In 2025, at least 457 billion dollars of potentially taxable crypto activity was recorded on the six largest blockchains — from trading profits to payments and staking income. According to Chainalysis, the US leads with 112,6 billion, while North America and the European Union together exceeded 250 billion. The figure is impressive, but it is only a lower bound: the analysis does not account for internal operations of centralized exchanges and many other networks.
Most of this activity remains out of sight of tax authorities. According to the report, the CARF rules, which took effect in 2026, cover only 14 percent of flows. The remaining 86 percent are trading on decentralized exchanges, peer-to-peer transfers, mining income, and crypto payments. States receive data mainly from centralized platforms, while self-custody wallets and DeFi continue to operate by their own rules.
For individual countries, such volumes become a noticeable part of the budget. In Portugal, two billion dollars of crypto activity equals 201 percent of the treasury deficit, and in Nigeria, 4,4 billion constitutes more than 12 percent of all government revenues. These figures show how deeply crypto is already woven into the everyday economy, especially in countries with unstable national currencies.
For the average user, this means a simple dilemma: keep records yourself or take risks. Payments in stablecoins, which made up a significant share of the US amount, easily escape automatic tracking. A person buys coffee with USDT or gets paid for freelance work in crypto — and these transactions do not automatically appear in exchange reports.
The situation resembles a river where part of the water flows through visible channels, and the rest seeps through the ground. Governments are strengthening dams in the form of international agreements, but the water continues to find detours. In the end, the one who keeps transparent records of their transactions wins, while the budget loses out on funds for social needs.
Chainalysis emphasizes: the 457 billion figure is not the amount of taxes, but merely an estimate of potentially taxable flows. Actual revenues depend on national legislation and the good faith of market participants. In 2026, when CARF is fully operational, the gap between the visible and the real may narrow, but it is unlikely to disappear entirely.
