- Cyprus, according to Kokkinos, has an “enviable position” in the EU for innovation.
- Institutional adoption of cryptocurrency is on the rise in Europe.
Many nations are pushing forward with their own crypto initiatives even though Bitcoin’s price has been volatile this year. Earlier this week, a Cyprus minister stated that the island nation had completed proposed legislation on Bitcoin, making it the latest EU jurisdiction to do so.
No Effect of Recent Market Fumble
Kyriacos Kokkinos, Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy in Cyprus, said that a ‘very attractive’ Bitcoin bill has been developed and would be filed officially at some point in the future to the Cyprus legislature.
Cyprus, according to Kokkinos, has an “enviable position” in the EU for innovation, but institutional frameworks must be preserved as innovation is advanced. At a time when institutional adoption of cryptocurrency is on the rise in Europe, Kokkinos’ comments are timely and relevant.
After announcing recently that they would remove the “crypto haven” label, Portugal declared that they would enact crypto taxes to make money from investors. There are not high chances of Cyprus being the next EU crypto refuge now that this opportunity has opened.
Cryptocurrency earnings are now taxed at 12.5 percent under the Cyprus Income Tax Law and the Cyprus Tax Department, despite no official guidelines on accounting for crypto. Although Bitcoin’s price has fluctuated this month due to global market turbulence, the cryptocurrency continues to rise. During the first two weeks of May, its price fell by 30%, the greatest loss of the year. Despite this, it seems that local investors are undeterred by recent Bitcoin setbacks.
