Coinbase accountholders who use TurboTax to file their taxes can choose to deposit their refund into Coinbase, where it can be automatically converted to Bitcoin, Ethereum, or more than 100 other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins, or they can leave their refund money in dollars and trade with it when they want, the cryptocurrency exchange said in a recent blog post. There is no transaction fee from Coinbase, and the company is offering up to $20 off the TurboTax fee. The new tax refund option shows just how mainstream cryptocurrencies have become. One in five U.S. adults said they owned some form of cryptocurrency, according to a Morning Consult poll taken in mid-2021. And even the new mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, took his first paycheck in Ethereum and Bitcoin earlier this year. The average taxpayer refund last year was just more than $2,800. Of those who expected to receive refunds last year, 54% had expected to save it, while 27% had planned to use it for everyday expenses, according to a National Retail Federation survey. “Our customers are increasingly thinking about how to incorporate crypto in their savings and everyday spending,” Bipul Sinha, senior product manager at Coinbase, wrote in the blog post. Have a question, comment, or story to share? You can reach Medora at medoralee@thebalance.com.
