Greece Proposes 10% Tax on Crypto Gains With a 500 Euro Annual Exemption

Published October 8, 2026, 10:40 UTC. Reporting via Cointelegraph and crypto.news.

Greece is about to tax crypto profits for the first time. The country's Ministry of National Economy and Finance published a draft bill on Wednesday proposing a 10% capital gains tax on individuals' cryptocurrency profits, with annual gains of up to 500 euros (about $560) exempt from the levy.

The draft would let investors voluntarily declare previously realized crypto gains without penalties, within 12 months of the law's publication. Crypto-to-crypto swaps would be exempt from capital gains tax, and a flat 10% tax would apply to returns from staking, lending and liquidity provision, according to the ministry's proposal as reported by Cointelegraph.

The 500 euro floor

The exemption applies to annual gains, meaning an investor's first 500 euros of crypto profit each year would be tax-free, with the 10% rate applying only above that threshold. The draft fills a legislative gap: Greece currently has no comprehensive framework specifically governing the taxation of cryptocurrency profits.

The 10% rate is lower than the 15% figure floated in June, when Greek officials told Reuters a dedicated crypto tax bill was in the works with the same 500 euro exemption. The available reports do not explain why the rate changed.

What the draft does not say

Key mechanics remain unspecified. The draft summaries published so far do not establish how losses would be deducted, whether wallet-to-wallet transfers count as taxable events, or how transactions would be valued for tax purposes.

Officials have not estimated how much revenue the tax could raise, because most Greek cryptocurrency investors trade through platforms based outside the country, crypto.news reported. Enforcement is expected to get easier anyway: EU-wide reporting rules under DAC8 mean crypto platforms collect user data from 2026 and tax authorities exchange it from 2027.

A parliament vote in November

The ministry put the draft out for public consultation, which closes on October 22, and is aiming for a parliamentary vote in the first week of November.

Greece would still sit at the light end of European crypto taxation. Austria introduced a 27.5% tax on crypto gains in March 2022, and France applies a 30% flat tax on individual crypto capital gains, Cointelegraph noted. Germany's finance ministry reportedly issued a draft in September to tax crypto trading profits at the standard 25% flat rate from 2028; under current German law, gains on assets held more than 12 months are generally tax-free.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Cointelegraph, Greece Plans 10% Capital Gains Tax on Cryptocurrencies (Oct. 7, 2026), primary source
• crypto.news, Greece proposes 10% crypto capital gains tax with 500 euro annual exemption (Oct. 7, 2026)