Greece Lays Down Rules to Regulate ‘Murky’ Cryptocurrency Market

Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance on Monday announced implementation of European Union rules for the protection of cryptocurrency holders as the number of people using digital currencies in the country has grown, and fears that they could be targeted by scammers have also increased.

Bạn đang xem: Greece Lays Down Rules to Regulate ‘Murky’ Cryptocurrency Market

“The new regulation does not eliminate the risk of investments in cryptocurrencies, the prices of which fluctuate sharply upwards or downwards,” the ministry warned.

It also underlined that, despite the new provisions “the level of protection … is weaker than that applicable to traditional investment products”.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday that the Greek government is attempting to regulate cryptocurrency services, a field that remains “largely murky and unregulated”.

Xem thêm : Bitcoin Surges Back Above $100,000

“We [the Greek government] are not demonising a rapidly growing market, however, we are attempting to establish some rules for the protection of the public including safeguards for safe information, warnings about the very high risks involved in such investment activities,” said Mitsotakis.

He added that the government wants to align the national framework with the EU regulation in order to tackle abusive practices.

In the absence of an overall framework regulating cryptocurrency in the European bloc, the EU adopted its Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation in May 2023. It was designed “to support innovation and fair competition while ensuring a high level of protection of retail holders and the integrity of markets in crypto-assets”, it said.

Greece said the national supervisory authorities for cryptocurrencies will be the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, HCMC and the Bank of Greece. Until recently, HCMC’s role was limited to whether the rules on money laundering had been violated.

During 2025, legislation to tax cryptocurrencies as investment products will also be implemented, the government has said.

Under the new regulation, issuers of electronic money tokens must ensure that holders can redeem them at any time and at the nominal value of the currency to which the tokens refer.

Xem thêm : Bitcoin Prices Surpass $100,000 For First Time In 2025 As Trump Rally Fuels Gains

Issuers are required also to inform potential investors by issuing a special document containing general information about the characteristics, functions and risks of the cryptocurrencies they intend to purchase.

To address risks to the stability of the financial system, issuers of tokens with reference to assets should have a minimum level of funds.

“They should also create and maintain an asset reserve, corresponding to the risks associated with the cryptocurrencies. If issuers choose to invest part of this reserve, they should invest it in safe, low-risk, and readily liquid assets,” the ministry said.

When cryptocurrencies are deemed to constitute a risk to the smooth functioning of payment systems, financial stability, monetary policy and monetary stability, central banks will be able to ask the relevant authorities to withdraw the authorisation of the issuers of such assets.

CoinWire, a cryptocurrency news and analysis website, has reported that Greece’s trading volume in cryptocurrency was $57,428,877,863 from 2022 to 2024 – the 15th highest amount of 43 countries in Europe.

In December last year, Greek Criminal Investigation Service investigators told SKAI.gr that they made the first seizure of cryptocurrencies in Greece, totalling more than 267,000,000 euros in current monetary equivalent, in a follow-up probe to an EU-wide VAT fraud case.