First HMRC crypto figures show a young, male minority booking most of the gains
HMRC's first crypto-specific tax data shows 240 millionaire filers took £717m of £1.38bn total gains. The agency is ramping up enforcement with 81,000 nudge letters and automatic data sharing from 2027.
Alpha Score of 44 reflects weak overall profile with weak value, moderate quality. Based on 2 of 4 signals – score is capped at 75 until remaining data ingests.
HM Revenue and Customs broke out cryptoasset gains from the broader capital gains category for the first time in the 2024-25 tax year, revealing a concentrated, young, and male taxpayer base.
The data, released Thursday, showed 17,600 individuals declared £1.38 billion in taxable crypto gains. A group of 240 filers each cleared more than £1 million, accounting for £717 million, more than half the total. Those 240 filers represent less than 2% of all who reported a crypto disposal, according to HMRC’s commentary.
The bulk of crypto taxpayers, 65%, reported gains under £25,000. That group accounted for just 7% of all gains and 8% of disposal proceeds. The average gain per filer was £78,000, a figure skewed sharply upward by the millionaire cohort.
Age and gender skews are stark. 71% of all proceeds from crypto disposals came from people aged 25 to 44, yet that age band took home only 45% of the gains, the highest volume with the lowest conversion to profit. Crypto taxpayers are far younger than the typical capital gains population: 54% fall in the 25-44 bracket, versus 17% for capital gains overall, and 81% are 54 or under.
Men made up 87% of crypto taxpayers and booked 93% of the gains, compared with 56% male representation across the broader capital gains population.
The figures surface now because the Self Assessment form at last includes a specific box for crypto disposals. Prior to 2024-25, crypto was reported within the overall property and assets category.
HMRC sent 81,000 “nudge” letters to suspected under-payers over the past year, up 25% from about 65,000 the year before, according to Cryptopolitan. The letters are not investigations; they offer a window to voluntarily disclose before HMRC moves.
Under the OECD’s Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, which the UK began implementing in January 2026, HMRC expects to receive customer data from crypto service providers starting in 2027. From May 31, 2027, it will automatically pull information on UK residents from exchanges in 52 jurisdictions, with another 15 following in 2028.
“Like shooting fish in a barrel,” said Neela Chauhan, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, describing what chasing non-compliant investors will look like once that data arrives.
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