Portugal has just announced that trading and investing in Cryptocurrencies will be free of all taxes whether, as Coinrivet says, this “simply a marketing stunt to increase crypto trades to tax them in the future, or if the Portuguese Tax Authority is trying to attract new businesses?”

However, other jurisdictions are also taxing those involved with Digital Assets less aggressively.

  •          Germany - has exempted bitcoin transactions from VAT and there is no capital gains tax on Digital Assets, such as Bitcoin, provided they are held for more than one year.
  •         Singapore - citizens who hold Cryptocurrencies for long-term investment purposes are not subject to capital gains tax.
  •          Channel Islands (Jersey/Guernsey) - like Singapore, they do not levy capital gains tax on their citizens.
  •          Malta - long-held Cryptocurrencies are not taxed. However, if you make Cryptocurrency trades within a day, it is considered similar to day-trading in stocks and is treated and taxed as income.
  •          Malaysia - there is no capital gains tax in Malaysia.
  •          Belarus - March 2018, a new law legalized Cryptocurrency activities in Belarus and made them exempt.
  •          Switzerland - the tax treatment of Cryptocurrencies is interesting, with mining income typically declared as self-employment income (and taxed through income tax). The professional trading of Cryptocurrencies is subject to business tax. However, if you are qualified as somebody who invests and trades for their account, Cryptocurrency gains are treated as tax-exempt capital gains.

While there has been some difference of opinion in different jurisdictions regarding the tax of Cryptocurrencies, many argued they were utility tokens similar to air miles, Nectar points etc. Digital Assets that are backed by real assets such as equities, bonds and property are more likely to be treated in the same way as their traditional incarnations.