The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has begun consultation on new rules requiring crypto-asset exchanges to report customers' aggregate investments and transactions to national governments, so that the information can be shared internationally.

Individuals' financial account information has been automatically exchanged between national governments under the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) since 2017. Since then, crypto-assets such as virtual currencies have been rapidly adopted for many investment and financial activities, says the OECD. It warns that as crypto-assets can be transferred and held without the intervention of traditional financial intermediaries, and without any central authority having full knowledge of the transactions or the holdings they can be exploited to undermine the CRS and other international tax transparency initiatives.

In 2020, the G20 group of countries asked the OECD to develop a framework for the automatic exchange of information on crypto-assets. Preliminary consultations were held with national tax authorities, the crypto-asset industry and professional bodies, including STEP. The first draft , called the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), has now been issued for further consultation...