Greece plans 15% crypto capital gains tax with €500 exemption

Greece's finance ministry is drafting legislation that would for the first time bring cryptocurrency into the country's formal tax code through a 15% capital gains tax, while exempting the first €500 of gains per resident. Government officials said individual cryptocurrency miners would be excluded from the levy, though the exemption would not extend to corporations engaged in mining, and the bill is expected to reach parliament in the coming months. The proposal would place Greece near the middle of the European crypto tax range, with Cyprus at 8% and France as high as 30%, while Athens is also tightening oversight under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. Last August, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission revised its licensing regime for exchanges and wallet providers, requiring a formal approval process of up to 40 working days and barring unlicensed firms from operating in the country. The tax push comes as Binance has selected Greece as its EU base and applied for a MiCA license through the HCMC. Enforcement remains an open question because many Greek investors use offshore platforms, making the local market hard to measure, and no revenue estimate has been published. The framework could improve regulatory clarity, bring Greece closer to EU norms and potentially support investor confidence and market stability, though the bill is not final and could still change before submission to parliament.