According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), 17,600 individuals reported cryptoasset disposals that created a Capital Gains Tax liability in the 2024–2025 tax year. Collectively, those taxpayers declared £13.8 billion in disposal proceeds and £1.38 billion in capital gains, producing an average reported gain of about £78,000 per person.

Those gains were assessed against a tax-free annual exempt amount of just £3,000 for 2024–25 — half the £6,000 available in 2023–24 and down from £12,300 two years earlier — a threshold at which even relatively modest crypto activity can become reportable.

The figures include cryptoassets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin. Disposals may involve more than selling crypto for pounds; tax consequences can also arise when converting one crypto asset to another, using cryptocurrency to buy goods or services, or donating crypto to recipients other than a spouse, civil partner or charity.

Around 87% of the people who reported crypto gains were male, while about 13% were female.

240 Taxpayers Report Million-Pound Gains

HMRC said 240 people made capital gains of more than £1 million each — about 1.4% of all crypto filers — and together they declared £717 million in gains. That means this small group accounted for more than half of all crypto gains reported by the 17,600 taxpayers who disclosed crypto proceeds.

Taxable crypto gains are charged at Capital Gains Tax rates, which for disposals on or after 30 October 2024 were set at 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher and additional-rate taxpayers, up from 10% and 20%, under changes announced in the October 2024 Budget.

HMRC also said its compliance and education efforts had led to an additional £168 million in Capital Gains Tax being collected in 2024–25. The agency has increased crypto-related guidance and outreach since late 2023 to help investors transact properly and report taxable crypto activity.

Crypto Reporting Gets Stricter From 2027

The UK will begin using the OECD-funded Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) in January 2026. CARF was developed by the OECD and modelled on the Common Reporting Standard that has governed international exchange of bank account information since 2014; more than 40 jurisdictions have committed to the framework, with the first cross-border data exchanges expected from 2027.

The framework will require cryptoasset service providers to collect and share data on their customers and operations. That information will start being provided to HMRC from 2027, giving the tax authority better tools to identify gains and income that may previously have gone unreported. Future rounds of HMRC's annual cryptoasset statistics will show how filer numbers and declared gains evolve once that platform-level data begins flowing.

Platforms that fail to report could face penalties of up to £300 per user.

The tighter tax reporting sits alongside broader UK oversight of the sector, which has included Financial Conduct Authority rules covering cryptoasset financial promotions since October 2023.

The tax treatment does not apply only to investment income. Crypto received from employment, self-employment, crypto mining, staking or lending, among other activities, may be subject to Income Tax and, where applicable, National Insurance rules.

HMRC said people with unreported crypto income or gains can use its Crypto Disclosure Service to pay outstanding tax.