The Trading Firm CPA For Prediction Markets, Perps, And Crypto Derivatives

Forbes Best-In-State Top CPA for 2025 and 2026

Featured in Forbes for "Leading the Charge on Crypto Accounting": Read the Forbes Feature

Camuso CPA provides accounting and tax services for trading firms, market makers, and proprietary trading operations on prediction market venues, perpetual futures exchanges, and crypto derivatives markets.

Nationally Recognized Crypto CPA Since 2016 and the first CPA firm in the U.S. to accept cryptocurrency for professional services.

Tax Notes
Federal & Global
Published Research

Prediction Market Event Contracts: A Tax Classification Analysis

Co-authored with the former head of the IRS Office of Digital Assets and co-author of the §6045 digital asset broker reporting regulations. A federal tax classification analysis examining how prediction market event contracts may be treated under §165(d) wagering rules, §1256 contract treatment, and general capital or ordinary income rules. Published in Tax Notes Federal and Tax Notes Global.

Read in Tax Notes → Read All Publications →

Accounting And Tax For Firms Trading Where The Infrastructure Doesn't Exist Yet

Camuso CPA provides accounting and tax services for trading firms operating on prediction market venues, perpetual futures exchanges, and crypto derivatives markets. The firm has worked exclusively in digital assets since 2016 and was the first CPA firm in the United States to accept cryptocurrency for professional services. Trading firms work with us to build accounting infrastructure where commercial tooling does not reach, document tax positions in asset classes without controlling guidance, bring delinquent filings current, and prepare books and positions that hold up under examination or counterparty review.

These markets have scaled faster than the professional infrastructure serving them. Event contracts settle on outcomes rather than prices, and positions frequently realize at resolution rather than through an offsetting trade, which means a firm computing results from its trade file alone may be missing much of its economic activity. Crypto subledgers are built primarily for on-chain dispositions and generally offer limited support for USD-settled contracts on regulated venues. Standard cost basis methodology assumes long-only inventory, which can produce unreliable results for a firm quoting both sides of a market. Perpetual futures introduce funding payments, liquidations, and margin mechanics that most accounting systems were never designed to record.

The tax layer is equally unsettled. Characterization for event contracts and perpetual futures remains an open question, and the answer drives the applicable rate, the treatment of losses, the elections available to the firm, and the self-employment result for each individual member. Partnership structures add capital account requirements, mid-year membership changes, and multi-state obligations across a distributed team. Internally developed trading infrastructure raises capitalization questions that are frequently unexamined.

Our engagements span the operational lifecycle. We work with firms at formation, when entity structure and elections are still open. We work with firms mid-flight, where trading scaled faster than the books and returns went unfiled. And we work with firms preparing to raise outside capital, where the accounting and the positions need to survive an allocator’s diligence. Whether the immediate need is accounting, tax, or both, the work rests on documented analysis of the firm’s actual activity rather than software defaults.

Patrick Camuso’s work in digital asset taxation has been published in Tax Notes alongside a former head of the IRS Office of Digital Assets and co-author of the Section 6045 digital asset broker regulations, and has been covered by Bloomberg Tax, Accounting Today, Business Insider, MarketWatch, Morningstar and other major publications. He has spoken at ETHDenver and leading Web3 conferences on the structural shifts defining digital asset compliance.

Patrick Camuso | Forbes Best-In-State Top CPA
Patrick Camuso, CPA is a Forbes 2025 Best-in-State Top CPA and founder of Camuso CPA.

Our Process: From Operational Assessment To Ongoing Advisory

Step 1: Operational & Entity Assessment

We review the firm's venues, trading style, entity structure, member composition, and current state of the books and filings. Where decisions remain open, such as an available election or an unfiled year approaching a deadline, those are identified first. Engagement scope and sequencing are defined at this stage.

Step 2: Accounting Policy & Subledger Architecture

We establish the accounting framework before entries are made. This includes a written policy covering revenue recognition by venue, treatment of settlement and funding events, and methodology for open positions, along with subledger architecture fitted to the firm's venues and a chart of accounts supporting partnership capital requirements and venue-level reporting.

Step 3: Tax Positions & Compliance Execution

With the accounting foundation established, we document characterization positions for each venue with formal written analysis, work through trade or business determination, self-employment treatment analyzed member by member, election analysis including Section 475(f), multi-state obligations, and capitalization of internally developed trading systems. Returns follow the positions, and delinquent filings are brought current.

Step 4: Ongoing Accounting & Advisory

We maintain the system on the cadence the operation requires, including period close, reconciliations, quarterly projections, and provisions. Advisory addresses new venues, changes in member composition, distribution planning, and preparation for outside capital or diligence.

Prefer to book a time directly?

Prefer to reach us directly? Email info@camusocpa.com or call (704) 249-3179.

Who We Help: Crypto Investors, Founders & Trading Firms

Our trading firm clients are not experimenting. They are running systematic operations with real capital across venues where the reporting standards are still being written.

Ready To Speak With A Trading Firm CPA?

Trading Firm CPA Services

Trading firm accounting and tax built for prediction markets, perpetual futures, and crypto derivatives.

Crypto Tax Cost Basis Reconstruction & Historical Reporting

We reconstruct complex digital asset histories, restore cost basis integrity, and realign prior-year tax filings to establish audit-ready reporting continuity. Read our tax guide:

Crypto Cost Basis Reconstruction & Historical Accounting

Form 1099-DA Compliance & Reconciliation Services

We reconcile third-party 1099-DA data with reconstructed cost basis records to prevent mismatches, restore reporting continuity, and prepare defensible crypto tax filings. Read our tax guide:

What to do when you receive a 1099-DA for crypto

Cryptocurrency Portfolio Accounting

We offer expert cryptocurrency accounting services for high-net-worth investors, prediction market traders, and DeFi users seeking IRS-compliant reporting and complete tax clarity. Get your books in order, minimize your tax bill, and protect your digital wealth.

Crypto Tax Filing & Compliance

We specialize in crypto tax filings for high-net-worth investors, digital asset traders, and Web3 startups with complex activity. We deliver clean, compliant returns that reduce risk and stand up to IRS scrutiny.

Crypto Tax Strategy & Planning

Proactive, high-impact tax planning for crypto investors and Web3 founders. From token events to multi-chain portfolios, we help minimize liabilities, defer gains, and build long-term wealth across every market cycle.

Web3 Startup & Blockchain Accounting

We provide end-to-end crypto accounting that integrates on-chain sub-ledgers with your general ledger, ensuring complete, auditable books investors trust. Whether you're a Web3 startup,

Crypto Tax Resolution & IRS Representation

Facing IRS letters, back taxes, or unfiled crypto returns? We help investors, traders, and Web3 founders resolve crypto-related tax issues with speed and confidence. From late filings to audit defense and penalty reduction, we clean up your situation and get you back in compliance.

Prediction Market Tax Reporting

Specialized U.S. tax reporting and accounting for prediction market traders, including Polymarket, Kalshi, USD-settled and crypto-settled contracts. Read our tax guide:

Prediction Market Taxes Explained: Why U.S. Tax Characterization Remains Unsettled

Why Trading Firms Work With Camuso CPA

Trading firm accounting in these markets sits where derivatives, event-based contracts, digital assets, and partnership taxation intersect. Most firms can file a partnership return. Very few can build the books that return should rest on, or explain how the activity was characterized if the position is examined years later.

Camuso CPA builds the accounting infrastructure, documents the tax positions, and prepares the filings on the same analysis. The characterization frameworks applied to client positions are the same frameworks the firm has published in peer-reviewed form.

Service Camuso CPA Typical Accounting Firm
Prediction Market Accounting & Subledger Build
Settlement-Realized P&L Reconstruction
Two-Sided Market-Making Inventory Methodology
Perpetual Futures & Crypto Derivatives Treatment
Written Characterization Position Memoranda
Per-Partner Self-Employment Tax Analysis
Section 475(f) Election Analysis for Digital Asset Activity
On-Chain and Regulated Venue Reconciliation
Delinquent Partnership Filings & Reconstruction
Multi-State Partner Filing Obligation Mapping
Partnership & Corporate Tax Returns
High-Net-Worth Individual Tax Returns
Prediction Market Trading

Case Study

Institutional Prediction Market Market-Maker, Millions of Fills, Subledger Built Where No Commercial Tooling Exists

Client Type Multi-Member LLC, Quantitative Market-Making Firm
Activity Millions of Fills, Multi-Million-Dollar Annual P&L
Venues CFTC-Regulated and On-Chain

The Problem

An institutional market-making firm came to us in its second year with trading scaling fast, partnership returns unfiled, and no documented tax positions in an asset class with no controlling guidance. No commercial accounting software supports prediction market venues, and nearly two years of trading activity had never been posted to the books.

What We Did

We designed a proprietary subledger for the regulated venue built for market-making activity, with realized results reconstructed from the complete trading history and traceable back to individual fills. We documented tax positions for both venues with formal written analysis, analyzed self-employment treatment for each partner, and mapped the multi-state filing obligations before preparing any return.

The Outcome

The accounting infrastructure and tax positions were implemented, delinquent partnership filings were brought current, and Camuso CPA manages the firm's ongoing accounting along with quarterly tax projections and provisions.

"Very happy working with Patrick. He's the real deal when it comes to crypto tax and accounting. Highly recommend him if you want clarity and confidence in your reporting."

Work With A Trading Firm CPA

Trading Firm CPA FAQ

A trading firm CPA handles the accounting and tax fact patterns specific to firms trading prediction market contracts, perpetual futures, and crypto derivatives. General trading accountants work from broker statements and standardized instruments that these venues generally do not produce. The result is books that cannot be reconciled and positions that cannot be explained, which surfaces at filing, examination, or diligence.

Market makers and liquidity providers, proprietary trading firms, multi-member trading partnerships, and individual high-volume traders whose activity has reached entity-level complexity. Venues include prediction markets, perpetual futures exchanges, and crypto derivatives markets, both regulated and on-chain.

 

Both, and they are difficult to separate for a trading operation. Tax positions depend on realized results being accurate and traceable, which generally means the accounting precedes the filings. Firms can engage either independently, but most engage both because the work is connected.

Support is limited. Crypto subledgers are built primarily for on-chain dispositions and generally offer limited coverage of USD-settled contracts on regulated venues. Traditional trading software relies on broker statements and standardized identifiers that may not exist for event contracts. Firms with material activity often require purpose-built infrastructure.

 

Characterization for these instruments is unsettled under current law, and the entity context adds partnership allocation, self-employment, and election questions on top of the instrument-level analysis. The appropriate treatment depends on venues, trading style, and member structure, and should be established through formal written analysis before filing.

 

The analysis is performed partner by partner under the functional service framework the case law applies, not at the entity level. Active operators and passive capital members in the same firm can reach different results, which is why the analysis is done individually across the member group.

 

Delinquent filings are common in firms whose trading scaled faster than their infrastructure. We reconstruct the underlying records, document the positions the returns will rest on, and bring filings current, sequenced with penalty considerations in mind.

 

It depends on the firm's activity, the instruments traded, and whether the trade or business threshold is met, and the availability of the election for certain instruments is itself an open question. The analysis should be documented before the election is made, since the deadlines are strict and the consequences carry forward.

 

Yes. Client information is protected by the professional confidentiality obligations that apply to CPAs, and access is limited to the personnel working on the engagement. We recognize that a firm's trading data is its strategy, and conflict considerations are addressed at engagement rather than left implicit.

The firm has worked exclusively in digital assets since 2016. Patrick Camuso is a Forbes Best-In-State Top CPA for 2025 and 2026, a member of the AICPA Digital Asset Tax Task Force, and co-authored a federal tax classification analysis of prediction market event contracts published in Tax Notes Federal and Tax Notes Global with the former head of the IRS Office of Digital Assets. The frameworks applied to client positions are the same ones the firm has published.

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