Greece drafts 15% crypto gains tax with €500 exemption
Greece's finance ministry has drafted a bill that would tax capital gains on crypto assets at 15%, according to reports from Reuters and local media. The proposal would give Greece its first legal framework for taxing crypto, would exempt the first €500 (about $580) of gains each year, and is due to be submitted to parliament in November.
Under the draft, only the net gain on a sale would be taxed, after trading fees are deducted, and swapping one cryptocurrency for another would not trigger the charge. The tax would apply when holdings are converted into euros or another fiat currency, or used to pay for goods and services. Investors would be able to carry losses forward against future crypto gains for up to five tax years, and tokens earned through staking or lending would be taxed only when sold.
The rules would apply retroactively from 1 January 2025, according to the reports, meaning gains from last year onward would be declared on tax returns filed in 2027.
The bill sits alongside Greece's implementation of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission authorises and supervises crypto service providers, while the Bank of Greece handles prudential oversight of stablecoin issuers. Licensing has been slow: no Greek providers appeared on the EU register until September, about two months after MiCA's transitional period ended on 1 July.
Since January 2026, the EU's DAC8 directive has required crypto exchanges to collect detailed data on their users and transactions and report it to national tax authorities, much as banks already do for ordinary accounts; Greece wrote those rules into national law in May, the reports said. Crypto tax treatment varies widely across the bloc, with rates ranging from 8% in Cyprus to 30% in France. Germany exempts crypto held for more than a year, and Portugal does the same after 365 days.
