I'll offer you my 2 cents from what I know. Anytime you earn money whether it be through another form of currency and convert it to USD, the IRS wants their share. YOU are responsible for reporting that income. I'm new to it as well but I'm only using very small amounts of my money to learn with. Put it this way, look at how the government would know you were making tons of money on the stock market. And if you got filthy rich, you'd better believe they'd want to know how you got there. I would suggest seeking a tax professional to answer your questions.