Greece approves 10% crypto tax and 15% DeFi levy from 2027

Greece's parliament passed the country's first crypto tax law on Thursday. It sets a 10 percent rate on annual gains above 500 euros, plus a 15 percent charge on staking, lending and DeFi income. The rules start on January 1, 2027.

The crypto rules sit inside a wider bill on debt servicers and borrower protection that also touches capital markets and banking supervision. The Ministry of National Economy and Finance, which proposed the framework in October, calls it Greece's first dedicated regime for taxing digital assets. The vote came on November 5, 2026.

Until now, Greece had no tax rule written specifically for crypto, which left holders and their accountants guessing at how profits should be declared and at what rate. The new law ends that grey zone, at least on paper. It fixes one headline rate, one exemption and one start date for everyone, even if the finer mechanics underneath are still being drawn up. Clarity on the number came first. Clarity on the method has not.

What the new law taxes

Two rates do the work. Individuals pay 10 percent on their net crypto gains for the year, but only once those gains clear 500 euros, about 560 dollars. Income from staking, crypto lending and supplying liquidity to DeFi protocols is treated as interest and taxed at 15 percent. Spending crypto to buy goods or services counts as a disposal, so it can trigger the gains tax as well.

A 500 euro floor sounds generous. It is a cliff, not a cushion. Cross it and the whole gain becomes taxable, not only the slice above 500. A resident who nets 600 euros in a year owes 10 percent on all of it, not on 100.

Gains are measured net across the year, sale proceeds minus what the holder paid to buy in, so wins and losses net off before the 10 percent lands. The rate is flat. It does not climb with income the way Greece's wage tax brackets do, which keeps the sum simple for most retail investors. Treating staking and lending returns as interest is what lifts those streams to 15 percent, because interest is taxed on its own track.

A reporting regime is already in place

The tax does not land on a blank slate. In May 2026 Greece adopted Law 5301, which wrote the European Union's DAC8 directive into national law and built on the OECD's crypto reporting framework. That law obliges crypto service providers to collect and report user data to the tax authority. So the office that will assess the new 10 percent charge already has a way to see who holds what.

Under that regime, exchanges and other providers must identify their users and pass transaction data to the authorities, with the information shared across EU member states. Greece is wiring the tax into a system that can already watch the trades. For holders used to crypto sitting outside the tax net, that is the real shift. A tax is only as strong as the data behind it, and that data is now being gathered.

The parts Athens has not settled

Here is what the law leaves open. The Finance Ministry says swapping one coin for another is not a taxable event. Parliament's own Scientific Service disagrees, warning that the text as written could pull those trades into the net. Two arms of the same government, two readings of the same bill.

Proof is the other gap. The law does not spell out how a holder shows what they first paid for a coin, and that purchase price decides the size of the taxable gain. For anyone who bought years ago, across exchanges that have since closed and wallets with patchy records, that number may be hard to pin down. Get it wrong and the gain, and the tax, can be overstated.

Who it hits, and settling old gains

Ordinary investors fall inside the regime, not only firms. Anyone tax resident in Greece who sells crypto at a profit from 2027 is in scope. The government has also opened a path for the past. The law gives a 12 month window to declare crypto profits that were never reported, free of the usual penalties and interest, with any tax owed due within 60 days of filing. Miss the window and the softer terms close.

Coming clean early is the cheaper option. With providers now reporting data, undeclared gains are easier for the tax office to spot once the regime is running, and the penalty-free window is the nudge to settle first.

Losses get some relief. Net crypto losses above 500 euros in a year can be carried forward for five years, but they only offset future crypto gains, not salary or other income. It is a narrower shield than it first looks.

What to watch

What follows the vote is the real test. Greece has set the rates, but the day to day rules, how swaps are treated, how cost basis is proven, how the amnesty is policed, will come from later guidance and from how the tax office applies the law in practice. Those details decide most bills.

For investors watching from elsewhere, Greece joins a run of governments writing crypto into the tax code. Hong Kong just passed a crypto tax reporting law. Others pull the other way, and in the UAE individuals still pay no personal income tax on crypto gains. What matters next is enforcement, and whether the 10 percent headline holds once the fine print arrives.