Italy, among the top ten crypto friendly countries, has levied a capital gains tax (with loss set off) on gains above Euros 2,000 (a little above $2,000). The tax is applicable for trading of virtual assets, defined as electronic value operating on distributed ledger or similar technology. Before this, Italy defined cryptocurrencies as virtual currencies and had a lower tax rate.

Those holding crypto or digital assets but haven’t yet declared can also do so from January 1 with a 14% tax.

As a country with a wide adoption of cryptocurrencies (around 1.3 million), Italy has also made plans to support research and new initiatives in blockchain, IoT, AI and other ventures in various industries. New ventures or subsidiaries will get subsidies from a pool of $46 million.

Italy was ranked at #7 by Chainalysis for crypto adoption. The most popular cryptos in 2021 were bitcoin, ripple, bitcoin cash, and ethereum. Users have to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) rules placed last year. Last year, it’s largest private bank Banca Generali had allowed clients to buy bitcoin till the end of 2022. Though Italy had stopped Binance from operating, the latter has restarted operations with a new registration. Another exchange, Crypto.com has begun operations from July 2022.

In terms of demographics, over 60% of crypto holders in Italy are graduates. Most of them, over 80%, lie in the income range of 10,000 – 70,000 Euros (a similar range in dollars as the two currencies are almost at par today).

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/italy-approves-26-capital-gains-tax-on-cryptocurrencies

https://cryptoslate.com/italy-dedicates-46-million-for-blockchain-research/

https://triple-a.io/crypto-ownership-italy/