Greece’s parliament approved on Thursday a bill that imposes a 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies, the first comprehensive legal framework for taxing crypto assets in the country.
Cryptocurrency capital gains of up to €500 ($563) a year will be exempt from the new tax, the bill says. For bitcoin holders in Greece, that threshold is a small buffer, not a carve-out for larger positions.
“Further implementation directives will be published in the coming weeks, which will also define transparency and audit rules,” a senior finance ministry official told Reuters.
An earlier draft circulated in October had floated a 15% rate. The version lawmakers passed lands five points lower, while keeping the €500 annual exemption that was already in that proposal.
What the levy covers for bitcoin holders
The tax is set to apply from Jan. 1, 2027, Greek coverage of the finance ministry bill says. It is levied on the net gain — the difference between the acquisition price and the transfer price — not on the full sale proceeds. Trading fees and other costs tied to the deal can factor into that calculation.
A taxable transfer is not limited to selling for euros. Using cryptocurrency to buy goods or services, or contributing it to cover or increase company capital, can also crystallize a gain under the new rules. That matters for anyone in Greece who pays a merchant in bitcoin rather than converting first.
Simply holding bitcoin while its euro value rises does not, by itself, create a tax bill. Crypto-to-crypto swaps, such as bitcoin for another token, are treated as non-taxable events in the explanatory material that accompanied the bill, matching the approach France has used to avoid taxing every hop between coins.
Net annual gains at or below €500 are exempt. Greek analyses of the text say that once net gains clear that ceiling, the 10% rate applies to the full net gain for the year, not only the slice above €500. Losses above €500 in a tax year may be carried forward for up to five years and offset only against future crypto capital gains.
Purchases of crypto assets are also being pulled into Greece’s existing “source of funds” checks from 2027, so buyers may need to show that the euros used to acquire bitcoin or other tokens came from declared income or other lawful capital. The rule does not add a separate purchase tax; it widens the audit trail around how coins were funded.
An EU patchwork, not a single rate
European Union countries do not share a unified tax system for the sector. Rates on cryptocurrency gains typically run from about 8% to 30% across member states and are usually levied on capital gains, the finance ministry official said. Greece’s 10% sits toward the softer end of that band, below France’s often-cited 30% treatment and above Cyprus’s 8%.
The same patchwork is shifting elsewhere in the bloc. The Netherlands has moved toward a realized capital gains tax from 2028, while Germany and Portugal still exempt crypto held longer than a year. Since January, the EU’s DAC8 reporting rules have required crypto platforms to send user and transaction data to national tax authorities — a tool Greece already wrote into domestic law.
State revenue from the new levy could not be projected, the official said, because the vast majority of investors use platforms abroad, leaving the size of Greece’s cryptocurrency market hard to measure.
For bitcoin holders who trade on foreign exchanges, that gap is the practical test. The rate is now set in law; whether Athens can match 10% on paper with enforceable cost-basis data from offshore platforms is the question the coming directives will have to answer.