If you’ve been following the Coldcard mess, a firmware bug weakened how some devices generated seed phrases, and attackers have been brute-forcing them and sweeping wallets.

Absolutely brutal.

Making this post because if you got caught in it (or any hack or theft really), there’s a tax angle most people don’t think about while they’re still in the gut-punch phase. Won’t bring the coins back, but it’s still worth knowing.

The basic rule: the ATO lets you claim a capital loss on crypto that’s actually gone, if you can prove you owned it and it’s irrecoverable. That offsets your capital gains, and anything left over carries forward. It won’t reduce normal income, only gains.

For a theft like this, evidence is everything. Acquisition records, the wallet addresses, the on-chain trail showing the funds swept out, and a police report. The stronger the paper trail, the cleaner the claim.

A few things to keep in mind however:

Exchange collapses (FTX, Celsius type). You can’t claim the day it enters administration. It crystallises when administration finalises, based on what you actually get back. Lots of people try to claim too early.

Worthless tokens you still hold. A coin down 99% but still in your wallet isn’t a loss yet, paper losses don’t count. If it’s still tradeable, selling it even for cents locks in the loss (especially for the pumpfun users 👀)

And if you get any compensation later, you reduce the loss by that amount.

If you got hit by the Coldcard thing, might be best to sort the new wallet and your security first, obviously. The tax bit can wait until the dust settles, just don’t forget it exists because it does.

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