IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipt/taxref/202112.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cryptocurrencies: An empirical view from a Tax Perspective

Author

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the scarce empirical evidence on cryptocurrency users and use types. Based on the only available empirical estimate (shared by Chainalysis), this paper simulates the revenue potential from taxing Bitcoin capital gains in the EU. Total estimated Bitcoin capital gains in the EU amount to 12.7 billion EUR in 2020, including 3.6 billion EUR of realized gains. Applying national tax rules on capital gains from shares to those from Bitcoin yields a simulated tax revenue of about 850 million EUR in 2020. This paper is the first to empirically assess the tax revenue potential of capital gains from Bitcoin in the EU. While most of the empirical cryptocurrency literature is based on time-series data, this paper relies on dis-aggregated country-level data. The findings show that revenue from taxing cryptocurrencies is non-negligible and will be if the market of cryptocurrencies continues to grow.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Thiemann, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies: An empirical view from a Tax Perspective," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2021-12, Joint Research Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipt:taxref:202112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC126109
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Habip Demirhan, 2019. "Effective Taxation System by Blockchain Technology," Contributions to Economics, in: Umit Hacioglu (ed.), Blockchain Economics and Financial Market Innovation, chapter 0, pages 347-360, Springer.
    2. Nicole Jonker, 2018. "What drives bitcoin adoption by retailers," DNB Working Papers 585, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    3. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    4. European Commission, 2021. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2021 edition," Taxation trends 2020, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    5. Michel Rauchs & Apolline Blandin & Kristina Klein & Gina Pieters & Martino Recanatini & Bryan Zhang, 2018. "2nd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study," Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Reports 201812-sgcbs, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    6. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 182-199.
    7. Dirk G. Baur & Thomas Dimpfl, 2021. "The volatility of Bitcoin and its role as a medium of exchange and a store of value," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(5), pages 2663-2683, November.
    8. Yoshi Fujiwara & Rubaiyat Islam, 2021. "Bitcoin's Crypto Flow Network," Papers 2106.11446, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2021.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Goel, Rajeev K. & Mazhar, Ummad, 2024. "Cryptocurrency use and tax collections: Direct and indirect channels of influence," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helder Miguel Correia Virtuoso Sebastião & Paulo José Osório Rupino Da Cunha & Pedro Manuel Cortesão Godinho, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Overview and future perspectives," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(3), pages 305-342.
    2. Graf von Luckner, Clemens & Reinhart, Carmen M. & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2023. "Decrypting new age international capital flows," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 104-122.
    3. Federico D'Amario & Milos Ciganovic, 2022. "Forecasting Cryptocurrencies Log-Returns: a LASSO-VAR and Sentiment Approach," Papers 2210.00883, arXiv.org.
    4. Şoiman, Florentina & Dumas, Jean-Guillaume & Jimenez-Garces, Sonia, 2023. "What drives DeFi market returns?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Hokkanen, Topi, 2023. "Externalities and market failures of cryptocurrencies," BoF Economics Review 4/2023, Bank of Finland.
    6. Rehman, Mobeen Ur & Katsiampa, Paraskevi & Zeitun, Rami & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Conditional dependence structure and risk spillovers between Bitcoin and fiat currencies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    7. Vidal-Tomás, David, 2023. "The illusion of the metaverse and meta-economy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Aktham Maghyereh & Hussein Abdoh, 2022. "COVID-19 and the volatility interlinkage between bitcoin and financial assets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(6), pages 2875-2901, December.
    9. ?ikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2021. "Impacts of Stock Indices, Oil, and Twitter Sentiment on Major Cryptocurrencies during the COVID-19 First Wave," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 133-146.
    10. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    11. Aslanidis, Nektarios & Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Perez-Laborda, Alejandro, 2021. "Are cryptocurrencies becoming more interconnected?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    12. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2022. "Cryptocurrency returns under empirical asset pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    13. Diniz-Maganini, Natalia & Diniz, Eduardo H. & Rasheed, Abdul A., 2021. "Bitcoin’s price efficiency and safe haven properties during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Galvani, Valentina & Faychuk, Vita, 2022. "The Mean-Variance Core of Cryptocurrencies: When More is Not Better," Working Papers 2022-4, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    15. Arfaoui, Nadia & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Boubaker, Sabri & Mirza, Nawazish & Karim, Sitara, 2023. "Interdependence of clean energy and green markets with cryptocurrencies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Nichanan Sakolvieng, 2024. "Optimizing Cryptocurrency Portfolios: A Comparative Study of Rebalancing Strategies," GATR Journals jfbr220, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    17. Kajtazi, Anton & Moro, Andrea, 2019. "The role of bitcoin in well diversified portfolios: A comparative global study," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 143-157.
    18. Angerer, Martin & Hoffmann, Christian Hugo & Neitzert, Florian & Kraus, Sascha, 2021. "Objective and subjective risks of investing into cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    19. Okorie, David Iheke & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Crude oil price and cryptocurrencies: Evidence of volatility connectedness and hedging strategy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Amstad, Marlene, 2019. "Regulating Fintech: Objectives, Principles, and Practices," ADBI Working Papers 1016, Asian Development Bank Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital gains taxation; cryptocurrencies; Bitcoin.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G19 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Other
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ipt:taxref:202112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Publication Officer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipjrces.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.