Should NFT projects pick Wyoming or Delaware?

Wyoming, specifically for digital-asset law. Wyoming codified digital assets as property (§ 34-29-101) and wrote the first DAO LLC statute (§ 17-31-101). Delaware is a fine, credible state, but it lacks the same crypto-specific statutory framework. For a business that lives entirely on-chain, Wyoming's purpose-built law is the deciding factor.

Do I owe US federal income tax on my NFT mint revenue?

Generally no, if you are a non-resident with no US office and no US employees, because the revenue is typically not Effectively Connected Income from a US trade or business. That removes the *US* income tax layer only. The income still flows to your home-country return, where most countries tax worldwide crypto income. This is a structuring observation, not a guarantee - confirm your facts with a cross-border tax advisor.

What is the 28% NFT collectibles rate and does it apply to me?

Under IRS Notice 2023-27, an NFT is taxed as a collectible (max 28% long-term capital gains) if the asset it represents would itself be a collectible (art, gems, physical goods). It is a capital-gains rule that hits US persons and collectors. As a non-resident creator earning non-ECI mint revenue, it is not your immediate bill - but it becomes directly relevant if you ever become a US person or are advising US buyers.

Will Mercury approve my NFT marketplace?

It is harder when described as a marketplace, and better when the business is genuinely a wallet, Web3 content, or infrastructure and described accurately - but approval is never guaranteed. Mercury is not reliable enough to be your only plan. Open Wise Business first (broadest acceptance) as a safety net, and use Coinbase Commerce for direct crypto receipts.

How do I file Form 5472 if I am paid mostly in crypto?

The form is still mandatory - crypto-denominated operations are not exempt, and the penalty for missing it is $25,000. Track each owner draw, capital contribution, and loan between you and the LLC in USD at the transfer-time exchange rate. Those USD figures populate Form 5472 Part IV/V on the pro forma 1120. Your sales to the public are not 5472 items.

What is Form 1099-DA and will it affect my LLC?

Form 1099-DA is the IRS's new digital-asset broker report. US brokers report gross proceeds for 2025 transactions (forms in early 2026) and add cost basis for 2026 transactions. If you cash out through a US exchange under your LLC's EIN, expect one. It reports proceeds, not net tax owed, but it makes your activity visible - keep a reconcilable USD ledger so an IRS notice does not blindside you.

Are secondary royalties from OpenSea or Blur taxed differently?

For US federal purposes, on-chain royalties follow the same ECI analysis as mint revenue - generally no US income tax for a qualifying non-resident, with the income flowing to your home-country return. The bigger real-world issue is that many marketplaces made royalties optional, so your actual royalty revenue may be far below what your contract specifies. Budget for it.

Should I form a DAO LLC instead of a regular LLC?

Only if your project is genuinely governed on-chain - token-holder voting, multisig treasury, no central manager. For most NFT projects, a standard Wyoming LLC is correct and can be converted to a DAO LLC later if governance truly decentralizes. Electing DAO status when you operate centrally creates ambiguity rather than protection.

Can my Wyoming LLC receive ETH and USDC directly?

Yes. The LLC can own a wallet (titled to the LLC's legal name and documented in the operating agreement) and receive crypto directly via Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, OpenNode, or on-chain. For accounting, record each receipt as USD-denominated revenue at the receipt-time exchange rate, even if you keep holding the crypto.

Do I need an ITIN as an NFT creator?

Not to form the LLC or open Wise/Mercury - those work with the LLC and EIN. You may want the ITIN ($297 add-on) if you need a personal US taxpayer ID for a treaty position, certain processor onboarding, or a personal US filing. It is optional for most non-resident NFT creators.

NFT Creators: Wyoming LLC and Crypto Tax

Quick answer

A Wyoming LLC fits NFT creators because Wyoming has the most developed US digital-asset framework: it recognized digital assets as property in 2019 and wrote the first US DAO LLC statute in 2021. For a non-resident owner with no US office or US staff, NFT mint revenue generally is not US Effectively Connected Income, so US federal income tax on operating revenue is typically zero - but Form 5472 is mandatory ($25,000 penalty), and your home country still taxes the income. Banking is the real friction.

Form your Wyoming LLC - $397 all-inclusive, Wyoming state fee included. ITIN add-on $297.

Wyoming's digital asset framework: what it actually gives you

Wyoming was the first US state to build statute specifically for digital assets, and that legal climate is the main reason NFT founders pick it over Delaware or Nevada.

Digital assets recognized as property (2019). Wyoming Statutes § 34-29-101 classifies digital assets into three buckets - digital consumer assets, digital securities, and virtual currency - and treats them as property under the Uniform Commercial Code. For an NFT issuer, this means your tokens and the wallets holding them have a defined legal status inside the state, not a regulatory void.
First US DAO LLC statute (2021). Wyoming Statutes § 17-31-101 through § 17-31-116 created a legal wrapper for decentralized autonomous organizations. If your NFT project is governed on-chain (token-holder voting, a treasury multisig, no central manager), you can form a DAO LLC instead of a standard LLC and give that governance a recognized legal body.
Charging-order protection. Wyoming Statutes § 17-29-503 gives single-member LLCs strong charging-order protection - a creditor's exclusive remedy is a charge against distributions, not seizure of the membership interest or the underlying wallet.
No member names on public filings. Wyoming does not publish member or manager names on the Articles of Organization. For a pseudonymous NFT founder, your legal name stays off the public state record (the registered agent and, separately, your federal beneficial-ownership filing still hold it).

Delaware and Nevada are perfectly usable, but they treat NFTs under generic property law without this purpose-built statutory clarity. For a creator whose entire business is on-chain, Wyoming's framework is the differentiator.

How NFT mint revenue is taxed for non-residents

This is the question most NFT founders get wrong, so be precise about the two separate layers.

US federal layer: the ECI test

A US LLC with one foreign owner is, by default, a disregarded entity - a pass-through. It is not a separate taxpayer. The income "flows through" to you. The only way the US federal income tax reaches that income is if it is Effectively Connected Income (ECI) from a US trade or business.

For a non-resident who:

works from outside the United States,
has no US office, warehouse, or fixed place of business, and
has no US-based employees or dependent agents,

minting and selling NFTs to a worldwide audience generally does not create a US trade or business. No US trade or business means no ECI, which means no US federal income tax on the mint revenue. This is the structural reason the Wyoming LLC is attractive: it is a clean, recognized US entity that, used correctly by a non-resident, does not itself generate a US income tax bill on operating revenue.

What this is not: it is not "tax-free income." The income lands on your personal return in your country of tax residence. India, the UK, Germany, Australia, and most of the EU tax worldwide income, including crypto. The Wyoming LLC removes the US layer for qualifying non-residents; it does nothing to your home-country layer.

The 28% collectibles trap (relevant if you ever become a US person)

The IRS addressed NFTs directly in Notice 2023-27. It announced a "look-through" approach: an NFT is treated as a collectible if the asset or right it represents would itself be a collectible (e.g., a token tied to a physical painting, gem, or work of art). NFTs tied to purely digital items - in-game items, virtual land - generally are not collectibles under the look-through.

Why it matters: collectibles held over a year are taxed at a maximum 28% long-term capital gains rate, versus the 0/15/20% rates for ordinary long-term gains (IRS Notice 2023-27; Fenwick analysis). This rate applies to collectors and US-person sellers - it is a capital-gains rule. For a non-resident creator whose mint revenue is not ECI, the 28% rate is not your immediate concern, but it becomes very relevant the day you move to the US, take a green card, or your buyers/collectors are US persons asking how their purchase is taxed.

Creator income vs. investor gains

One more distinction the look-through notice does not erase: how you earn matters.

If you mint and sell your own NFTs, that is business/creator revenue (ordinary income character for a US person), not a capital gain.
If you buy and flip other creators' NFTs, that is a capital transaction - short-term if held under a year, long-term (potentially the 28% collectibles rate) if held longer.

A Wyoming LLC used as a creator/issuer is on the revenue side. A Wyoming LLC used as a trading or holding vehicle is on the capital side. Keep them conceptually - and ideally operationally - separate.

Secondary marketplace royalties (OpenSea, Blur, Magic Eden)

Royalties from secondary sales follow the same ECI logic. For a non-resident pass-through LLC with no US trade or business, on-chain royalty income generally is not US Effectively Connected Income, so no US federal income tax, and the income flows through to your home-country return.

Two practical cautions:

Royalty enforcement is now optional on most marketplaces. Blur made royalties optional; OpenSea moved to an enforcement-then-optional model. Your legal tax treatment is unchanged, but your actual royalty revenue may be far lower than your smart contract specifies. Budget conservatively.
Character of income. Some tax authorities treat creator royalties as royalty income (with its own withholding/treaty rules) rather than business profit. This is a home-country question. If you are in a treaty country, your local advisor should check whether the royalty article or the business-profits article applies - it affects rate and reporting at home, not the US zero-ECI result.

The new 2026 reporting you cannot ignore: Form 1099-DA

This is the biggest practical change for anyone touching US-based crypto rails in 2026.

The IRS finalized broker reporting on Form 1099-DA, "Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions." Phased timeline (IRS final regulations; Form 1099-DA instructions):

Gross proceeds reporting for transactions on or after January 1, 2025 (first forms issued early 2026).
Cost basis reporting added for transactions on or after January 1, 2026.
Recipient copies due February 17, 2026; IRS filing due February 28, 2026 (paper) / March 31, 2026 (electronic) for the first cycle.

What it means for an NFT creator:

US "brokers" (US-domiciled centralized exchanges, and increasingly certain marketplaces/processors) will report your or your LLC's disposals to the IRS. If you cash out through Coinbase or Kraken under the LLC's name, expect a 1099-DA.
Mismatch risk. A 1099-DA in your LLC's EIN that does not line up with a filed return invites IRS notices, even for a non-resident whose income is genuinely non-ECI. Keep your own USD-denominated ledger so you can reconcile.
1099-DA reports proceeds, not net income. It does not decide whether you owe US tax - that is still the ECI analysis above. But it makes your activity visible, so clean records matter more than ever.

Banking an NFT project as a non-resident

This is where most NFT founders actually get stuck, not on tax.

Pure NFT issuers and marketplaces face elevated scrutiny at US neobanks. Mercury and Relay are comfortable with crypto-adjacent businesses (wallets, analytics, content, infrastructure) but cautious on anything that reads as an exchange or money-transmission risk. The single biggest lever you control is how you describe the business.

Setup	Approval reality	What to use
Mercury (NFT marketplace described as "marketplace")	Harder; extra review	Try, but have a backup
Mercury (described as wallet / Web3 SaaS / content)	Better odds with accurate description	Strongest neobank odds
Relay	Similar to Mercury	Secondary application
Wise Business	Broadest acceptance (not guaranteed)	Reliable fiat rail / safety net
Coinbase Commerce	n/a (crypto-native)	Direct ETH/USDC mint receipts
BitPay / OpenNode	n/a	Alternative crypto checkout

Practical sequencing for a non-resident:

Form the Wyoming LLC and get the EIN first. Every bank and processor needs the EIN. (Mercury, Relay, and Wise all onboard non-residents with no SSN using the LLC + EIN; you do not need to fly to the US.)
Open Wise Business as your baseline fiat rail. Broad acceptance (not guaranteed) and built for international owners. This is your safety net so you are never un-banked while a riskier application is pending.
Attempt Mercury with an honest, precise, non-exchange description. "I build a self-custody Ethereum wallet / I run a Web3 content platform / I operate an NFT marketplace front-end" reads very differently from "crypto exchange." Describe what you actually do, in the least alarming accurate terms.
Wire up Coinbase Commerce for direct crypto mint receipts. This lets buyers pay in ETH/USDC straight to an LLC-owned wallet without a traditional bank in the loop.
Hold the LLC's crypto in a wallet titled to the LLC, documented in the operating agreement. Never co-mingle with personal wallets - co-mingling pierces liability protection and wrecks your books.

Form 5472: the filing that actually carries the penalty

Your US tax bill on operating revenue may be zero. Your US filing obligation is not.

A foreign-owned single-member US LLC must file Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120 every year, under IRC § 6038A and the disregarded-entity regulations. The penalty for failure to file (or for incomplete/inaccurate filing) is $25,000. This is the single most expensive mistake non-resident founders make, and it is entirely avoidable.

How it applies to a crypto-heavy NFT operation:

Reportable transactions are between you and your LLC, not your sales to the public. Mint revenue from unrelated buyers is not a Form 5472 reportable transaction; it is summarized on the pro forma 1120 cover only.
Reportable items include: capital contributions (you sending ETH into the LLC wallet to fund it), owner draws/distributions (moving ETH or USDC from the LLC wallet to your personal wallet), and loans either direction.
Value everything in USD at the time of the transaction. When you draw 2 ETH to your personal wallet, record the USD value at the transfer-time exchange rate. That USD figure is what goes on Form 5472 Part IV/V.
Crypto-denominated does not mean exempt. The form is mandatory even if the LLC never touches a dollar of fiat.

Keep a clean ledger from day one. Tools like Koinly, CoinTracker, or CoinTracking convert on-chain activity to USD-denominated entries and make both your 5472 reporting and your home-country return far less painful.

A worked example: valuing crypto transactions for Form 5472

Suppose a non-resident NFT founder funds the LLC and later draws profit, all in crypto:

March: sends 3 ETH into the LLC's wallet to cover gas and a smart-contract audit, when ETH is $3,200. This capital contribution is a reportable transaction recorded at $9,600.
August: draws 5 ETH of accumulated profit from the LLC wallet to a personal wallet, when ETH is $2,800. This distribution is a reportable transaction recorded at $14,000.

On Form 5472, the reportable-transaction figures are those USD-at-transfer-time amounts - $9,600 in and $14,000 out - not the ETH counts and not a year-end revaluation. The mint sales to the public in between are summarized as gross receipts on the pro forma 1120 cover; they are not 5472 line items because the buyers are unrelated parties. The single most common crypto-LLC error here is failing to capture the exchange rate on each transfer date, which makes the form impossible to complete accurately later - a USD ledger that timestamps every transfer solves it.

DAO LLC or regular LLC?

Choose based on how your project is actually governed, not on which sounds more crypto-native.

Regular Wyoming LLC - right for the vast majority of NFT projects. One or a few founders, off-chain decision-making, a treasury you control. It can be converted to a DAO LLC later if governance genuinely moves on-chain.
DAO LLC (Wyoming § 17-31-101) - right only if governance is genuinely on-chain: token-holder voting, a multisig treasury, smart-contract-driven decisions, no central manager. The statute requires you to identify the smart contract and disclose DAO status. Electing it when you do not operate that way creates governance ambiguity, not protection.

Default to a standard LLC. Upgrade only when reality forces it.

Step-by-step: launching an NFT project on a Wyoming LLC

Form the Wyoming LLC ($397 all-inclusive, Wyoming state filing fee included). Formation typically completes in about 24 hours.
Get the EIN (8–10 business days for non-residents with no SSN). Nothing downstream works without it.
Open Wise Business as the baseline fiat rail (broadest acceptance for non-residents; not guaranteed).
Attempt Mercury/Relay with an accurate, non-exchange business description.
Set up Coinbase Commerce (and/or BitPay) for direct crypto mint receipts to an LLC-titled wallet.
Document wallet ownership in the operating agreement - every wallet the LLC uses, by address, under the LLC's legal name.
Stand up a USD ledger (Koinly/CoinTracker) and record every receipt at receipt-time USD value.
Calendar Form 5472 for next spring. Track every contribution, draw, and loan between you and the LLC in USD.
Engage a home-country crypto CPA - the US side may be zero, but your residence country almost certainly taxes worldwide crypto income.
Consider the ITIN add-on ($297) if you need a US taxpayer ID for treaty claims, certain processor onboarding, or personal US filing positions.

Bottom line

Wyoming gives an NFT creator the best US legal home for on-chain work, and for a qualifying non-resident the structure typically carries zero US federal income tax on operating revenue. The traps are not the tax - they are the $25,000 Form 5472 filing, the new 1099-DA visibility, the 28% collectibles rule if you ever become a US person, and banking that rewards accurate, non-exchange descriptions and a Wise safety net. Get those right and the Wyoming LLC does exactly what you want: a clean, recognized US wrapper for a global, on-chain business.

Start your Wyoming LLC - $397, Wyoming state fee included. ITIN add-on $297.

Sources: IRS Notice 2023-27 (NFT collectibles look-through); IRS final regulations on digital-asset broker reporting; IRS Form 1099-DA instructions (2026); IRC § 6038A and Form 5472 ($25,000 penalty); Wyoming Statutes §§ 34-29-101, 17-31-101, 17-29-503. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice; consult a cross-border CPA for your specific facts.