Further reflections on the taxation of crypto-assets

As the world of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets becomes increasingly mainstream, and growing numbers of clients consider investing or trading in that sphere, advisers can no longer play the academic technophobe card, and need to start boning up. Easier said than done though: establishing what a particular crypto-asset actually is, and how it works, can be tricky – establishing how it should be taxed can (in some circumstances) be downright fiendish. Until we have more HMRC guidance and relevant case law to work with, advisers should take a principles based approach in light of the particular factual matrix.