Greece Passes First Crypto Tax Law, With 10 Percent on Gains and 15 Percent on Staking Income

Greece's parliament has approved the country's first dedicated tax law for cryptocurrency, setting a 10 percent rate on capital gains and a 15 percent rate on income from staking, lending and decentralized finance. Lawmakers passed the bill on Thursday, November 5, and the new rules are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.

Under the framework, individual investors pay 10 percent on their annual net gains from selling or transferring crypto assets. Annual net gains of up to 500 euros, about 560 dollars, are exempt. The gain is worked out as the difference between what an investor paid for an asset and what they received for it, according to the Finance Ministry. Paying for goods or services with cryptocurrency also counts as a disposal, so a purchase paid in crypto can trigger the gains tax even when no cash changes hands.

Staking and DeFi income taxed as interest

Income from staking, crypto lending and providing liquidity to DeFi platforms is treated differently. The law classes those returns as interest income, and interest is taxed at 15 percent. That covers rewards for helping to validate transactions on a blockchain, interest paid by lending platforms, and yields earned by supplying liquidity to DeFi protocols.

One point is already disputed

The Finance Ministry says swapping one cryptocurrency for another does not trigger the tax. Parliament's own Scientific Service, which reviews draft legislation, has warned that the wording of the bill could still pull crypto to crypto trades into the tax net. The approved bill has not yet been published in the Government Gazette, the step that puts Greek laws into force, and traders will watch the final published text for how that question is settled.

Declaring the past, carrying losses forward

The law also deals with holdings from earlier years. Investors will have a 12 month window to declare crypto gains they did not report before, without penalties or interest. Losses can be carried forward for five years and set against future crypto gains. The crypto provisions sit inside a wider Finance Ministry package that covers debt servicing, financial oversight and government accounting.

Until now, Greece had no dedicated tax regime for digital assets, even as trading grew across Europe. The new framework gives Greek investors fixed rates for the first time: 10 percent on gains, 15 percent on yield, and a small yearly allowance before the gains tax applies. It also gives the tax authority a clearer basis to ask exchanges and investors for records once the rules start in 2027.