When a blockchain hard fork results in an existing holder receiving new tokens, most major tax authorities treat those new tokens as taxable income the moment the holder gains dominion over them, regardless of whether the holder took any action to claim them.

Token rewards earned by providing computational power to validate blockchain transactions are treated by most major tax authorities as taxable income the moment the reward is disposable, and some jurisdictions additionally apply business-tax-related rules depending on the scale of the mining operation.

Tokens earned by validators or delegators for participating in proof-of-stake blockchain validation are treated by most major tax authorities as taxable income at the moment the reward becomes disposable, not deferred until the tokens are sold.