Been in the Bitcoin space for years and just now fully understood the (US) 0% capital gains bracket.

If your taxable income is low enough, you pay zero federal tax on long-term Bitcoin gains. It’s just how the brackets work. Long-term gains (held 12+ months) get taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income.

In 2024 the 0% threshold is ~$47k for single filers, ~$94k married.

That’s taxable income too, so after the standard deduction ($14,600 single). A single person could have $61k in gross income and still land in the 0% bracket.

So if you ever have a low income year, sabbatical, between jobs, slow freelance year, early retirement, you might be able to sell appreciated BTC and owe nothing federally. Sell, rebuy, reset your cost basis. People do this with stocks all the time. It’s called tax gain harvesting and works the same with crypto.

State taxes vary a lot so factor that in depending on where you live.

Worth running the numbers before year end if you’re ever in a lean year.