Which Countries Have the Best Crypto Tax Laws?

Europe has been successful in distinguishing itself as a global hub for crypto, according to an in-depth report that analyzed international tax jurisdictions around the world published yesterday by Coincub.

The report offers detailed information regarding every country’s tax regime for digital assets, and ranks nations and regions as well as identifying trends.

Coincub, a startup that specializes in off-chain market data, uses a variety of data points from Glassnode, PwC Consulting, and the Tax Foundation among others for their research, according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Sergiu Hamza.

“The main trends we identify over and over is that Europe is a massive hub for crypto due to its strict approach to regulation which made the industry flourish,” Hamza told Decrypt. He noted that 11 out of the top 20 ranked countries are European—including Monaco, Switzerland, Malta and Hungary among others. 

Sergiu said despite the UAE and Hong Kong getting ample media coverage, Europe is most likely to be profiting the most from current U.S. led crypto outflows.

“There is certainly a competing approach among countries for attracting talent,” he said, highlighting his surprise with what Germany, Romania and Bulgaria are doing for the industry, despite their lack of media exposure. 

Hamza pointed out that “The Caribbean is pushing ahead,” which according to him “is expected in a way because of their historical financial experience.” The Coincub co-founder was also astonished to find that countries like Poland or Spain are strong Web3 pillars. 

The Coincub report has a substantial section devoted to the United States, with a state by state breakdown of individual tax rates as well as the federal regime that is applied. 

According to the report, the nations of the world are divided not only by tax rates but also by regulatory frameworks that are friendly to digital assets. 

It names countries like El Salvador or The Bahamas as highly crypto positive, with zero tax rates; Bulgaria and Hong Kong fall into the “positive outlook for crypto” group with low taxation (19% or less); and crypto-friendly countries like Brazil or Estonia come in at 20-29%.

Further down the list there are nations with high tax rates—like Switzerland or Canada—but are “crypto advocates,” finalizing their report with those nations that have uncertain regimes or directly prohibitive crypto stances such as China. 

Coincub was born in 2021 out of a “a frustration of not being able to find good off-chain information,” says Sergiu. According to the CEO, the firm’s target market is Web3 business leaders, even though many of their clients are large banks, VC’s and surprisingly, major analysts like Moody’s.

Yesterday’s report, which is published once a year, aims to get macro insights for the Web3 space. Hamza announced it will feed into a macro Web3 index that will be published in the third quarter of this year with crypto banking data, jobs, VASP registration, adoption numbers, and more.