Author Dmitry Sheynkman Tax adviser 17 September 2026 10 min read Message the author

Cryptocurrency in Spain in 2026: tax, staking and what the tax agency sees

Cryptocurrency is legal in Spain, and income from it is taxed for tax residents: selling for euros and swapping one coin for another produce a capital gain taxed at 19% to 30%. Holding coins does not trigger income tax, but a large position counts towards wealth tax, and above €3 million also towards the solidarity tax on large fortunes. For anyone relocating with significant crypto holdings, the key decisions come before the move: when to sell, where to keep the coins and whether the Beckham Law applies.

Below: how the tax is calculated and what happens with swaps, staking and airdrops, what the Spanish tax agency (AEAT) can see, how crypto works under the Beckham Law and in a residence permit application. Informative returns on foreign assets, including form 721 for crypto held at foreign exchanges, are covered in Modelo 720 and 721: who files, thresholds, refiling and penalties. This guide is about the tax.

Tax arises not when you buy or hold, but when you sell, swap or receive new coins.

Large crypto holdings: what to decide before you move

With hundreds of thousands or millions of euros at stake, getting the order of steps wrong costs more than any consultation. Four questions worth settling before you become a Spanish tax resident:

When to realise the gain. If you sell once you are already a Spanish resident, the whole gain from the purchase price is taxed, including growth before the move: there is no step-up in value on arrival. A sale before the move is taxed under the rules of the country where you are resident on the date of the sale. Residence is determined per year: more than 183 days in Spain or your centre of economic interests here — see Spanish tax residency.
Whether the Beckham Law fits. If you move as an employee or company director, the regime can take gains on coins held at a foreign platform out of Spanish tax — but not coins in your own wallet or at a Spanish exchange. Conditions and the application deadline are in our guide to the Beckham Law.
Where to keep the coins. This determines form 721, tax under the Beckham regime and which data the tax agency receives automatically. A self-custody wallet is not reported on form 721 but is taxed under the Beckham regime.
How to explain the source of funds to the bank. Buying property or making a large transfer to a Spanish account from crypto proceeds almost always triggers a source-of-funds check. It is best to gather your purchase history, exchange statements and past tax returns in advance — this is usually the slowest part of the deal.

Spain’s exit tax does not apply to crypto: it covers shares and holdings in companies (DGT V0666-25). But wealth tax and the tax on large fortunes are assessed from your first 31 December as a resident.

When crypto is taxed

Everything below applies to Spanish tax residents — as a rule, people who spend more than 183 days a year in the country. A resident pays tax on worldwide income, including exchanges in other countries.

What you did	How it is taxed	Basis
Bought coins for euros	no tax	—
Hold coins	no income tax; form 721 and wealth tax may apply	Orden HFP/886/2023, Ley 19/1991
Sold for euros or another fiat currency	gain or loss in the savings base, 19–30%	art. 33 of the Income Tax Act
Swapped BTC for ETH, a stablecoin, etc.	also a gain or loss, even though no euros appeared	DGT V0999-18
Paid for goods or services in crypto	a disposal of coins — gain or loss	art. 33 of the Income Tax Act
Staking rewards from an exchange or validator	capital income, savings base, 19–30%	DGT V0612-26
Liquid staking (ETH → rETH and similar)	a swap — gain or loss	DGT V0612-26
Airdrops, coins for watching ads	gain without a disposal — general base, progressive scale	DGT V0648-24, V5017-26
Coins stolen through phishing	a loss in the general base, if it can be proven	DGT V1169-25

Tax rates and how to calculate the gain

The gain is the sale price (or the market value of what you received in a swap) minus the purchase price. Exchange fees and gas fees tied to a specific transaction reduce the gain (DGT V0648-24). Crypto gains are added to interest, dividends and share gains in the savings base, which is taxed on this scale:

Savings base for the year	Rate on this part
up to €6,000	19%
€6,000–50,000	21%
€50,000–200,000	23%
€200,000–300,000	27%
over €300,000	30%

These rates apply from 2025 (articles 66 and 76 of the Income Tax Act); in 2023–2024 the top rate was 28%. With large amounts almost the whole gain falls into the 27–30% bands. How much tax a gain produces if there is no other savings income that year:

Gain for the year	Tax	Average rate
€100,000	€21,880	21.9%
€500,000	€131,880	26.4%
€1,000,000	€281,880	28.2%

FIFO: which coins count as sold

If you bought the same coin several times at different prices, the first ones bought count as sold — the FIFO method. The tax agency treats all your bitcoin as a single pool, regardless of which exchanges and wallets it sits in (DGT V0525-25 and V1550-25). Moving coins between your own wallets and exchanges is not a sale, but you will need to rebuild the purchase history across all platforms.

Losses

A crypto loss first reduces gains from any assets in the same year. The remainder can be offset against up to 25% of interest and dividends, and whatever does not fit carries forward for four years (article 49 of the Income Tax Act). So loss-making trades are worth declaring too. The two-month rule that blocks a loss on repurchase is written for securities; whether a similar one-year rule applies to crypto has not been officially clarified by the tax agency — such strategies are best discussed with an adviser before the trade.

How to declare crypto

Annual income tax return — form 100 (Renta). Sales and swaps of cryptocurrency have a separate block in the savings base section, boxes 1800–1814: each transaction is a line with the coin, what was received, the sale price and the purchase price. Totals go to box 1813 for losses and 1814 for gains (2025 form, Orden HAC/277/2026). The campaign runs from April to 30 June for the previous year.
Form 721 — informative, no tax is paid with it: it is filed if more than €50,000 in crypto is held at foreign exchanges and custodial wallets on 31 December. Who is exempt, when to file again and the penalties are in the Modelo 721 section.
Wealth tax — form 714, if your assets exceed the threshold. Crypto is valued at 31 December, with a separate section in the return.

If you have several income sources, trades on several exchanges and staking, collect transaction exports from every platform for the whole holding period: without the purchase history FIFO cannot be calculated and the purchase price cannot be proven.

What the tax agency knows about your crypto

Spanish platforms send the AEAT their customers’ balances (form 172) and transactions (form 173) for the previous year every January — first filed for 2023.
European platforms must, under the DAC8 directive, collect data on customers from other EU countries from 1 January 2026 and pass it to their own tax authorities, which exchange it with each other. Spain has not yet passed the law transposing DAC8: the bill was submitted to Congress in June 2025 and, as of September 2026, is still in committee. Draft orders are already preparing new forms to replace 173 and an updated 721. Exchange between EU countries is not cancelled by this, but the exact Spanish deadlines will follow the law.
Your bank, when crypto proceeds are credited, may ask about the source of funds under the anti-money-laundering law (Ley 10/2010). The law does not list which documents it may request — that is bank policy, so keep exchange statements and your trade history. Moving money between countries is covered in how to send money from Spain to Russia.

Exchanges in Spain: MiCA

Since 1 July 2026 only crypto-asset service providers authorised under the EU MiCA regulation — by the Spanish regulator CNMV or a regulator in another EU country — may operate in Spain. The transition period, during which unauthorised providers could keep working, has ended. You can check an exchange in the CNMV register of crypto-asset service providers and in the ESMA register. The old Bank of Spain register no longer grants the right to operate and is kept for information only.

Wealth tax and the tax on large fortunes

Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) counts crypto at its market value on 31 December, not at the purchase price. National thresholds: a tax-free allowance of €700,000 plus up to €300,000 for your main home; a return is required even with no tax due if your assets exceed €2,000,000. Regions change the thresholds and rates and grant reliefs, so with significant wealth your region of residence directly affects the tax.
Solidarity tax on large fortunes — on net wealth above €3,000,000, at 1.7%, 2.1% and 3.5%, with wealth tax paid deducted. It was introduced precisely for regions where wealth tax is reduced to zero by reliefs, and it has no end date: moving to a “low-tax” region does not fully exempt a large fortune.

Crypto and the Beckham Law

Under the Beckham Law only income obtained in Spain is taxed. For crypto, the tax agency decides the location by who holds the keys:

coins at a Spanish platform — the gain is taxed in Spain at 19–30%;
coins at a foreign platform — the gain is not included in the Spanish form 151 (DGT V0376-24);
coins in your own wallet — treated as located in Spain, where you live, and the gain is taxed (DGT V1662-23).

Under the Beckham regime staking is taxed only if the reward is paid by a Spanish resident or the capital is used in Spain.

Crypto and a residence permit

The non-lucrative residence permit requires funds of at least €2,400 a month for the applicant for the whole period. The regulation (article 61 of RD 1155/2024) accepts “any lawful evidence” but says nothing about cryptocurrency. There is no official guidance that a consulate or immigration office will accept a wallet as proof, so it is safer to move the required amount to a bank in advance — with a trade history showing where the money came from.
The digital nomad residence permit rests on income from remote work under a contract; crypto can support your savings but does not replace the contract and salary statements.
Selling crypto before the move. The gain is taxed where you are tax resident on the date of sale. It pays to plan the order of sales around the move — especially if you are relocating from a country with no tax on such income, for example from Dubai.

If you hold a large crypto position, stake, or have a history across several exchanges, the order of sales, custody and wealth tax are worth reviewing in a consultation before the move, not when filing your first Renta.

FAQ

Do I have to pay tax on cryptocurrency in Spain?

Yes, if you are a Spanish tax resident and you sold or swapped coins or received rewards. Gains are taxed at 19–30%, staking as capital income, airdrops at the general scale. Buying and holding are not taxed.

Is swapping one cryptocurrency for another taxed?

Yes. The Spanish tax agency treats a swap, for example bitcoin for ether or a stablecoin, as a disposal: the difference between the market value of what you received and the purchase price is a gain or loss, even though no euros appeared.

What is the crypto tax rate in Spain in 2026?

Gains from sales and swaps go to the savings base: 19% up to €6,000, 21% up to €50,000, 23% up to €200,000, 27% up to €300,000 and 30% above that.

Do I need to declare crypto in a cold wallet?

Not on form 721: it only covers coins at foreign platforms, and your own wallets with your keys are excluded. But selling or swapping those coins is taxed, and the coins themselves count towards wealth tax.

How do I calculate the gain if I bought coins several times?

Using FIFO: the first coins bought count as sold, and all coins of the same kind across all exchanges and wallets are pooled together.

Is staking taxed in Spain?

Yes. Rewards from an exchange or validator are capital income at market value on the day the reward becomes available, taxed at savings base rates. Liquid staking where you receive a token in return counts as a swap.

Is crypto taxed under the Beckham Law?

The gain is taxed if the coins are at a Spanish platform or in your own wallet. If the coins are at a foreign platform, the gain is not included in the Spanish return.

Will the Spanish tax agency find out about my crypto?

Spanish platforms report customers’ balances and transactions to the AEAT every year. European platforms report to their own tax authorities under DAC8 for exchange between EU countries; as of September 2026 Spain’s DAC8 law has not yet been passed.