Reform UK’s Crypto Policy: Our Digital Assets Proposals

Owning Bitcoin shouldn’t leave you guessing about tax, banking access or Britain’s approach to new technology. Reform UK’s crypto policy brings those issues together through proposals for lower taxation, protection for lawful activity and a national Bitcoin reserve.

Our wider goal is British growth: attracting investment and helping businesses develop useful technology here. The starting point is understanding what we proposed, what those changes would mean and how they differ from existing law.

Key takeaways

• Our May 2025 proposals included a 10% capital gains tax rate on crypto gains and a national Bitcoin reserve.
• The package also proposed cryptocurrency tax payments and protection against bank account closures based solely on lawful crypto activity.
• We announced that Reform UK would accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations, subject to electoral rules.
• These legislative proposals aren’t enacted UK law. Our current technology programme supports digital assets alongside artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and life sciences.

Reform UK’s crypto policy starts with British growth

The May 2025 announcement

Nigel Farage presented our proposed Cryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas on 29 May 2025. He said we would campaign for the legislation and introduce it if elected.

The announcement brought together tax, banking and public-finance proposals. The BBC’s coverage of the Bitcoin announcement also reported our decision to accept cryptocurrency donations.

That distinction matters. Accepting a permitted donation is a party decision, whilst changing tax law requires parliamentary legislation. Establishing a national reserve would also require government decisions about public assets and their management.

Digital assets within our wider programme

Our approach to emerging technologies places digital assets alongside artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and life sciences. We want regulation that allows experimentation, rewards investment and attracts skilled people.

Digital assets cover more than Bitcoin. They include stablecoins, which seek to maintain a steady value, and tokens that represent rights in other assets. Their uses and risks differ.

We also want British firms to compete fairly and face fewer unnecessary administrative burdens. For digital finance, that means judging rules by their practical effect on legitimate businesses, customers and investment.

The proposed 10% crypto capital gains tax rate

What the tax proposal would change

The May 2025 package proposed a 10% capital gains tax rate on cryptocurrency gains. Its purpose was to reduce the tax burden and make Britain more attractive for digital-asset investment.

Capital gains tax concerns the profit on a taxable disposal, rather than the entire value of a holding. A lower rate would therefore change the tax calculation when a qualifying gain arises.

However, a rate reduction doesn’t remove the need to establish acquisition costs, identify disposals and calculate gains correctly. Investors would still need records of their transactions.

The proposed rate also shouldn’t be confused with a promise that every crypto-related receipt would attract the same tax treatment. Gains on investments and income received through crypto activity are different tax questions.

What applies under existing rules

HMRC’s guidance on selling cryptoassets explains that selling, exchanging or giving away tokens can create a capital gains tax liability. Spending crypto can also count as a disposal.

This matters because moving between tokens can have tax consequences even when no money reaches your bank account. Holding an asset and disposing of it are different events.

Our proposed 10% rate isn’t the rate investors can apply simply because we announced it. Existing tax law continues to govern transactions unless Parliament changes it.

A national Bitcoin reserve and crypto tax payments

What a Bitcoin reserve would mean

We proposed a national Bitcoin reserve as part of the May 2025 package. This would involve the state holding Bitcoin as a public asset.

A reserve is separate from everyday payments. It doesn’t require households to buy Bitcoin, businesses to price goods in it or employers to pay wages in cryptocurrency.

However, Bitcoin’s price can rise or fall sharply. Public ownership would expose the reserve’s value to those movements.

Delivery would therefore involve decisions about acquisition, custody, access controls and financial reporting. Those decisions matter because cryptocurrency ownership depends on secure control of the credentials needed to transfer it.

The proposal shouldn’t be read as a guaranteed investment return for taxpayers. It raises a public-finance question about whether and how Britain should hold this asset.

Allowing cryptocurrency tax payments

The package also proposed allowing HMRC to accept Bitcoin and other approved cryptocurrencies for tax payments. HMRC would publish sterling conversion rates.

Under the proposal, collected cryptocurrency could be converted into sterling or added to the reserve. That connects the payment mechanism with the wider public-asset proposal.

For taxpayers, the practical issue would be how a payment settles a sterling-denominated liability. Timing, valuation and payment confirmation would all matter.

Accepting crypto wouldn’t remove the underlying obligation to pay tax. Nor would it automatically remove any tax consequences arising from disposing of the cryptocurrency used for payment. Those are separate parts of the transaction.

Banking access and rules that support legitimate activity

Protection against crypto-related account closures

Our proposed bill would make it unlawful for banks to close accounts solely because a customer lawfully dealt in cryptoassets.

The word lawfully matters. The proposal concerns legitimate activity, rather than protection for fraud, money laundering or other criminal conduct.

For businesses, reliable banking access affects ordinary operations. A firm developing digital-asset services still needs to pay staff, suppliers and taxes. Account closures can interrupt those activities even when its underlying business is lawful.

Protecting lawful crypto activity would still leave banks responsible for identifying financial crime.

This proposal fits our wider position that British businesses should have a fair opportunity to operate and grow.

Consumer protection remains part of regulation

Our support for innovation doesn’t make every crypto product safe. Price volatility, scams and failures involving customer assets remain real concerns.

The FCA’s cryptoasset regime policy statements set out the developing regulatory framework. These government and regulatory measures are separate from our proposed bill.

A useful system needs to distinguish legitimate experimentation from misleading sales practices. Customers should understand who controls their assets and what happens if a business fails.

The proposed package also placed time limits on a government crypto taskforce or commission: 90 days, with a further 30 days requiring Parliament’s approval. The intention was to prevent policy work becoming an open-ended process without decisions.

Crypto donations and our position on a digital pound

Cryptocurrency donations still follow electoral law

On 29 May 2025, we announced that Reform UK would accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations. The following day, Zia Yusuf said we had received our first crypto donations and that they complied with Electoral Commission rules.

The Guardian’s report on cryptocurrency donations covered the announcement.

The payment method doesn’t displace electoral law. A cryptocurrency donation still requires lawful treatment under the rules governing political donations. Blockchain transactions don’t, by themselves, establish that a donor is permissible.

A digital pound is a different proposal

A central bank digital currency, often called a CBDC, differs from Bitcoin. A digital pound would involve central bank money, rather than a decentralised cryptocurrency.

At the Digital Asset Summit in London in October 2025, Nigel Farage called for an immediate halt to work on a potential UK CBDC.

That was a separate public statement. It shouldn’t be presented as a specified provision of the May 2025 crypto bill. Supporting private digital-asset development and opposing a central bank digital currency are distinct policy positions.

Where the proposals stand in October 2026

The detailed May 2025 package remains important to understanding our approach, but it must be described accurately. A proposed bill is different from enacted legislation.

Reporting on the draft bill’s removal noted that it had disappeared from our website in 2026. That fact alone doesn’t establish a formal decision to abandon the proposals.

Our current national policy programme commits to supporting digital assets within a broader pro-innovation approach. It sets the direction without making every provision of an earlier draft an enacted or unchanged commitment.

Meanwhile, the UK government’s regulatory programme has continued separately. Government stablecoin tax changes announced on 13 July 2026 are intended to take effect from April 2027. They aren’t Reform UK proposals.

The distinction is straightforward: our political programme, the earlier draft legislation and the government’s current rules are separate things. Each needs to be understood on its own terms.

What this could mean for British businesses

The economic case extends beyond people trading tokens. Digital-asset development involves software engineering, cybersecurity, legal work and financial operations.

Our goal is to make Britain a place where legitimate firms can develop products and employ skilled workers. This connects with our wider business policy proposals on taxation and unnecessary regulation.

However, attracting activity doesn’t automatically establish its value. Businesses need customers, workable products and sound financial management. A favourable policy environment can’t supply those on its own.

For smaller firms, predictable rules and dependable banking can matter as much as headline tax rates. Clear obligations help businesses plan investment without relying on assumptions about future legislation.

The practical test is whether digital-asset activity produces useful services and worthwhile employment in Britain. That is the link between our technology policy and our wider ambition for higher productivity and better-paid jobs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Reform UK’s proposed crypto bill already law?

No. The Cryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill was a proposed legislative package. Its announcement didn’t change tax liabilities, create a national reserve or require banks to apply its proposed protections.

Would the 10% proposal make cryptocurrency gains tax-free?

No. A 10% rate is a tax rate, rather than an exemption. The proposal concerned capital gains taxation and wouldn’t mean that every crypto transaction or crypto-related income payment was free of tax.

Does supporting digital assets mean recommending Bitcoin?

No. Our policy concerns Britain’s treatment of technology, businesses and lawful financial activity. It isn’t a personal investment recommendation. Bitcoin’s price can fall, and a political proposal doesn’t protect investors against losses.

Our priority: useful innovation in Britain

Our digital-assets policy brings together support for enterprise, fair banking access and a proposed change to crypto taxation. The national Bitcoin reserve and cryptocurrency tax-payment proposals add a separate public-finance dimension.

The distinction between proposals and law remains essential. Our wider objective is to give legitimate innovation room to develop in Britain, with clear responsibilities for businesses and protection against criminal activity.

Success means useful products, investment and skilled British jobs, rather than a higher token price alone.