The Greek parliament has approved a 10 per cent tax on cryptocurrency gains, joining a growing list of European countries seeking more oversight of their domestic crypto markets.

Under the Private Debt and Borrower Protection Bill, cryptocurrency ​capital gains of over €500 per year will be taxed at 10 per cent.

Swapping a crypto asset directly for another will not trigger the new tax requirement.

The newly imposed tax could help the Greek government to achieve a better understanding of its cryptocurrency market, with users often holding cryptocurrencies on international marketplaces over which the state has no direct oversight.

A senior Greek finance ministry official told Reuters: “Further implementation directives will be ​published in the coming weeks, which will also define transparency and audit rules.”

The same official told the newswire that the government cannot project the tax revenue that the state might reap from the new approach, as the international and distributed nature of crypto trading platforms makes it hard to assess the size of the Greek crypto market.

The proposal was first published by the Greek government in October and brings the country in line with a string of European nations that have imposed new taxes on the digital assets.

Nations throughout the European Union apply a wide range of rates to crypto sales, with different exemptions and taxable conditions.

France and Sweden impose a 30 per cent flat tax on crypto gains if the household has total annual disposal proceeds of more than €305, while Portugal imposes a 28 per cent capital gains tax on gains from all crypto assets held for less than one year.

Germany applies a zero per cent tax rate on crypto assets held for more than one year, but applies standard income tax rates to sales of short-term crypto assets that exceed €600.

Some other European states take apply staggered taxes to crypto: Italy applies a 26 per cent capital gains tax on crypto profits of more than €2,000 per year, for example.

In the UK and US, crypto gains are taxed based according to income tax bands. The UK, for instance taxes crypto profits above £3,000 at 18 per cent for those on the basic rate of tax and 24 per cent for those on the higher rate.

---