Chainalysis estimates $457B in taxable crypto activity, says CARF misses most

Potentially taxable onchain crypto activity reached at least $457 billion globally in 2025, while international reporting rules may capture only a fraction of it, according to a new Chainalysis report.

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.

The estimates include realized gains, income from activities such as mining, staking and lending, and crypto-denominated payments across six major blockchains, but exclude trading and other activity conducted within centralized exchanges.

Chainalysis said transactions covered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) account for just 14% of the onchain taxable activity it identified. The remaining 86% includes activity on decentralized exchanges, peer-to-peer transfers, onchain income streams and payments.

CARF, developed by the OECD in 2022, requires covered crypto service providers to report customer transaction data to tax authorities.

CARF covers only 14% of potentially taxable onchain crypto activity.
Source: Chainalysis

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