Is this crypto airdrop taxable in the UK?

It depends on the facts. HMRC says Income Tax does not always apply to airdrops received in a personal capacity. Tokens received in return for, or in expectation of, a service are taxable as miscellaneous income or trade receipts. Income Tax may not apply when nothing was done in return and the receipt was not part of a cryptoasset trade or business. A later disposal can still create a chargeable gain. Source: HMRC Cryptoassets Manual, CRYPTO21250.

Income Tax may not apply if tokens were received without doing anything in return, were not related to a service or other conditions, and were not part of a cryptoasset trade or business. Whether you clicked a claim contract is evidence of receipt, but it does not by itself answer what, if anything, you did in return. Keep the eligibility terms and review the facts under HMRC CRYPTO21250. Capital Gains Tax can still apply on a later disposal.

If the airdrop is taxable as miscellaneous income, the receipt-date GBP value is reported on SA100 (the main return) under "Other income"; trade receipts follow the relevant trade rules. SA108 is for a later chargeable disposal, not the income receipt. ChainTax currently uses a conservative income treatment and keeps the facts review visible before positive review.

A hard fork (e.g. ETH/ETC, BTC/BCH) splits an existing chain into two. HMRC CRYPTO22300 applies section 43 and splits the original holding cost between the resulting Section 104 pools on a just and reasonable basis; the fork itself is not new income. An airdrop is a distribution from an existing project, and its income treatment depends on whether it was received in return for an activity or as part of a trade. The mechanism and facts matter.

When the receipt is taxable as income, the GBP market value on the receipt date is required. ChainTax uses the claim timestamp to select that date and looks up a supported daily GBP price through PriceCache → Kraken → DefiLlama → CoinGecko, with ECB FX conversion where needed. If no supported price is available, the valuation remains visibly missing rather than being guessed.

If the receipt was taxable as income, a later fall in value does not undo that receipt-date income. The later disposal is a separate Capital Gains Tax computation and may create an allowable loss. If Income Tax did not apply on receipt, the acquisition cost used for the later pool calculation may differ, so confirm the original facts first.

The checker identifies the receipt mechanism for UNI, ENS, 1INCH, OP, ARB, and Mint Club distributor contracts. A recognised contract can identify a claim and its asset flows, but cannot establish the service, condition or trade facts that determine Income Tax. Other one-sided receipts may use a heuristic and require additional review. Hard forks, faucets and token migrations use different mechanisms.