How To Gift Crypto For The Holidays

If you have a friend or family member that's a cryptocurrency enthusiast, there's no better gift for the holidays than a crypto gift. Or, maybe you're a crypto enthusiast trying to get your friends exposed to the asset class, and you want to gift them crypto this holiday season. While the most obvious crypto gift id cryptocurrency itself, it's not the most exciting way to give the gift of crypto. Looking for unique crypto gifts? Read on to see the top cryptocurrency related gifts for this holiday season.

This year, give a gift that no one will expect: consider giving crypto. Not only is it a great present, but it is also a fantastic way to introduce people to cryptocurrencies. If this sounds interesting to you, keep reading for some of the best crypto gift ideas. 

What Are the Best Crypto Gifts?

The most obvious crypto gift would be to give someone Bitcoin. It is the most well-known crypto, so most people will know what you give them. You could also make a gift of Ethereum or any one of several other popular altcoins like Solana, Avalanche or Polkadot. 

Another exciting gift idea would be to give a basket of cryptocurrencies. Because you can buy fractions of cryptocurrencies, determine the total cost you want to spend on the gift. Then divide that among the cryptocurrencies that you choose to gift. You could even throw in a meme coin like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu. 

If the person you are giving the gift to is already into crypto, you could give them a hardware wallet like the Ledger or Trezor. Probably the most unique crypto gift you could give would be a non-fungible token (NFT). Prices vary widely for NFTs, with some as low as $10 or less, meaning that you won’t need to spend a fortune. 

How To Give Crypto as a Gift

Once you’ve decided to give crypto, you need to know how to do it. How you proceed depends on whether or not you are already into crypto. If you are not, you first open an account at a crypto exchange. One of the most straightforward exchanges for newcomers to use is Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN). Once your account is set up and you have linked a bank account, transfer fiat currency like dollars or euros to your account.

Another cool feature that Coinbase has is the “Send a Gift” option at the bottom of the left side menu. All you need to send the gift is the recipient's email address. You can also pick out a card and add a personalized message. The recipient's email will have detailed instructions on opening an account at Coinbase. There is no extra charge to send a gift, and if the recipient does not redeem the gift within 30 days, the transaction will automatically cancel. 

If you are opening a new Coinbase account, you’ll want to transfer in money more than 5 days before you want to send the gift. Coinbase holds any crypto purchases until the ACH transfer has cleared. 

How To Gift an NFT for the Holidays

Maybe you want to give something even more unique than cryptocurrency. Perhaps the recipient of your gift is a collector. In that case, giving an NFT as a gift could be perfect. 

You can find many websites where you can buy NFTs. By far the largest when it comes to NFT sales is OpenSea. To purchase an NFT from OpenSea, you need a cryptocurrency wallet. If you don’t already have one, the most popular wallet is the MetaMask wallet. MetaMask comes in either a browser extension or as a mobile app. You also need Ether in your wallet. 

To make a purchase, connect your wallet to OpenSea. After you buy an NFT, you can transfer it just as if it were Ether. Click on the transfer button (white arrow) and copy the Ethereum address of the recipient and paste it into the address bar. MetaMask mobile wallets can receive and store NFTs.

A word of caution: Pay attention to the Ether gas fees. At times they can be costly. You can also buy NFTs from Nifty Gateway, which allows you to use credit and debit cards to make purchases. Other alternatives are NFTs on the Binance or Solana blockchain, where transactions are far cheaper than on Ethereum.

Give The Gift of Security: Hardware Wallets

Unfortunately, crypto hacks are on track to set a record this year. If you feel extra generous, you could give a hardware wallet and crypto to store in it. You could transfer the crypto to the wallet after they finish setting it up and send you their public address. Hardware wallets, also known as cold storage wallets, offer the highest possible security for digital assets. Hardware wallets are devices that connect to your computer by USB cable or your phone by Bluetooth. 

The most popular hardware wallet currently on the market is the Ledger Nano S. Ledger has been making cryptocurrency wallets since 2014, and it's the most advanced wallet on the market. Investors can store thousands of coins on the device, and it connects seamlessly to applications so you can trade or use your crypto easily. The Ledger Nano S is $59, and Ledger also offers the Ledger Nano X which comes in at around $129.

A Gift For Cryptocurrency Traders: 3Commas

An excellent gift for anyone who loves to trade crypto would be 3Commas. 3Commas is an online multi-feature trading platform specifically designed for trading cryptocurrencies. It offers 3 premium plans that you can subscribe to. The Starter, Advanced and Pro plans cost $29, $49, and $99 per month. You can also subscribe annually and receive a discount. 

3Commas supports 18 crypto exchanges and also offers integration with TradingView. The smart trade platform allows for complex orders to be placed. The automated trading platform offers three different algorithmic bots that you can either manually program or use the pre-programmed AI feature. 3Commas has excellent instructions, including YouTube videos covering every aspect of its platform, making setup and programming very easy. 

Having the ability to trade around the clock with bots can give traders a huge advantage over those manually trading. 3Commas also offers paper trading so that you can try out different trading strategies or test out your bots before risking real money.

Is Cryptocurrency Received as a Gift Taxable?

Receiving crypto alone is not a taxable event, and it does not count as income. However, if you sell the crypto later and realize capital gains, you will have to pay taxes on those gains. Additionally, per the IRS, if a person receives, sells, sends, exchanges or acquires any financial interest in any virtual currency, they have to check a box on the 1040 form indicating that action. A gift of crypto would not be a taxable event, but if the person you are giving crypto to is a nervous taxpayer, you should let them know they will need to check this box on their tax returns.