Greece Will Take 10% of Crypto Profits and 15% of Staking Income

Greece's parliament passed a law on Thursday that taxes profits from selling cryptocurrency at 10%. The new rules take effect on January 1, 2027. Small investors will barely feel it: if net gains for the year stay at or below 500 euros (about $560), nothing is owed.

What exactly did Athens approve?

The provisions sit inside a larger bill on loan oversight, debt protections and financial market regulation. The Ministry of National Economy and Finance floated the tax in October, so it took roughly a month to get from proposal to vote. The Greek outlet Oikonomikos Tachydromos relayed the text, and according to Cointelegraph and CoinDesk the law contains two rates.

How do the two rates work?

The first rate covers the ordinary case. You bought an asset, sold it later and locked in a profit. The state takes a tenth of that difference. The second rate, 15%, lands on passive income.

• 10% on gains: tax on the gap between purchase and sale price when the net result for the year is above 500 euros.
• 15% on staking rewards, meaning coins locked to support a network.
• 15% on crypto lending income, when you lend your coins out.
• 15% on fees earned for providing liquidity to decentralized protocols (DeFi).

There is one more catch. Paying for goods or services with crypto can also trigger capital gains tax, because in the eyes of the law you sold an asset.

Why is a coin-to-coin swap left untaxed?

Swaps do not produce taxable gains, the Greek outlet reports. So if you swap Ethereum for a stablecoin, the state will not notice. The tax event comes later, when you cash out to euros or pay for a purchase with crypto.

Frequent portfolio rebalancers get good news here.

What happens to gains from earlier years?

The law gives 12 months to voluntarily declare crypto income that was never reported. The resulting tax has to be paid within 60 days of filing. Otherwise penalties and interest kick in.

This window is for people who have stayed quiet so far. Whether many will use it should become clear next year.

What should an investor do before January 1?

There is not much time, under two months. If you hold Bitcoin or other assets bought at different prices, start collecting your trade history now: dates, amounts, rates at the time of each operation. Without it, calculating profit under the 2027 rules will be hard.

At Kurslog we follow tax changes in Europe, because they shape where and how people cash out crypto to banknotes and cards.