Hundreds settle with HMRC as crypto tax crackdown continues
HM Revenue & Customs has collected more than £8 million from settlements with hundreds of cryptocurrency investors, three years into a crackdown on unpaid crypto-related tax.
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information request shows that 502 crypto investors reached disclosure settlements with the UK tax authority over unpaid tax during the past two tax years.
In the 2024/25 tax year, 280 individuals settled with HMRC, paying a combined £3.5 million. In 2025/26, the number of settlements dropped to 222, though the total collected rose to roughly £4.8 million.
These figures give the first full-year picture of HMRC's crypto disclosure campaign, which began in November 2023 and invited investors to declare unpaid tax tied to exchange tokens, non-fungible tokens, and utility tokens. The campaign has run alongside a growing volume of nudge letters sent to tens of thousands of crypto investors suspected of underreporting.
Investors use crypto exchanges to avoid Beijing's controls on AI stocks
Cryptocurrency exchanges are giving investors exposure to Chinese AI stocks in a way that sidesteps Beijing's restrictions on foreign access to the country's equity market.
Trading platforms including tradeXYZ and Gate.com have introduced perpetual futures, known as perps, tied to shares of CXMT, the Chinese chipmaker due to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.
These perps give investors exposure to price movements in mainland Chinese stocks that have become popular domestic bets on China's AI capabilities but remain largely inaccessible to foreign buyers.
Roughly $19 million in CXMT perps traded in the past 24 hours, according to derivatives tracker CoinGlass. The chipmaker is aiming to raise close to $10 billion in what would be mainland China's largest initial public offering since 2010.
The growth of equity-linked perps is increasingly blurring the boundary between unregulated crypto markets and regulated finance.
EU Fines Google $1 Billion for Favoring Its Own Services
The European Union has fined Alphabet's Google $1 billion for violating its digital competition rules, in a decision that could add to tensions with the Trump administration as it prepares new global tariffs.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said Thursday that Google gave unfair preference to its own services on its search engine and restricted app developers from directing users to offers outside the company's Play Store.
The fine, €890 million, equivalent to $1.02 billion, lands at a sensitive moment for EU-US economic relations. The Trump administration, which has repeatedly criticized the EU's tech regulations, is preparing new tariffs to replace temporary levies set to expire on Friday.
A group of US lawmakers sent a letter to President Trump this week urging him to use all available tools, including tariff investigations, to retaliate against EU tech rules if dialogue with the bloc fails to produce results.
