basis = capital gain or loss
For example:
You spend $500 worth of SOL buying a token.
You later sell it for $2,000 worth of SOL.
Ignoring fees:
$2,000 − $500 = $1,500 capital gain
The SOL you receive then has its own cost basis based on its value when you acquired it. If you later sell or spend that SOL after its price changes, that can create another gain or loss.
This is why even a relatively small amount of memecoin trading can generate a surprisingly complicated tax history.
Do I owe taxes if I never cash out of Moonshot?
Yes, potentially.
You don't need to withdraw to your bank account before a gain becomes taxable.
For example:
SOL → MEME1 → SOL → MEME2 → USDC
may contain four separate disposals even if you leave everything inside your Moonshot wallet.
The IRS says exchanges of digital assets for other digital assets need to be reported.
What if my Moonshot memecoin went to zero?
If you've traded memecoins for any length of time, this one matters.
Suppose you buy a token for $1,000 and six hours later it's worth $5.
If you sell it for $5, you can generally realize approximately a $995 capital loss, ignoring fees.
That loss can offset capital gains under the normal capital-loss rules.
But simply watching your token fall to nearly zero while continuing to hold it does not necessarily mean you've realized the loss.
If a token becomes totally worthless or impossible to trade, the analysis can become more complicated. Don't automatically assume that a wallet showing a value of $0 means you can deduct your entire purchase price.
Depositing money into Moonshot
Moonshot supports several ways of funding the app.
Depending on your location, users may be able to deposit using methods including:
Bank transfer
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
PayPal
Venmo
Coinbase
Robinhood
Revolut
Direct crypto transfer
Moonshot currently supports funding in SOL or USDC, with available methods varying by region.
Depositing cash
If you deposit dollars and acquire SOL or USDC, the purchase of the crypto itself generally doesn't create a capital gain.
Instead, you're establishing your initial cost basis.
The later trade — such as using SOL to buy a memecoin — is where a taxable disposition may occur.
Sending crypto from another wallet
Suppose you already own SOL in Phantom and send it to Moonshot.
If both wallets belong to you, the transfer itself is generally not taxable.
The IRS explicitly says that transferring digital assets between wallets or accounts you own does not create income, gain, or loss, although crypto used to pay the transfer fee can itself be disposed of.
Your original cost basis needs to follow the SOL into Moonshot.
That's why your tax software should know about both wallets.
Withdrawing or sending crypto from Moonshot
Moonshot lets you send coins from the app to another wallet, and because Moonshot is self-custodial, those transfers occur directly from the wallet you control.
If you send your SOL from Moonshot to your own Phantom wallet:
Generally not taxable.
If you send it to Coinbase and continue to own the SOL:
Generally not taxable.
If you send crypto to someone else as payment:
Potentially taxable.
The important question is whether ownership of the asset actually changed.
What about cashing out Moonshot to your bank?
Moonshot advertises the ability to cash out holdings using supported withdrawal providers. Its fiat conversion services are handled by third parties rather than Moonshot itself.
If you sell a memecoin or SOL for dollars, USDC, or another asset as part of that process, the underlying disposal may create a capital gain or loss.
Moving the resulting dollars to your bank isn't what creates the tax event.
The sale that happened before the withdrawal is what matters.
Moonshot trading fees and taxes
Moonshot charges fees on buys and sells.
Its current fee schedule includes network costs and an administrative fee based on trade size. Moonshot currently lists a 2.5% trading fee with roughly a $0.99 minimum on trades from $2–$100, and 1% on trades over $100, although fees can change.
Those fees shouldn't simply disappear from your tax calculation.
The IRS's current digital-asset guidance specifically recognizes transaction costs such as commissions, gas fees, and other costs incurred to execute a purchase or disposition.
Depending on the transaction, fees can affect:
The basis of an asset you purchase
The proceeds from an asset you sell
The gain or loss on crypto used to pay the fee
This is another reason importing the actual onchain activity is preferable to manually entering only the headline buy and sell amounts.
Are Moonshot referral bonuses taxable?
Moonshot has offered referral programs where eligible users can receive free memecoins after completing certain conditions.
Free does not necessarily mean tax-free.
Crypto received as a reward can potentially represent taxable income based on its fair market value when received. The IRS specifically lists digital assets received as rewards or awards among transactions that may need to be reported.
If you receive $50 worth of tokens as a Moonshot bonus and that reward is taxable income, the same $50 would generally establish your starting basis.
If you later sell the tokens for $100, you could then have a separate $50 capital gain.
Why Moonshot taxes get messy
Moonshot's interface is intentionally simple.
Your transaction history isn't.
An active trader can quickly accumulate:
Hundreds of memecoin swaps
Repeated SOL disposals
USDC trades
Deposits from exchanges
Transfers between wallets
Tiny network fees
Referral rewards
Tokens that become nearly worthless
Multiple cost-basis lots for SOL
Trades routed through different decentralized exchanges
Moonshot itself isn't an exchange. It acts as a self-custodial wallet interface and currently routes trades through Jupiter, which can route swaps across decentralized exchanges.
From a tax perspective, what matters is reconstructing the economic transaction correctly from the underlying blockchain activity.
Moonshot has free tax reports built into the app
Moonshot users have an easier option than manually exporting their transaction history.
Awaken’s crypto tax software is built directly into the Moonshot app, allowing Moonshot users to calculate their Moonshot taxes and download their tax reports for free.
That means you can review your Moonshot trading activity, see your gains and losses, and generate the tax documents you need without first creating a separate tax account or reconstructing your trades manually. For users who only traded through Moonshot, the built-in tax experience may be all you need.
What if I also use other wallets and exchanges?
If Moonshot is only one part of your crypto activity, you can upgrade to a full Awaken account and combine your Moonshot history with the rest of your portfolio.
For example, you can add:
Coinbase, Kraken, or other exchanges
Phantom and other Solana wallets
Ethereum and EVM wallets
DeFi activity
Other trading apps and platforms
This is especially useful if you transferred assets into or out of Moonshot, because your cost basis may depend on transactions that happened elsewhere.
Moonshot users receive 30% off a first-year Awaken account, letting you bring all of your crypto activity together in one tax ledger while keeping the Moonshot transactions already imported through the app.
How to do your Moonshot taxes with Awaken
Because Moonshot is a self-custodial Solana wallet, you can import the wallet into Awaken using its public address.
You do not need to export or share your secret phrase.
Step 1: Find your Moonshot wallet address
Moonshot says you can find your public wallet address by going to:
Settings → Export Keys
Your wallet address is shown there and can be copied.
Do not copy your secret phrase into Awaken or any other tax application.
Your public wallet address is all Awaken needs to import your onchain activity.
Step 2: Add the wallet to Awaken
In Awaken, add your Moonshot address as a Solana wallet.
Awaken automatically supports Solana wallet imports, along with other blockchains and centralized exchanges.
Awaken can then bring your onchain Moonshot activity into the same tax ledger as the rest of your crypto history.
Step 3: Add the accounts that funded Moonshot
Don't stop with Moonshot.
If your history looks like:
Coinbase → Moonshot → Phantom → Coinbase
you should connect all three accounts.
Otherwise, a transfer into Moonshot may look like crypto appearing with no acquisition history, causing missing cost basis later.
Awaken recommends connecting all relevant wallets and accounts before finalizing your tax calculations.
Step 4: Review your gains, losses, and missing data
Once your wallets are imported, review:
Large capital gains
Missing cost basis
Unmatched wallet transfers
Unrecognized tokens
Referral rewards or other income
Tokens that were sold for large losses
Often, adding one missing wallet resolves multiple downstream errors automatically.
Step 5: Generate your tax reports
Once the account is reconciled, you can generate your crypto tax reports in Awaken, including Form 8949 data for your capital gains and losses.
You can then use those reports with tax-filing software such as TurboTax or send them to your accountant.
Moonshot tax FAQs
Does Moonshot send tax forms?
Don't assume that Moonshot will provide a tax form covering all of your trading activity.
Moonshot describes itself as a self-custodial wallet and interface to decentralized exchanges rather than an exchange or custodian.
Regardless of whether you receive a tax form, you're still responsible for reporting taxable digital-asset transactions.
Does Moonshot report to the IRS?
Moonshot's terms state that users are responsible for determining and paying taxes associated with their transactions.
You should report your taxable activity based on what actually happened rather than assuming a transaction is unreportable because you didn't receive a 1099.
Third-party funding and withdrawal providers can also have their own reporting obligations.
Is Moonshot a crypto exchange?
No.
Moonshot describes itself as a self-custodial blockchain wallet that lets users interact with decentralized exchanges. Trades are currently routed through Jupiter rather than being matched on a Moonshot-operated exchange.
Is transferring crypto into Moonshot taxable?
Generally not if you're transferring crypto from another wallet or account that you own.
Your existing cost basis should follow the asset into the Moonshot wallet.
Are Moonshot memecoin losses deductible?
Realized capital losses can generally offset capital gains under normal capital-loss rules.
A token falling dramatically in price while you continue to hold it does not necessarily create a realized loss.
Can I get my Moonshot transaction history from the blockchain?
Yes.
Moonshot is a self-custodial Solana wallet, so your onchain transaction activity is associated with your public Solana wallet address.
Instead of manually reconstructing trades from a block explorer, you can add that address directly to Awaken.
What tax software works with Moonshot?
Awaken supports automatic Solana wallet imports, which allows you to bring your Moonshot wallet into the same tax account as your exchanges and other crypto wallets.
From there, Awaken can calculate cost basis, gains and losses, reconcile wallet transfers, and generate your crypto tax reports.
The bottom line
Moonshot makes memecoin trading easy enough that the tax consequences can pile up before you realize it.
A few taps can create:
SOL disposal → memecoin purchase → memecoin sale → new SOL basis → another memecoin purchase
Repeat that a few hundred times and doing the calculations manually becomes much less appealing.
The good news is that Moonshot is a self-custodial Solana wallet, which means the underlying trading history is onchain.
Add your Moonshot wallet — plus the exchanges and other wallets connected to it — to Awaken, review anything that needs attention, and generate your tax reports from the complete transaction history.
That way, your tax preparation can stay considerably less volatile than the coins you're trading.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice.
