UK tax rules raise fears of linking Bitcoin users to their home addresses

Starting 1 January 2026, crypto exchanges operating in the UK will need to know where their customers live. Not roughly. Their actual home address. The requirement comes from HMRC’s adoption of the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, known as CARF. Privacy advocates are uneasy, because Bitcoin’s ledger is public and permanent, and they say pairing it with a street address creates a risk that is hard to undo. What the new rules actually require CARF applies to UK-based cryptoasset service providers. That category covers exchanges and wallet providers. These firms must gather a detailed profile for each user. The list includes full name, date of birth, home address and tax identification number. The scope is wide. Exchanges must collect this data for all individual users, not only those who carry out reportable activity. The timeline is already fixed. Data collection begins in January 2026, and the first annual reports covering 2026 activity are due to HMRC by 31 May 2027. International data sharing among CARF jurisdictions is expected to start around that same point. So the information may not stay inside the UK. HMRC’s stated aim is tax compliance. The agency estimates the fra...