Examples

Real-world scenarios

Anonymised situations with quick answers and links to full guides. Not personal advice.

• I swapped ETH for USDC twice in one year

  Alex swapped ethereum for USDC stablecoin twice on a decentralised exchange. No pounds hit their bank account.

• I earned £200 in staking rewards on an exchange

  Sam received small monthly staking rewards shown in their exchange app, worth about £200 total in the tax year.

• My exchange closed — I have incomplete records

  Jordan used an exchange that shut down. They have some CSV exports but not all years.

• I gifted bitcoin to my adult child

  Chris transferred bitcoin to their adult daughter's wallet as a gift. Chris originally paid £5,000; value at gift was £12,000.

• I only bought crypto — never sold

  Taylor bought bitcoin monthly for two years but never sold, swapped or spent any.

• I was paid in bitcoin for freelance work

  Riley received two invoices paid in bitcoin worth £3,000 and £4,500 at receipt dates.

• I lost my wallet seed phrase

  Morgan held self-custody ethereum but lost the recovery phrase. The wallet is inaccessible.

• I sold a lot but only made a small gain

  Casey had £55,000 of disposal proceeds but net gains of £800 after losses and pooling.

• My bank blocked my payment to an exchange

  Pat tried to transfer £500 to an FCA-registered exchange but the bank declined the payment.

• My transfer between exchanges was delayed

  Avery moved bitcoin from one FCA-registered exchange to another. The transfer was held for extra checks.

• I am leaving the UK but still hold crypto

  Quinn is emigrating mid-tax-year and plans to keep crypto holdings.

• My exchange froze withdrawals

  Robin cannot withdraw pounds or crypto from a platform. Support is unresponsive.

• I donated crypto to a UK charity

  Sage gifted ethereum directly to a registered UK charity wallet.