The UK's tax authority (HMRC) has for the first time published detailed statistics on cryptocurrency income, and the figures are impressive. For the 2024–2025 tax period, 240 taxpayers declared profits from digital asset transactions exceeding £1 million ($1.35 million). This is not just dry statistics, but an important marker of the maturity of the crypto market in the country.
The combined profits of these 240 crypto-millionaires amounted to £717 million ($974 million) — more than half of all declared crypto income in the UK for the year. At the same time, the total number of citizens who reported taxable profits from the sale of crypto assets reached 17,600 people. Their transactions are valued at £13.8 billion ($18.8 billion), and taxable profits at £1.38 billion ($1.88 billion), averaging about £78,000 per person.
The gender distribution is also telling: men filed approximately 87% of declarations, while women accounted for only about 13%. This reflects a persistent imbalance in participation in crypto investments, although the situation is likely to change as institutional interest grows.
On-chain analysis: the real scale is larger
Chainalysis, an analytics company specializing in blockchain data, estimated the volume of taxable crypto transactions in the UK for 2025 at $19.4 billion. This is the fourth highest figure in the world after the US, Germany, and China. This amount includes $6 billion in profits, $3.3 billion in income, and $10.1 billion in payments. It is important to note that this is only a lower-bound estimate: Chainalysis's methodology covers six blockchains but does not account for transactions on centralized exchanges, certain networks, or types of transactions.
These data highlight that official HMRC statistics, based on voluntary declarations, may significantly understate the real volume of crypto activity. Many investors either do not realize their tax obligations or deliberately evade them.
Tightening controls: CARF and new fines
HMRC is preparing to more actively combat the concealment of income. From January 2026, the CARF (Cryptoasset Reporting Framework) reporting standard comes into force, requiring crypto services to provide tax authorities with client data. Violators face a fine of £300 per client. HMRC will begin receiving this data from 2027, which will allow it to identify undeclared income and profits.
However, the system is not comprehensive: according to Chainalysis estimates, CARF covers only 14% of all taxable on-chain transactions worldwide. The remaining 86% consist of operations on decentralized exchanges, direct transfers between users, on-chain income, and payments.
My analysis: The publication of this statistics is a signal for British investors: the era of tax anonymity in cryptocurrencies is coming to an end. CARF is only the first step, and in the coming years, fiscal authorities will actively use on-chain analytics to find violators. For law-abiding market participants, this is rather a positive moment: legalization and transparency will lead to increased institutional trust and, consequently, to long-term market stability.