Greece approves 10% crypto gains tax with €500 annual exemption

Greece has never had a dedicated crypto tax code; gains were taxed inconsistently, if at all, under general income rules, leaving traders and the tax authority in dispute over classification. A 15% draft rate was floated mid-year before lawmakers cut it to 10% in the bill passed on Nov. 5. The move brings Greece into line with peers like Germany and Portugal, which have each built separate crypto tax regimes since Bitcoin's earlier price surges forced the issue onto national agendas.

Holders and traders in Greece now know the rate they will owe from 2027: 10% on transfer gains above €500, and a steeper 15% on income from staking, lending and DeFi. That gap means a yield farmer or liquidity provider faces a heavier bill than someone simply selling coins at a profit, pushing some to rethink how they generate returns. Record-keeping starts now, even though payment is years away, since the law taxes net annual gains.

Taxing DeFi income at 15% while leaving token swaps unresolved exposes a real strain in applying old tax categories to new instruments: a wrapped-token conversion or a liquidity-pool exit isn't obviously a 'sale', yet Greek lawmakers have postponed deciding how to treat it. That ambiguity will shape whether Greece becomes a model other EU states copy or a cautionary tale about legislating before the mechanics are settled. The DeFi income rate's harshness, compared with the 10% trading rate, is the clearest unresolved tension in the law.

The framework takes effect January 1, 2027, leaving more than a year for Greece's finance ministry to issue the implementing guidance that will determine how token swaps, airdrops and cross-chain transfers are actually taxed. Whether that guidance arrives well before the deadline, or close to it, will decide how much certainty traders and DeFi users get before the clock starts. The 15% DeFi levy is also likely to draw lobbying from exchanges and protocol teams before the law locks in.

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