Solana (SOL) Tax UK: Staking, Swaps and Jito/Jupiter Airdrops (2025/26)

Solana has become one of the most-held chains by UK retail investors, but its tax treatment is split awkwardly between three different routes: capital gains on SOL itself, income tax on staking rewards, and a mix of both on airdrops. Here is how HMRC actually treats each.

SOL disposals — pure CGT

Every disposal of SOL is a Capital Gains Tax event: selling for GBP, swapping into USDC or any other token on a DEX like Jupiter or Raydium, or paying for an NFT. HMRC requires Section 104 pooling, so all your SOL purchases form one pooled average cost. A 2025 buy at £100 and a 2024 buy at £25 produce a weighted average — that average is what gets matched against your disposal proceeds, after the same-day and 30-day rules.

Native staking rewards — income

Delegating SOL to a validator (via Phantom, Solflare, or any wallet) generates staking rewards roughly every two days. Each reward is taxable as miscellaneous income at the GBP market value on the date of receipt. That value also becomes the cost basis for the new SOL — so if you later sell, you only pay CGT on growth above the value you already paid income tax on.

Liquid staking — Jito (JitoSOL), Marinade (mSOL)

Wrapping SOL into JitoSOL or mSOL is a token swap, which HMRC treats as a disposal of SOL and an acquisition of the LST. You crystallise any gain on your SOL pool at the wrap. The LST then accrues value (the underlying staking yield) rather than paying out rewards — HMRC treats unwrapping as another disposal/acquisition. Many UK Solana holders fail to spot the wrap as a taxable event.

Airdrops — Jupiter (JUP), Pyth (PYTH), Jito (JTO)

If you took no action to earn the airdrop, the tokens are taxed at zero income at receipt and the cost basis is zero. If you completed a quest, signed up to a snapshot, or did anything HMRC could construe as "service rendered," the tokens are miscellaneous income at FMV at receipt. The dividing line is genuinely fuzzy — most UK guides default to the income treatment to be safe, and that is HMRC's current public position.

Selling an airdrop later

Once you dispose of an airdropped token (sell on Jupiter, swap to SOL, send to an exchange), the gain is proceeds minus the cost basis you established at receipt (£0 for a pure airdrop, FMV-at-receipt for a quest-earned one). This is a separate calculation from the original income side.

Scanning a Solana wallet with CryptoLens picks up SOL pool history, JitoSOL/mSOL wrap events, and the major airdrop receipts automatically — the tax engine routes each one to income or CGT according to HMRC's rules.