$457B in Crypto Activity Goes Unreported Due to CARF Gap
The blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has reported that at least $457 billion in potentially taxable crypto activity occurred on-chain worldwide in 2025. This figure includes capital gains, income from crypto mining, staking, and lending, as well as crypto-denominated transactions across six major blockchain networks. The statistic excludes crypto trading and any other operations performed inside centralized exchanges.
According to Chainalysis's report, the largest share of this activity is attributed to North America, which generated almost $134.6 billion. The second-largest was generated by the European Union, at $125.1 billion. On-chain activities are further subdivided into crypto trading gains, on-chain income, and digital payments.
The OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) aims to disclose information on transactions to local tax authorities, which may forward this information to the country of residence. Collection has begun in 48 countries, including the UK and EU, as per reports from Chainalysis. However, CARF covers only 14% of all taxable on-chain activities detected by Chainalysis.
Colby Mangels, an adviser to the OECD who participated in developing CARF, stated that the framework was designed for organizations facilitating cryptocurrency transactions, which is why most DeFi solutions are excluded from its scope. However, tax authorities are monitoring developments in anti-money laundering regulations that may change this in the future.