This month’s Builder Spotlight features Derek Wride, founder of CPAI, a Utah-based startup using AI to make crypto tax reporting easier for both consumers and accountants. What began as a manual data-cleaning operation under his previous company, Moon Tax, has evolved into a platform training machine learning models to accurately classify and reconcile complex blockchain transactions. In our conversation, Derek shared how his early fascination with cryptocurrency turned into a mission to bridge the gap between tax professionals and digital assets—and why he believes Utah is the ideal place to build the next wave of financial technology.
UBC: To start, tell us a little about CPAI and how you got where you are today with that project.
Derek: In 2016, I got my first cryptocurrency and ended up working for an entrepreneur in Utah, Scott Paul, who was paying me in all sorts of alt coins. It was really exciting because in 2021 the market was booming—and then it got scary when I realized I didn’t have a CPA or accountant to help me figure this out. I got let go, and from there started having conversations about what it would take to get the data correct. Scott pointed me to TaxBit, and I also found Coinracker.
When I plugged in my numbers, I found out how horribly wrong they were. I was showing $138,000 in capital gains when I’d only been paid around $30,000 or $40,000. That led me to dive into the data science side of cryptocurrency—understanding how transactions were made and what constitutes a complete data record for tax. That process led me to build Moon Tax, with the sole intention of manually performing the data science for individuals filing crypto taxes.
As we grew that company, we realized the problem was only getting bigger. So we started training machine learning models on our proven data sets to see how possible it was to replicate our manual process. That’s how we built CPAI—data scientists manually tagging and labeling crypto transactions, then using that training set to teach AI how to do it. CPAI was originally meant for individual crypto consumers, but we found most users didn’t know the laws or accounting side. Many professionals also avoided crypto, so we realized the real opportunity was to build an all-in-one platform that helps CPAs onboard into the crypto space and serve clients as if they were crypto-native. That’s the founding story of CPAI—about four years in the making, born from countless hours manually scouring crypto transactions.
UBC: A lot of CPAs seem hesitant to touch crypto taxes. Why do you think that is?
Derek: I think it boils down to liability, always, you know Any professional who takes their craft seriously, they don’t want to go into muddy waters.
They don’t want to dive into fields where they’re uncertain of the laws and what could potentially hurt their clients or hurt themselves. And so, no one, I mean, obviously a lot of professionals carrying malpractice insurance, but nobody ever wants to invoke that. So, it makes a lot of sense why CPAs don’t want to dive into crypto. t
That’s why we believe in the education side of cryptocurrency and tax. The more consumers know about how to solve the problems, the better results they’re going to be able to provide. And then, obviously, the more that the CPAs know going into it and really being able to educate them and build them up through the process, I think that’s the only way that you’re going to get mass adoption from professionals to where they feel confident enough to start doing this. But just like all new practices, all new industries, there’s a huge learning curve, and I’m absolutely confident that we can overcome that learning curve.”
Q: Will the recent legislation over the summer help CPAs feel more comfortable with crypto taxes? And what laws would you like to see to make this easier?
Derek: I mean, yes, the quick answer is yes, I think it will help them, but not for not for the reasons that many might think. I think it will help them feel encouraged to adopt crypto knowledge and understanding about the tax laws and everything going into it. But the legislation hasn’t made crypto easy. So it it’s still a massive learning curve. And again, I think that goes back to why professionals are scared to adopt it. There are awesome institutions like Coinbase who advocate for really good crypto laws, and they make a great platform. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Many people creating crypto accounts just print their own forms and go through TurboTax or something. Those solutions work, but there’s still apprehension among CPAs because you don’t know what you’re going to see. So yes, recent laws make it easier, but they haven’t reduced the learning curve.
I actually have a couple of 30-page drafts of laws we’d like to see go into effect to help both the tax industry and the IRS, because this is just as complex for them. Right now, crypto isn’t treated like currency—it’s treated as property—and there’s still debate about how to classify it. I’d love to see a minimum spend limit so that transactions under a certain dollar amount—maybe $500, maybe $10,000—aren’t taxed. That would finally let crypto function as a true currency.
Being taxed on every microtransaction makes crypto inaccessible for the average person. Setting spend limits within a fiscal year would ease pressure on both the IRS and users, giving broader access to the asset class. Most people want to pay a fair tax, but many have left the space because the cost of accounting outweighs the benefit. Since the top 5–10% of transactions make up most of the tax impact, it seems unnecessary to tax every small one. A currency-based rule like that would help consumers and tax professionals across the country.
UBC: What first drew you to cryptocurrency? What’s your origin story with it?
Derek: I think a lot of people have gotten into cryptocurrency as an opportunity. I found it because it was a technology. I had a friend in high school—I was 16, around 2011—and we would buy old computers from secondhand stores, tear them apart, and sell the parts on eBay. We were active on tech forums, and one day my friend Jordan said, “Hey, you should look at this,” and it was Satoshi’s white paper. I was too young to understand it fully, but we ended up building a miner and ran it for about three days. That computer probably mined several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of Bitcoin, but we wiped the drives and sold the parts for about $70.
Years later, when Bitcoin hit $21,000, it caught my attention again because I knew what it was. I’ve always been technologically curious—building and taking apart computers since I was about six—and I just can’t stay away from it. I spent seven years in the filmmaking industry, working for a YouTuber who built computers and taught tech education, and during that time I kept seeing Ethereum contracts being built and discussed.
The more I learned, the more compelled I became. It feels like an inevitability to me—this massive, revolutionary technology that bridges the financial gap for nearly everyone. If you have a phone, you can use it. For me, it was never about opportunity—it’s just always been a really interesting technology.
UBC: Why build in Utah? What made you choose to build CPAI here?
Derek: I built in Utah because this was the state that introduced me to entrepreneurship. I’ve thought about how much easier things might be if I were in San Francisco, New York, or L.A.—places where there are more people interested in what I’m building. Denver has become a hub for crypto too, and I know those cities could probably bring more connections or momentum. But Utah makes sense to me because of its cultural background.
Utah is a little slow to adopt new technologies because investors here aren’t first movers—and 2021 proved why. That boom had people raising money like it was free, and a lot of investors took huge losses. But while Silicon Valley might have the technologists, Utah has the sales force. I’ve always known that if I can solve a problem here, it’s the hardest hurdle I’ll have to overcome.
Because of the church’s influence, Utah produces incredible salespeople, and the people I’ve surrounded myself with are strong technologists who know how to attract and serve customers. The innovation, customer experience, and community here are second to none. So while it might be harder to invent a solution in Utah, once I do, no one can touch us.
Q: How do you view Utah’s talent pool from a hiring perspective?
Derek: There are a lot of smart people in Utah. I think we’re starting to run into the same problem as Silicon Valley—everyone has an idea, so it’s hard to hire because people are working on their own things. Since Utah is such a sales-forward state, the talented technologists here always have jobs and are constantly getting poached. We still can’t quite compete technologically with Silicon Valley, so from the tech-building side, Utah is pretty limited. It took us a long time to find the right team for this project and make sure they had good buy-in.
From marketing and sales, though, we’re second to none. The real challenge is starting a company here—it’s a long road. Every founder I’ve talked to in Utah says the same thing. Being a founder is hard anywhere, but in places like New York or Silicon Valley, you have more opportunities and connections. Utah, on the other hand, is a great scale stage. Once you reach that point, hiring is fantastic—but if you have to build here from scratch, finding a technical cofounder is really tough.