UK Tax Agency Released New Guidelines Around DeFi

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the U.K.’s tax agency announced a controversial set of recommendations on Wednesday that could harm Decentralized Finance (DeFi) innovation. Ian Taylor, executive director of CryptoUK said: “HMRC treats crypto assets as property for tax purposes. However, this is inconsistent with the approach currently being adopted by Government and other regulatory bodies in the UK.” The updated ruling focuses on how digital assets are treated in the UK for DeFi lending and staking, and whether the returns or incentives from these activities are taxed or not. Due to the cutting-edge nature of DeFi, tax specialists were confused about how the existing regulations apply to these services. HMRC stated: “The lending/staking of tokens through DeFi is a constantly evolving area, so it is not possible to set out all the circumstances in which a lender/liquidity provider earns a return from their activities and the nature of that return. Instead, some guiding principles are set out.” “HMRC has updated its guidance on the treatment of crypto and digital assets, specifically for DeFi lending and staking in the UK, significantly altering their classification and treatment.” According to the guidance, returns from staking and lending DeFi assets will not be treated as ‘interest’, because digital assets aren’t considered currencies in the UK, but rather property for tax reasons. However, the guidance suggests th...