Several major Portuguese banks are closing the bank accounts of four domestic bitcoin and crypto exchanges, citing risk management concerns.
This has likely to do with the contagion seen in the bitcoin and crypto space in the last months and several centralized lenders and exchanges going bankrupt.
Nevertheless, it’s ironic that traditional banks like Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP), Santander, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, BiG and Abanca are denying their services to bitcoin and crypto exchanges.
As bitcoiners like to say: “Bitcoin fixes this”.
Even if exchanges require traditional banking services to manage their fiat currencies, they might as well move to a country with more bitcoin-friendly regulation such as many major exchanges like Binance are already actively doing.
Dubai and Gibraltar are just two regions that many exchanges and bitcoin-related companies are keeping an eye on.
Three of the Portuguese bitcoin exchanges that got their accounts shut down are known. They are Criptoloja, Mind The Coin, and Luso Digital Assets. A fourth exchange asked to remain anonymous.
Portugal made itself a name as a bitcoin and crypto haven in recent years.
This is primarily due to the fact that the government doesn’t impose capital gains taxes on bitcoin or crypto sales. The country imposes a 28% capital gains tax on most other assets including stocks.
Currently, the Portuguese government classifies bitcoin and crypto as actual currencies rather than investments, unlike most other countries.
In recent months the Portuguese island Madeira made headlines when its president Miguel Albuquerque stated he was pro-bitcoin and wanted to turn the island into a bitcoin hub. Some well-respected bitcoin “influencers” were recently spotted in Madeira, including Greg Foss.
But there had long been speculation that the country might “rug pull” bitcoiners.
The philosophy seems to be to attract investors first with favorable tax treatment and slam them with high taxes later.
A capital gains tax for bitcoin and crypto was on the horizon for a while and it seems unlikely that the country will exempt bitcoin profits from taxation forever.
It’s also important to keep in mind that Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and although it has a reputation to lure in foreign investors with their golden visa program and NHR tax benefits, the country is known for being relatively strict and bureaucratic when it comes to taxes.
Portugal might not be the bitcoin haven some people believed it would be, although it will be interesting to keep an eye on developments in Madeira.
