His fraudulent tax filings included underreporting his taxable income by over $4.5 million and evading approximately $1.1 million in taxes owed.

The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division, which has been actively addressing tax evasion in the cryptocurrency sector.

Federal prosecutors revealed that Wilcox intentionally misrepresented his digital asset transactions, falsely claiming he did not receive any digital assets during 2022 on his tax filings.

As a result of his actions, Wilcox faces a maximum penalty of six years in federal prison, along with supervised release and potential fines, though the specifics of his sentencing are still pending.

Waylon Wilcox, a 45-year-old NFT trader from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on April 9, 2025, to charges related to tax fraud involving nearly $13 million in unreported income from his CryptoPunk trades.

The charges stem from Wilcox's failure to report substantial profits from his NFT transactions, which included selling 62 CryptoPunks for about $7.4 million in 2021 and 35 more for approximately $4.9 million in 2022.

Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge at the IRS, emphasized the agency's commitment to ensuring tax compliance in the evolving landscape of digital currencies.

This case comes in the wake of new IRS regulations implemented in June 2024, which mandated third-party tax reporting for U.S. crypto transactions, increasing scrutiny on digital asset reporting.

Wilcox's indictment adds him to a growing list of crypto investors facing legal challenges for tax-related offenses, including notable figures like former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Interestingly, just a day after Wilcox's guilty plea, President Donald Trump signed a resolution overturning a previous rule requiring decentralized finance protocols to report transactions to the IRS.

The majority of Wilcox's underreported income was derived from transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital artwork.