Country overview

#41

Italy

Country stats

Rating Points

200

This indicator describes the overall rating of a given jurisdiction on several parameters according to cryptocurrency operations - market volume, crypto regulation, business climate, taxation framework.

Crypto Penetration

2.4%

Estimated percentage of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Legal Entities

Number of crypto companies registered in the country based on regulator data if available or other types of public data.

Regulation Points

140

An overall assessment of the granularity of crypto regulation in a given country. A high score is also given to countries where cryptocurrency transactions are highly regulated.

Amount of crypto users

1 418 400

Total amount of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Taxation points

This figure, according to our analysts' calculations, indicates the overall level of tax burden for cryptocurrency transactions in a given country. The higher the indicator, the lower the burden.

Market volume points

162.8

A rough estimate of this jurisdiction's retail crypto market relative to the rest of the world. The higher the indicator, the higher the market potential.

Status of crypto

Legally allowed

General status of cryptocurrency regulation in this jurisdiction.

Crypto payments

Legally allowed

The legal status of cryptocurrency payments for goods and services in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Security Level

Safe place

The overall level of security in a given country based on open data.

Crypto Salaries

No info

The legal status of cryptocurrency salaries to employers in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Business Climate

Medium

Overall assessment of the friendliness of this country for crypto-business. This indicator takes into account the cost of obtaining a license and the attitude towards crypto entities in the country.

Stablecoin Regulation

Basic

This indicator is evaluating the regulation of stablecoins in a given country. Complex regulation means that it is possible to issue steiblcoins and obtain a license for this activity. Basic regulation means that the issuance of stablecoins is possible, but not all legal aspects are defined in the law. Standard regulation means that there is a legal practice of steylcoin circulation in a given country.

Bad Factors

This section describes the unfavorable economic factors for crypto-business in a given country. These are countries that are under sanctions or on the FATF grey list and other factors.

Types of licenses

Crypto-to-crypto

This license type allows VASP to provide legal exchange from one cryptocurrency to another.

Wallet/Custody

This country has a legal licensing procedure for companies that store cryptocurrency - - crypto wallet providers and custodians.

Crypto-to-fiat

This type of license regulates the exchange from cryptocurrency to fiat.

Good

Medium

Bad

intro

For a long time, Italy had no clear crypto regulations. However, this situation has changed, and now this is one of the jurisdictions in the EU, which has 100+ registered VASPs including Binance.

Security level

According to our rating, Italy is a Safe place at the security level. Jurisdiction has 52.7 points (from 100) for safety level in Numbeo crime rating (1). The h omicide level (2) is 0.5 per 100,000 inhabitants a year. Story of firearm-related death (3) 1.13 per 100,000 inhabitants a year.

Crypto Payments

The activities regulated by the new AML and tax legislation include transferring crypto assets and payments.

Below is a summary table relating to the tax treatment of some transactions with crypto-assets:

Operation	Tax regime
Exchange between virtual currencies	Exempt
Using a crypto-asset to purchase a good or service	Taxed
Using virtual currency to buy an NFT	Taxed
Converting a virtual currency into Euros or other FIAT currencies	Taxed

Crypto Salaries

There needs to be a precise regulation for crypto salaries in Italy.

Legal

Italian anti-money laundering law (Legislative Decree no. 231) for the first time defined in legislation the terms: "virtual currency" as "providers of services relating to the use of virtual currency" and "providers of digital wallet services.” For more details, see the Thomson Reuters guide (5). The Decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) of January 13, 2022, published in the Official Gazette no. 40 of 17-02-2022 (6). There is a summary of this decree by Scorechain (7), which defines two types of licensed crypto entities:

Digital wallet service providers: any natural person or entity other than a natural person who provides on a professional basis, including online, services for safeguarding private cryptographic keys on behalf of its clients, for the purpose of holding, storing, and transferring virtual currencies;

Virtual currency service provider: any natural person or entity other than a natural person who provides on a professional basis, including online, services related to the use, exchange, storage of virtual currency and their conversion from or into legal tender or digital representations of value, including those convertible into other virtual currencies as well as the services of issuing, offering, transfer and clearing services, and any other services related to the acquisition, trading or interchange of such currencies;

Cryptocurrencies and other digital assets were initially considered by this decree as regulated by The Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM) (4), a supervisory body in Italy that maintains lists of financial agents.

In the end of 2023 the l ist of OAM-registered crypto companies (8) had more than 73 legal entities like Binance, Coinbase, and Blockchain.com. In December 2024 there are 128 legal entities registered by OAM and 13 individuals.

In August 2024 Italy has implemented MiCA regulation and approved Decree with new requirements for crypto entities. According to the document Bank of Italy and local SEC (CONSOB) will be main regulators for CASPs instead of OAM. CONSOB will provide licenisng procedures. Operating VASPs registered by OAM will have transition period to apply for CASP license until 30th June of 2025.

Taxation

Tax name	Index
PIT tax Min	23
PIT tax Max	43
Corporate tax (CIT)	24
Min Individual CGT (for crypto)	26
Max Individual CGT (for crypto)	26
Wealth tax Min	0
Wealth tax Max	0

Italy's current crypto taxation review is based on the Koinly tax guide (9).

PIT

Previously, it was a tax exemption of €51,645.69. Now this rule is canceled and PIT according to PWC (10) has 23-43% tax rate.

CGT

This tax is applied as 26% on any crypto gains estimated to be more than 2,000 EUR

CIT

The same approach as foreign currency transactions for corporate crypto income. The general tax rate is 24%.

Links

1)Crime Index by Country 2023 Mid-Year

2)List of countries by intentional homicide rat e

3)List of countries by firearm-related death rate

4)The Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM)

5)Thomson Reuters guide

6)Official Gazette no. 40 of 17-02-2022. PDF-file

7)Binance regulated in Italy: what is the state of crypto regulation? Article

8)List of OAM-registered crypto companies

9)Koinly tax guide. Italy Crypto Tax Guide 2023. Article

10)Italy. Individual - Taxes on personal income. PWC

Last update: November 2024

Articles

review

US Lawmakers Unite Against SEC as Crypto Regulations Tighten Globally

Overview of crypto regulation news in Spring 2024

article

How Much Did Hamster Kombat Earn and Why Are Users Unhappy?

Some hypothesis about issues of Hamster Kombat drop and its possible earnings.

research

What Can Trump Change in US Crypto Regulation?

Review of republicans' approach to crypto regulation in the US and their next steps.

intro

For a long time, Italy had no clear crypto regulations. However, this situation has changed, and now this is one of the jurisdictions in the EU, which has 100+ registered VASPs including Binance.

Security level

Crypto Payments

The activities regulated by the new AML and tax legislation include transferring crypto assets and payments.

Below is a summary table relating to the tax treatment of some transactions with crypto-assets:

Operation	Tax regime
Exchange between virtual currencies	Exempt
Using a crypto-asset to purchase a good or service	Taxed
Using virtual currency to buy an NFT	Taxed
Converting a virtual currency into Euros or other FIAT currencies	Taxed

Crypto Salaries

There needs to be a precise regulation for crypto salaries in Italy.

Legal

Taxation

Tax name	Index
PIT tax Min	23
PIT tax Max	43
Corporate tax (CIT)	24
Min Individual CGT (for crypto)	26
Max Individual CGT (for crypto)	26
Wealth tax Min	0
Wealth tax Max	0