Crypto in Washington
14 exchanges we have verified serve residents of Washington, and 91 of the 150 assets we track are available on at least two of them. We have not recorded a jurisdiction-wide restriction on buying cryptocurrency in Washington. Last verified September 2, 2026.
Verified How we verify
Legal Status and Regulation
Buying and selling crypto is legal in Washington, and the rules that matter are licensing rules rather than asset rules. Federal law comes first: a business that exchanges dollars for crypto on your behalf is a money transmitter under 31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(5) and has to register with FinCEN as a money services business, renewing that registration every two years. On top of the federal layer sits a Washington money transmitter license, and that license is what decides whether an exchange will open an account for a Washington resident. Washington does not appear among the thirty-one states that had enacted the Conference of State Bank Supervisors' Money Transmission Modernization Act in whole or in part as of the CSBS legislative update dated June 2026. As of September 2026, Binance US lists Washington as an unsupported state, while Kraken records no Washington restriction and the Crypto.com App covers every state except New York.
Exchanges Available in Washington
| Exchange | Type | Typical fee on $500 | KYC | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strike | broker | $5.55 | Required | Visit Strike |
| Robinhood Crypto | broker | $9.50 | Required | Visit Robinhood Crypto |
| Bitstamp by Robinhood | centralized exchange | $11.00 | Required | Visit Bitstamp by Robinhood |
| Kraken | centralized exchange | — | Required | Visit Kraken |
| Crypto.com Exchange | centralized exchange | — | Required | Visit Crypto.com Exchange |
| Coinbase Exchange | centralized exchange | — | Required | Visit Coinbase Exchange |
| Uphold | broker | — | Required | Visit Uphold |
| Toobit | centralized exchange | — | Not required | Visit Toobit |
| eToro | broker | — | Required | Visit eToro |
| Gemini | centralized exchange | — | Required | Visit Gemini |
Fees are estimated from each exchange’s published schedule for a $500 market buy. Rankings follow our methodology and are not influenced by affiliate relationships.
Popular Assets in Washington
Buyability in Washington
The 10 coins we have verified an exchange for in Washington, graded on how many verified exchanges sell them here and what the cheapest $500 purchase costs. Price never moves a grade.
| Coin | Ticker | Grade | Verified exchanges | Cheapest on $500 | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin | BTC | A | 14 | $2.00 | Bitcoin here |
 Ethereum | ETH | A | 12 | $2.00 | Ethereum here |
 Solana | SOL | A | 11 | $2.00 | Solana here |
 Chainlink | LINK | A | 11 | $2.28 | Chainlink here |
 Bitcoin Cash | BCH | A | 11 | $2.25 | Bitcoin Cash here |
 Litecoin | LTC | A | 11 | $2.15 | Litecoin here |
 Dogecoin | DOGE | A | 10 | $2.04 | Dogecoin here |
 Uniswap | UNI | A | 10 | $2.14 | Uniswap here |
 XRP | XRP | A | 9 | $2.01 | XRP here |
 Stellar | XLM | A | 9 | $2.16 | Stellar here |
Tax Overview
The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property under Notice 2014-21, so selling or swapping it produces a capital gain or loss, short-term if you held the asset a year or less. Washington has no individual income tax, but it does impose a 7% excise tax on long-term capital gains above an annually adjusted standard deduction that the Department of Revenue set at $278,000 for 2025, and it has announced new tiered rates. Whether a particular crypto sale falls inside that tax is worth checking with the Department before you file.
Guides
- Is Crypto Legal in the United States? State-by-State Overview
Owning, buying, and selling cryptocurrency is legal in every US state, but the exchanges that serve you are licensed state by state, which is why the same exchange can be open to residents of one state and closed to residents of the next.
- Crypto Estate Planning: Making Sure Your Coins Aren't Lost With You
Passing on cryptocurrency requires two things that an ordinary will does not provide on its own, a record of what exists and where, and a route by which the person inheriting it can reach the keys, because no court order can recover a seed phrase nobody wrote down.
- Self-Custody vs Exchange Custody: How to Decide
Deciding between self-custody and exchange custody means choosing which failure you would rather be exposed to, a company that loses or freezes your assets or a mistake of your own that nobody can undo, and most people resolve it by splitting holdings rather than picking one for everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is cryptocurrency legal in Washington?
- 14 exchanges we have verified serve residents of Washington. We have not recorded a jurisdiction-wide restriction on buying cryptocurrency in Washington. See the regulation section for detail.
- Which exchanges work in Washington?
- Strike, Robinhood Crypto, and Bitstamp by Robinhood serve residents of Washington.
- Do I pay tax on crypto in Washington?
- The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property under Notice 2014-21, so selling or swapping it produces a capital gain or loss, short-term if you held the asset a year or less. Washington has no individual income tax, but it does impose a 7% excise tax on long-term capital gains above an annually adjusted standard deduction that the Department of Revenue set at $278,000 for 2025, and it has announced new tiered rates. Whether a particular crypto sale falls inside that tax is worth checking with the Department before you file.