Chainalysis Estimates $457B in Taxable Crypto Activity, Highlights CARF Limitations

Chainalysis has released a report estimating that there was at least $457 billion in taxable cryptocurrency activity globally in 2025. This figure is based on data from six major blockchains and includes realized gains, income from activities like mining, staking, and lending, as well as crypto-denominated payments.

The US accounted for an estimated $112.6 billion of the total, while North America led all regions with $134.6 billion, followed by the European Union at $125.1 billion. Chainalysis noted that these estimates exclude trading activity conducted within centralized exchanges.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which requires covered crypto service providers to report customer transaction data to tax authorities, covers only 14% of the potentially taxable on-chain cryptocurrency activity identified by Chainalysis. The remaining 86% includes activity on decentralized exchanges, peer-to-peer transfers, on-chain income streams, and payments.

Chainalysis emphasized that CARF's focus on crypto intermediaries leaves much of decentralized finance outside its reporting perimeter. As regulators continue to develop rules for decentralized platforms, it is possible that tax authorities will eventually require decentralized platforms to report transaction data.