HMRC: 240 Crypto Millionaires Declared £717M in Gains
HMRC's first crypto gains data shows 17,600 disposals totaling £13.8B. CARF reporting rules put UK platforms in the compliance chain from 2027.
HMRC published its first official data on taxable cryptoasset gains. The figures show 240 people declared more than £1 million each in crypto capital gains during the 2024-2025 tax year. That group alone reported a combined £717 million.
Beyond that bracket, 17,600 individuals made cryptoasset disposals that triggered Capital Gains Tax, a group that generated £13.8 billion in total disposal proceeds. Net gains came to £1.38 billion. Bitcoin and Ethereum were among the digital currencies involved, and Dogecoin appeared in the data as well. Roughly 87% of those reporting gains were male, according to HMRC's figures.
Crypto gains follow the same rules and rates as other capital gains in the UK, and HMRC says it has pushed education alongside enforcement to make sure taxpayers know that.
Britain adopted CARF, the OECD's Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, from January 2026. The framework is part of an international push to standardize how digital asset transactions are tracked across borders. UK cryptoasset service providers must report customer information directly to HMRC under CARF, an obligation that begins in 2027.
Platforms that do not comply face penalties of up to £300 per user, a number that adds up fast for services with hundreds of thousands of customers.
CARF's reporting requirement targets undeclared gains and income. If HMRC can see what exchanges know about their users, a quiet sale of Bitcoin without a tax return becomes visible. The framework exists to close that gap.
HMRC also runs a Crypto Disclosure Service on GOV.UK for cryptoasset owners with unpaid taxes. The channel covers trading, mining, staking, and lending, activities that can generate taxable income rather than capital gains.
The treatment differs by how the crypto was earned or received. Crypto received through employment, for instance, can attract Income Tax and National Insurance on top of capital gains exposure. GOV.UK guidance sets out what counts as a taxable transaction and how to report it.
Selling crypto for pounds isn't the only taxable event. Exchanging one cryptocurrency for another also counts as a disposal, a rule that catches many filers off guard.
Service providers now sit in the compliance chain, reporting customer data to HMRC under the new framework, a position they did not occupy two or three years ago. The industry's relative anonymity is shrinking fast. The UK is one of several jurisdictions adopting CARF. Tax authorities in other adopting countries will share data too, which makes offshore crypto holdings harder to hide.
The 240 millionaires in the dataset declared their gains. The open question is how many didn't, and whether CARF's reporting requirements, landing in 2027, give HMRC the tools to find out.
For the 2025-2026 tax year, anyone with cryptoasset income or gains above the tax-free allowance must declare it through Self Assessment. HMRC added a dedicated section for cryptoasset gains to the return. The deadline is 31 January 2027.
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