The web app has a dedicated “Cost basis” page with “bitcoin lots”, “Transfers out”, and “Dispositions” tabs, plus summary metrics that recalculate after you complete transaction details. While a desktop device is better suited for reviewing many transactions at once, you can edit the type or cost basis of any sent or received transaction you find on the “Activity” screen in the upper right corner of the mobile app.
How to edit your cost basis
Most transactions start with a “Needs review” status until you confirm the transaction type. On the web app, open the “Cost basis” page and select a transaction. On the mobile app, open a transaction and tap “Edit” on the “Cost basis” row. To split a receipt into lots, use “+ Add lot” on the web app or on the mobile app. Once saved, transactions become “Edited.”
The “Dispositions” tab lists your sales, payments sent, and gifts sent. Sales and payments sent also show a disposition value and a realized gain or loss. When a funding lot is missing cost data, basis reads “Unavailable,” and gain or loss reads “Cannot be calculated” until you complete the details.
Starting with the 2026 tax year, Strike reports cost basis to the IRS, though you remain in control of what you report on your return. Review and complete your details before we generate tax forms in mid-February each year so they appear correctly on the previous year’s form. Later changes go through a corrected form request.
Understanding transaction types
| Transaction | Default type | Can be changed to |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving bitcoin from an external wallet | Transfer in | Gift received, Payment received |
| Receiving bitcoin from a Strike user | Payment received | Gift received |
| Sending bitcoin to an external wallet | Transfer out | Payment sent, Gift sent |
| Sending bitcoin to a Strike user | Payment sent | Gift sent, Transfer out |
| Buying and selling | Known | — |
When:
- receiving bitcoin from an external wallet, Strike assumes you acquired the bitcoin at the price and date when it arrived in your account.
- receiving bitcoin from a Strike user, Strike knows the price and date the bitcoin arrived, so there’s nothing for you to supply and no transfer in to select. When the sender expected nothing in return, change it to a gift received, whose basis follows the donor’s and which you can then edit lot by lot. You can’t change it to “transfer in,” because that type applies only when you’re moving bitcoin you already own.
- sending bitcoin to an external wallet, Strike can’t know whether you or someone else owns any external address you send bitcoin to, so it assumes it’s a transfer out to your own wallet, which is non-taxable. When the destination isn’t your own, reclassify the send as a payment or a gift, and the transaction moves to “dispositions”.
- sending bitcoin to a Strike user, Strike can’t know your purpose, so it assumes a payment. Reclassify the send as a transfer out when the bitcoin is still your own, such as a send to your own business account, to a spouse you file jointly with, to a legal entity you own, or to your own wallet in an app that receives bitcoin through Strike. The classification is yours to make.
- buying and selling, Strike automatically records uneditable details.
The accounting method used by Strike
Strike uses HIFO (Highest In, First Out), so your highest-cost lots fund a transaction first. You can’t change your cost-basis method.
Say you buy ₿0.05 at $35,000 per bitcoin in January ($1,767.50 with fees), buy ₿0.03 at $45,000 in June ($1,363.50 with fees), buy ₿0.02 at $40,000 after a pullback in November ($808.00 with fees), then sell ₿0.04 for $2,178.00 after fees in December:
- Under HIFO, the sale draws on the whole June lot plus half of the November lot, $1,363.50 + $404.00 = $1,767.50 of basis, for a $410.50 gain.
- Under FIFO (First In, First Out), your oldest lots would go first, drawing on the January lot alone, $1,414.00 of basis, for a $764.00 gain.
- Under LIFO (Last In, First Out), your newest lots would go first, drawing on the whole November lot plus two-thirds of the June lot, $808.00 + $909.00 = $1,717.00 of basis, for a $461.00 gain.
Strike does not provide tax advice. Examples are for informational purposes only. Consult a qualified professional about your individual situation.
Understanding your summary metrics
Strike shows three summary metrics on the bitcoin price chart screen on the mobile app: “Total purchased”, “Average buy price”, and “Total return”. These are quick reference points for how your bitcoin purchases have performed to date. These are separate from your cost basis and aren’t used for tax reporting.
“Average buy price” is the volume-weighted average across all bitcoin purchases on Strike. Comparing it directly to the current bitcoin price won’t give you an accurate total return figure because total return isn’t derived from your average. It’s calculated lot by lot. The acquisition cost of each lot is compared to the current value, and the resulting gains and losses are summed.
“Total return” adds up the realized return from bitcoin you’ve sold or disposed of on Strike and the unrealized return from bitcoin you still hold. It doesn’t include bitcoin transferred into or off Strike, or bitcoin with unknown cost basis. Your total return may differ from what you’d expect based on your cost basis:
- Unrealized gains are estimates. The total return shown is based on a mid-market bitcoin rate aggregated across multiple liquidity providers. This rate changes constantly, so your total return fluctuates with it.
- The displayed bitcoin price may differ slightly from the rate used to estimate gains. The price on your chart and the rate used to calculate total return come from similar but not identical sources, so minor differences are normal.
- Fees are included in your cost basis. When you buy bitcoin, any fee is part of your cost basis. If you spend $100 and $0.89 goes to fees, your cost basis is $100 even if you ended up with $99.11 worth of bitcoin.