When the exchange you used no longer exists
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 8 min
In short
History from an exchange that has closed, or entered an insolvency process, cannot be retrieved the usual way. Work whatever contact routes and external records remain, estimate the rest by a method you can explain, and document the whole sequence. The treatment of assets caught up in a failure is a particularly difficult judgement — consult a tax accountant.
Key points
- An administrator or a successor operator may still be able to produce records
- On-chain deposits and withdrawals survive, and can outline the account from outside
- Assets you cannot recover and past calculations are two separate questions
- Document the sequence of events and what you tried, in date order
Definition
Reconstructing the information a return needs — and recording how you did it — when the exchange you used has closed or failed and its history is out of reach.
Exchanges disappear in different ways — an orderly wind-down announced in advance, a site that simply stops loading one morning, or a formal insolvency — and what you can do differs by case. Work out which one applies. In an orderly closure, the notification emails usually explain how and until when history could be downloaded, and those emails are themselves evidence.
In an insolvency, there is often an administrator or a formal contact point. The claims process can itself produce statements of your balance and activity, and anything you receive in writing there is valuable material. If the business was transferred to another operator, that successor may hold the old records. Use only the officially published contact route. Situations like these also attract approaches from third parties offering to 'recover your history' or 'retrieve your assets' — never hand personal information, still less anything key-related, to a channel that was not officially announced.
You can also draw the outline from outside. Crypto you sent to that exchange and crypto you received from it remain recorded on-chain; yen movements remain on your bank statements. Laid out in date order, those two show what entered and left the account and when. They will not tell you how many trades happened inside it, but establishing the state at the start and end of a period gives an estimate something to stand on.
Keep two questions apart. One is how to calculate the trading you did in a given year. The other is whether assets you will not get back can be recognised as a loss, and if so when. The second turns on the facts and on how far the proceedings have gone, and it is the area where deciding for yourself is most dangerous. Read tax-loss-treatment for background, then confirm with a professional.
Finally, document the sequence: when the service stopped, whom you contacted and what they said, what material you obtained and what you could not, and what method you therefore adopted. In cases like this, being able to explain why a figure is what it is matters more than the figure itself. Settle the approach with a tax accountant.
Watch out for
- · This page is a general orientation, not tax advice
- · Ignore unofficial offers to 'recover your history' or 'retrieve your assets'
- · The treatment of assets caught in a failure is case-specific — always confirm with a tax accountant
Frequently asked questions
If an exchange fails and my assets are gone, can I treat that as a loss for the year?
Whether it can be recognised, and at what point, depends on the facts and on how far the proceedings have progressed — a confirmed unrecoverable claim and an ongoing process are not the same situation. Gather the documentation and take it to a tax accountant rather than deciding yourself.