The first official UK government figures on taxable crypto asset gains show that 240 people each declared more than £1m in capital gains during the 2024-25 tax year.
Together, the group reported £717m in gains, accounting for more than half of the £1.38bn declared by the 17,600 individuals who reported taxable profits from crypto assets.
The figures were published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on 27 August as part of its annual Capital Gains Tax statistics. For the first time, the release included a dedicated table covering crypto asset taxpayers, disposal proceeds and taxable gains.
Across the wider group, individuals reported £13.8bn in proceeds from crypto asset disposals and £1.38bn in taxable gains, an average of about £78,000 per person. About 87% of those declaring taxable crypto gains were male, compared with approximately 13% who were female.
Crypto disposals can include selling tokens, swapping one cryptocurrency for another, using digital assets to pay for goods or services, or giving them to another person outside specified exemptions.
Crypto assets received through employment, self-employment, mining, staking or lending may also be subject to income tax under wider cryptocurrency rules.
HMRC has increased its efforts to contact investors whose tax affairs may not appear to match their cryptocurrency activity. Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young said on 20 August that the tax authority had sent 81,000 crypto tax letters in the previous 12 months.
That represented a 25% rise from about 65,000 letters in the previous period and was almost three times the 27,714 sent during the 2023-24 tax year.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General James Murray said the data would support efforts to improve compliance and make people more aware of their obligations.
“Taxes are due on cryptoasset gains just like any other gains, and we want to make sure people making gains from crypto know about what taxes they owe.”
Separate changes affecting some decentralised finance transactions are due to come into force on 6 April 2027. Under planned rules covering crypto lending and liquidity pools, Capital Gains Tax would generally be deferred until an economic disposal takes place.
The government estimates that about 700,000 people could be affected by the revised treatment.
The United Kingdom began implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Cryptoasset Reporting Framework in January. Under HMRC’s crypto asset user and transaction reporting requirements, service providers will have to submit their first reports between 1 January and 31 May 2027.
Those reports will cover qualifying customer information and transactions from the 2026 calendar year. Providers must collect information on all users but will only have to report transaction summaries for customers who are tax residents in participating jurisdictions.
Inaccurate, incomplete, unverified, late or missing submissions could lead to penalties of up to £300 per user. International exchanges of information are also expected to give HMRC greater visibility of crypto activity carried out through providers based outside the United Kingdom.
Taxpayers with undeclared crypto income or gains can use HMRC’s Crypto Disclosure Service. Any amount above the tax-free allowance for the 2025-26 tax year must be declared through a Self Assessment return by 31 January 2027, with any tax due paid by the same date.
HMRC estimated that its compliance and education work relating to crypto assets generated an additional £168m in Capital Gains Tax during 2024-25.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to understand and meet their tax obligations when it comes to cryptoassets,” HMRC Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive John-Paul Marks said.
The tax authority said the expansion of international reporting would make it increasingly important for individuals to review their obligations. UK lawmakers are also asking major banks whether the incoming crypto framework will change how they treat regulated digital assets.
