According to Cointelegraph, starting from January 1, 2026, crypto users in 48 jurisdictions, including the UK and EU, will begin to feel the impact of the OECD's Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).

CARF requires relevant providers to collect detailed customer information, verify tax residency, and report users' balances and transactions to domestic tax authorities annually, subsequently sharing data cross-border under existing information exchange agreements.

Lucy Frew, a partner at international law firm Walkers, stated that CARF is a 'game changer' that will reshape the compliance of digital asset businesses and their clients.

For exchanges, this is not just a simple compliance update, but a structural change. Companies need to integrate CARF requirements with existing KYC and AML processes, redesign the onboarding process to capture tax residency and self-certification data.

The UK tax authorities will start receiving standardized machine-readable data directly from exchanges from 2026, making it easier to identify discrepancies between tax filings and exchange data.