UK Crypto Gains Concentrated Among Young, Male Millionaires

The UK's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released data showing that crypto gains are concentrated among a small group of young, male individuals. For the 2024-25 tax year, 17,600 people declared £1.38 billion in taxable crypto gains.

Of those who reported gains, a cluster of 240 individuals cleared more than £1 million each, accounting for £717 million of the total. These millionaire filers make up less than 2% of all those who reported crypto disposals, but are responsible for over half of the gains and disposal proceeds.

The majority of crypto taxpayers, 65%, reported gains of under £25,000, which accounted for only 7% of the gains and 8% of the proceeds. The average gain per person was £78,000, with men making up 87% of filers and booking 93% of the total.

HMRC has started sending 'nudge' letters to suspected under-payers, with 81,000 sent over the past year, a 25% increase from the previous year. The UK is also set to implement the OECD's Cryptoasset Reporting Framework in January 2026, which will require crypto service providers to share customer data with HMRC.

HMRC expects to start receiving this data in 2027 and will automatically pull information on UK residents from exchanges in 52 jurisdictions. This will make it easier for HMRC to identify non-compliant investors, according to Neela Chauhan, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, who described the process as 'shooting fish in a barrel'.