Crypto 101: Demystifying Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets are no longer confined to technology enthusiasts. Tax professionals increasingly encounter clients who use digital wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, tokens, NFTs, and decentralized finance platforms. This beginner-level IRS CE and CPA CPE course explains how blockchain networks and cryptocurrency transactions operate, giving practitioners the technical foundation needed to understand digital asset activity and communicate more confidently with clients.
Digital assets are no longer a niche topic reserved for technologists and early adopters. Understanding how cryptocurrency and blockchain technology function at a foundational level is now essential for tax professionals, advisors, attorneys, and financial practitioners navigating today’s digital economy.
Taught by V.J. Danko, a former IRS Senior Revenue Agent and former IRS service-wide subject-matter expert on digital assets and offshore compliance. This course provides a clear, practitioner-focused introduction to the technology behind digital assets, demystifying concepts that often appear overly technical or abstract. Participants will explore how blockchain networks operate, the role of public and private keys, wallets, centralized and decentralized exchanges, and how transactions are validated and permanently recorded on distributed ledgers.
The program also examines the practical distinctions between coins and tokens, smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. In addition, attendees will gain insight into how digital assets are created and distributed through mining, airdrops, forks, and crowdfunding models such as ICOs and token generation events.
Emphasis is placed on building conceptual clarity so professionals can confidently interpret blockchain activity, understand how value moves within these ecosystems, and better advise clients interacting with cryptocurrency markets and emerging digital asset technologies.
In this course, you will be able to:
Describe the key concepts of the technology behind digital assets
Describe how cryptocurrency operates
Explain various means to acquire digital assets
Explain the principles of smart contracts, nonfungible tokens (NFT) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Explain the principles of crowd funding in the digital asset industry
Who should Attend:
This course is designed for CPAs, enrolled agents, tax attorneys, tax preparers, accountants, financial advisers, and other professionals who serve clients who own, trade, receive, or transact in cryptocurrency and other digital assets. No prior blockchain or cryptocurrency experience is required.
2 IRS CE hours
2 CPA CPE Credits
Prerequisites: None
Program Level: Basic
Advanced Preparation: None
Field of Study: Taxes
Location: Virtual
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
Your Instructor
V.J. Danko
Tax Consultant
V.J. Danko is a digital asset and international tax compliance specialist with more than 23 years of experience in tax administration, enforcement, and advisory services. Before entering private practice, he spent over two decades with the Internal Revenue Service, serving as a Senior Revenue Agent and the IRS’s service wide subject matter expert on digital assets and offshore compliance.
During his IRS career, V.J. led some of the government’s earliest and most complex cryptocurrency examinations. He helped develop national audit campaigns targeting digital assets, offshore private banking, and high-income non-filers, and contributed to key IRS guidance, including sections of the Internal Revenue Manual and the Digital Assets Audit Technique Guide.
V.J. also designed and delivered digital asset training for IRS agents nationwide and has extensive experience using blockchain analytics tools to reconstruct complex transaction histories.
As the founder of Blockchain Tax Consulting, Inc., he advises individuals and businesses on cryptocurrency taxation, audit defense, offshore reporting, and crypto-integrated accounting, helping clients stay compliant in an evolving regulatory environment.
You can contact V.J. at [email protected]. More information on his consulting firm can be found at www.blockchaintax.net.
All Self-Study courses must be completed by 12/31/2026 to receive IRS CE Credit
Crypto 101: Demystifying Digital Assets
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