Thanks for the input, the reddit thread looks very informative and I'll be sure to interact there in future too!

I don't have a level of investment in Crypto yet that I feel warrants the cost of a book keeper so I'm getting to grips with the requirements myself (this may change in future as my investment increases)  However I do have to submit a self assessed tax return already so I believe I should be including crypto gains even if there is no tax due.

The two things I'm struggling most with how to keep on top of is:

1. Converting every transaction from $ to GBP on the day of selling, this feels very onerous!

2. Keeping a record of the market value of coins gained from staking for future capital gains calcs, how is this done when I'm paid regular fractions of coins?


I am however interested in some of the accounting software out there, does anyone have experience with how for example Koinly works?  Do I give it access to my exchanges and then it uses the transaction history to produce a tax summary for the year?

Having been increasing my Crypto holdings over the past year and taking profits recently off the price rally, I've been looking into my tax requirements.

It appears any gains made are under capital gains allowance and staking rewards are income.
However the record keeping required seems very intensive!!!

So I have to:

- Pool the costs of each coin separately to get an average buy price for future capital gains calculations

- Convert all transactions to £ (as I trade in $) at the exchange rate on the day of trading

- Record market value of all staked gains for future capital gains on these (this seems impossible with daily microscopic gains on many coins)

- Record gains/losses of every sell (converted to £)

I'm going to spend more time on this than actually trading!

How does anyone else find this process??  It doesn't seem fit for purpose!!

Thanks for the replies, I'm still a complete newbie to the Crypto scene and haven't investigated cold storage wallets yet.

In all honesty my limited holdings are still on KuCoin and Kraken so I've opened a Coinbase Hot Wallet which I intend to move some of my holdings too.  Also considering Trust Wallet for diversification of funds!

Still nervous about moving funds around and getting it wrong but must bite the bullet.

Didn't know if I would be able to stake once I'd taken it out of the exchanges so good to know that is still an option from within the wallets!

I currently stake my ATOM on exchange with Kraken but am feeling wary about keeping crypto on exchanges.

Is it possible to self custody and still stake ATOM?

Ok thankyou, appreciate the clarification on Polygon!  Thanks

I still haven't moved anything off exchange, partially paralysed by too many stories of losing money by transferring incorrectly and not wanting to pay the sizeable Bitcoin network fee when I haven't got a large holding.

Although partially reassured by moving USDT from KuCoin to Kraken successfully and having been told the fee to transfer out of the wallet should be less than the fee to transfer from exchange.

Can I please re-visit part of this topic ....

So I now realise I should only transfer Bitcoin on the Bitcoin network to avoid wrapped versions of the coin!

However can I confirm how this works with Eth?  Can I use Layer2 networks like OP/ARB/MATIC to transfer Eth as they sit on the Ethereum network as these are substanially cheaper options.

Thanks all!

Well that really is exquisite timing as I've just managed to eventually trade my GBP to Tether at a reasonable rate, open an account with Kraken, transfer the USDT after a failed test and now about to convert back to GBP to withdraw .... just in time for KuCoin to offer GBP withdrawal.  Hmmmmmm 

Appreciate the update though!!

Thanks everyone for thoughts and suggestions.

I downloaded and had a quick look around:
Coingecko
Coin Tracker
Delta
Coin Stats

Of their free offerings I like Coin Stats so far.  I've just manually entered my holdings so far but it does say I cant connect to an exchange API to automatically track transactions so I might try that next.

What I like is the stats available, on Delta for instance most were behind the paywall.

I have the option to add/deduct from my dollars when inputting buy/sells which was my original gripe.

I also really like that the homepage of my portfolio displays Profit/Loss for each coin, I previously had to click on each individually to view this.  Even better I can quickly flick it between all time and current holdings which I think is fantastic!

Ok thanks, that's really informative actually as I was was feeling reluctant to pay $14 to take my Bitcoin into a wallet as I sell a take profits as the price increases and at my level paying $14 to transfer every lump back to sell would be painful.  It's really good to know this size of charge only applies when sending from the exchange!!

In other good news my USDT transfer from KuCoin to Kraken went through successfully .... and breathe!!  

So now to decide whether to convert to GBP and withdraw profits or dollar cost average back in (if prices drop a little)  


Does anyone know why it says I'm a suspected scammer above all my posts???

Kraken did display the minimum amount but sadly I overlooked it.  I think I already had it in my head that the minimum was $3 from KuCoin and didn't register it was different on Kraken.  My mistake obviously but frustrating.  Has spooked me about sending the larger lump but at least this issue won't be a concern.

I did speak to their help chat who were pleasant but said it was lost as Tether transfers can't be "stacked" and another payment won't push this one through so to speak!  Yet another lesson learned.

I don't really intend to transfer regularly, this is born out of KuCoin not having a withdraw GBP option whereas Kraken do.  However I'm interested to know why it would be cheaper to send to a wallet and then on to Kraken from there?  Surely I still have to pay the transfer fee to move it to my wallet each time??  Or do you mean a lump to wallet and then small payments from there??  Is it cheaper to send from a wallet??

Ok, yes thankyou ... it was my plan to move to another portfolio tracker but I thought it would be worth asking for recommendations rather than simply picking another from the extensive list of possibilities 

Getting into Crypto is starting to feel like walking through a minefield of potential issues and I'm reasonably tech savvy.  I don't know how the average Joe will ever get onboard!

My latest and thankfully unexpensive faux-pas was to send a trial $3USDT from KuCoin to Kraken as this was the minimum send ....

However it now appears the minimum deposit amount is higher than the minimum send at $5USDT on Tron so my transfer is simply lost ... poof ... gone!!

Learning comes the hard way again!

Thanks, I'm only getting to grips with sending coins off exchange to hot wallets at the moment.  The Bitcoin/Eth fees are hefty for my level of investment and it turns out cheaper alternatives aren't all they appear to be with wrapped coins etc .... anyway I hope to use a ledger eventually but learning curve isn't there yet!

As for portfolio trackers it appears you gain one thing and lose another.

i've been trying out Delta which massively improves trading currency pair with automatic deductions/additions to the USD pot ....

however I now have to pay premium to see statistics I had access to before on coinmarketcap such as avg. buy price, %profit loss by coin.

I guess you can't have it all (for free anyway)

I don't trade as such, although I do dollar cost average on a selection of coins and sell a percentage when they make substantial gains.

Up to this point I've just been making manual updates on coinmarketcaps tracker as I've got my coins on a couple of exchanges and wallets.

I've found it quite cumbersome with having to add dollars afterwards etc. but I hadn't even realised there were trackers that would automatically collate what I have in various places!!!

Maybe it's a small thing but every time I add a buy or sell to any coin on my tracker, I then have to do the opposite to my USDT so my chart represents my overall holding.   This frustrates the life out of me as surely when you sell a coin, whatever you get for it should be automatically added to the portfolio!!

Am I overlooking some functionality or is there another portfolio tracker that performs better?

Thanks for the pointer in the right direction, I've set up the Kraken master key as the alternative to 2FA recovery!

When I set up my google authenticator for 2FA on KuCoin I got a lengthy code to use for recovery if for example I ever lose my phone.

However, I've just done the same on Kraken and haven't got a similar code.

Does anyone know if I should always have the long backup code for each 2FA or is the code for all of my google authenticator accounts?

Thanks!! I hadn't followed up on this as I hadn't managed to convert my GBP to USDT .... until today!

Ironically after waiting it out with a limit order at 0.82/USDT the market randomly dropped to 0.77 today 

Anyway, I've set up with Kraken so the plan is to trial a transfer before sending the rest across to convert back to GBP and withdraw!

Fingers crossed!!!

GBP/USDT on KuCoin is stabilising, if I manage to sell my GBP for USDT the plan is to send to another exchange where I can convert back to GBP and withdraw.  Most likely candidate is currently Kraken.

However I've never sent Crypto before, can anyone advise what network I should use to get the USDT from KuCoin to another exchange or offer any advise so I don't get it wrong!!   

Ok, so the initial aim of the query was how the best and if possible most cost effective way to get Bitcoin off KuCoin exchange into a self custody wallet.

Are you suggesting if I move Tether into my Coinbase Wallet I can buy BTC there???
(The quoted charge to transfer USDT $20, even more than the $14 for Bitcoin)


Since then my queries had moved to how this applies for other coins as I also hold ETH and a basket of ALTs on KuCoin that ideally I'd like to move into a wallet too, although some are currently earning decent staking rewards which are hard to turn down!!!

ALTs seem particularly bewildering as every coin has it's own network or a choice, do wallets accept all of these various networks?