Two hundred and forty taxpayers have declared more than £1 million in crypto gains in the UK for the 2024-2025 tax year. These investors together made 717 million pounds of capital gains, or more than half of the amount communicated by all the taxpayers concerned. The term of “crypto millionaires” however, requires precision.
In brief
- The 240 biggest filers accumulate £717 million in crypto gains.
- In total, 17,600 taxpayers declared £1.38 billion in capital gains.
- Disposals of cryptoassets represented 13.8 billion pounds.
- From 2027, HMRC will receive the data transmitted by the platforms as part of the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework.
Biggest filers capture £717m in gains
As volumes shift towards altcoins, four figures stand out mainly thanks to data provided by the UK tax authorities:
- 240 investors each reported over £1 million in crypto gains;
- 717 million pounds of capital gains were made by this group;
- 17,600 people declared taxable crypto transfers;
- £1.38 billion in winnings were recorded in total.
These 240 holders correspond to only 1.36% of the investors listed. However, they centralize around 52% of the gains, according to data published on August 27 by HM Revenue and Customs.
Their average added value is then close to 3 million pounds. As for the other 17,360 taxpayers, they accumulated nearly 663 million pounds, or an average of around 38,200 pounds per person.
Together, the filers made £13.8 billion in crypto sales. After taking into account purchase prices, losses and allowable expenses, their gains reached £1.38 billion. HMRC calculates the average capital gain at £78,000 per holder.
The statistics do not identify all crypto fortunes
The term “crypto millionaire” employee may confuse readers. The 240 taxpayers identified do not simply hold a crypto portfolio capitalized at more than a million pounds. They made and reported over a million pounds of taxable gains in this financial year alone.
An investor who owns millions of pounds in bitcoin without making any asset sales therefore does not necessarily appear in these statistics. On the other hand, a person who has made a significant capital gain may have withdrawn their capital or subsequently suffered other losses. The figures do not allow us to determine the current assets of taxpayers.
Persons whose transactions have generated an obligation under Capital Gains Tax are concerned by this publication. It does not list taxpayers whose capital gains remain below the annual deduction, those who weight their profit using previous losses or holders who do not declare their operations correctly.
Furthermore, the 2024-2025 financial year is the first period during which British tax returns take into account a section specific to crypto gains. HMRC therefore does not yet have a comparable series to assess the annual increase in the number of tax filers.
The £1.38 billion in crypto capital gains constitutes just over 1% of the £127 billion reported gains on total assets in the UK during the financial year, according to HMRC’s annual report.
HMRC will strengthen its controls using platforms
The sale of crypto for pounds sterling in the UK is not the only taxable event. The barter of a bitcoin for Ether, the use of cryptos to acquire goods or even their gift to another person can also be considered sales.
Income from mining, staking or lending (asset lending) depends on separate standards. They are generally subject to income tax and social security contributions. Earnings statistics don’t fully cover them.
Since January of this year, the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, a system developed by the OECD, has been applied by the United Kingdom. Exchanges must now collect information on the identity, tax residence and transactions of their users.
HMRC should receive the first data in 2027. International barters will also allow the administration to determine certain assets kept on exchange platforms abroad. Failure to comply with these obligations by service providers risks leading to a penalty of up to 300 pounds per user.
HMRC already believes that its awareness and enforcement actions have generated an additional £168 million in Capital Gains Tax in 2024-25. Future publications will reveal whether the arrival of information provided by the exchanges greatly increases the number of taxpayers identified. The 240 declarants therefore represent a first for the tax administration, and not an exhaustive count of crypto millionaires in Great Britain.
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