Bitcoin’s popularity in Greece skyrocketed during the country’s debt crisis in 2015. Greece’s central bank has issued and adopted European Union guidelines for regulating virtual currencies. Greek participation in the European Blockchain Partnership further proves the country’s dedication to coordinating regulatory efforts with its European neighbors. In this post, we discuss the laws of Greece when it comes to crypto trading.
Greece Laws
Providers of digital wallets, custody services, and exchange services between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies (including ATMs) must be registered by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission because the commission classifies cryptocurrencies as portfolio assets rather than currency. The creation of this registry is seen as a significant first step in Greece’s efforts to regulate the crypto industry.
Greece has further committed to adhering to the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive as part of its membership requirements. (AMLD5). The Bank of Greece joined the European Forum of Innovation Facilitators (EFIF) in April 2019 and launched an Innovation Hub, also known as a “sandbox,” to facilitate fintech activities.
Greece does not yet have a blockchain – or cryptocurrency-specific tax regime. Mining profits, however, are subject to taxation as income from commercial enterprises, meaning that they are subject to the same rules and rates as any other business. Cryptocurrency investors pay capital gains tax rates starting at 15% and rising.
While the Greek government’s position on cryptocurrencies is still developing, it appears to be moving in the direction of regulating this emerging asset class per existing European norms.
Further Legal Considerations Regarding Crypto in Greece
What more is there to know about crypto in Greece and relevant Greece crypto laws? Here are some more developments in the area:
- In July 2022, the Law 4961/2022 designated for ‘Emerging Information and Communication Technologies, enhancement of Digital Transformation and other provisions’, provided a definition on Blockchain and DLT (distributed ledger technology).
- The law 4557/2018 on ‘Preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing’, later amended by Law 4734/2020 or the AML Law, set out to define virtual currencies, and put obligations on all providers facilitating exchanges between currencies and fiat currencies, along with any custodian wallet providers.
- The Bank of Greece recognizes the use of blockchain technologies as part of financial technologies adopted by most or all Greek financial institutions.
- In December, 2020, the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance released The Digital Transformation Strategy 2020-2025 of Greece. The document lays out the roadmap for digital revolution in the country, and specifically provisions for the implementation of blockchain and DLT in the public sector. The document further acknowledges the importance of such technologies in things like the digitization of public contracts, the storage of digital fingerprints of public documents, for the verification of public documents and certificates, for management of health data, for the supply chain management, and more.
- Further, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission noted the challenges associated with crypto assets and looked at the European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA) 2022 Risk Analysis for “Crypto-assets and their risks for financial stability”.
Overall, the laws of Greece acknowledge cryptocurrencies as a medium of investment for citizens in the country, and accordingly provide guidelines to spread education regarding the asset class.
How to trade crypto in Greece?
If you’re interested in crypto trading in Greece, consider checking out Millionero. We have the simplest user interface to make your job easy as a beginner trader, and have implemented a range of features on top of it to help you out with profitable crypto trading!
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We offer several crypto trading pairs ranging from the most popular (BTC, ETH) to newer ones recently generating user interest. You can access a good number of deposit and withdrawal options for your utmost convenience, and you even get a copy trading feature to have your account automatically follow the trades of top traders on the platform you follow. So essentially you get to earn while you sit back and relax on Millionero.
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Ready to start trading cryptocurrencies in Greece? Check out Millionero today!