Global Crypto Tax Net Has Massive Gap; China’s Taxable Crypto Only One-Fifth of US
Last year, potentially taxable global onchain crypto asset activity surpassed $457 billion, according to a new report from blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis. Of that total, $125.1 billion is attributed to European countries, $112.6 billion to the United States, and $21 billion to China, where onshore crypto trading is banned.
These figures represent a lower-bound estimate and encompass gains from centralized and decentralized exchanges, income from mining, staking, lending, and gambling, as well as crypto-denominated payments. However, China’s trading ban complicates estimates for Chinese users, as much of that activity has moved offshore.
CARF Captures Only 14% of Global Taxable Activity
The report highlights a significant gap in the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which takes effect next year. Analysts say CARF captures just 14% of the global total.
“The remaining 86% — encompassing DEX activity, peer-to-peer transfers, onchain income streams, and payments — falls outside the framework’s practical scope,” Chainalysis, which sells onchain activity tracking tools to governments and companies, said.
Source: Chainalysis
Designed as a tax-related risk detection tool, CARF applies only to centralized exchanges, brokers, retailers, and certain wallet providers. At least 46 countries have committed to implementing it in 2027 and will begin collecting and sharing crypto user data across jurisdictions. Another 29 nations are expected to join in 2028, while the United States plans to adopt the framework in 2029.
What CARF Misses: DEX, P2P, and Self-Custody
Chainalysis analysts argue that CARF will fail to capture the vast majority of taxable crypto income because it does not cover decentralized exchange activity, peer-to-peer transfers, self-custody transactions, mining rewards, staking yields, lending income, or many goods and services payments.
Gains — realized capital gains from CEX and DEX trading; Income — earnings from mining, staking, lending, and gambling; Payments — crypto-denominated payments. Source: Chainalysis
Additionally, exchanges often lack data on crypto assets acquired elsewhere, making accurate gain/loss calculations difficult. Not all countries will participate in CARF, and the framework may reveal what a person sold their crypto for but not what they paid, complicating profit determination.
EU’s DAC8 Directive Adds Data Collection Requirements
CARF is not the only regulatory push targeting crypto taxes. In the European Union, the DAC8 directive took effect this January, requiring crypto exchanges to collect customers’ sensitive personal data for sharing with national tax authorities starting in 2027.
Life-Threatening Dangers of Tax Data Leaks
The crackdown on tax evasion carries significant risks for crypto holders. This summer, bitcoin-only exchange Bull Bitcoin launched a legal challenge in France to overturn the decree implementing DAC8 locally. The exchange, which also develops the privacy-focused Bull bitcoin wallet, argues the EU directive creates “a massive international financial-data honeypot linking people’s legal identities, home addresses and crypto activity, including information with no relevance whatsoever to taxation.”
France has seen a surge in physical attacks on crypto owners, partly fueled by personal data leaks from the national tax authority. In the first eight months of this year, a public database recorded 36 incidents — a 64% increase over the total for all of 2025. The actual number is likely higher, as many attacks go unreported.
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