Country rankings in "Bitcoin friendliness"

[TheUltraElite]

The term "friendly" and "legal" are much different, though being used synonymously here because of the common people's approach.

Asian countries have been opposing crypto for much time now. Comparatively Americana and European countries have been lax. I think the wikipedia article on bitcoin legality gives the best idea till date, but we are lacking in country-specific data from the crypto communities in those countries. Also the number of Bitcoin ATMs in a country show the West>East government-acceptance of crypto to be much higher.

Maybe OP could run a survey on the different local boards in this forum to gather this data and publish it.

[20kevin20]

Asian countries have been opposing crypto for much time now. Comparatively Americana and European countries have been lax.

European countries aren’t as lax as you think. Most of them actually have pretty strict laws, it’s just that very few truly follow them. It’s getting quite hard to be anonymous here in Europe too and all governments are trying to come after us. After all, they even publicly said they’re not the best friends to crypto land, calling out BTC for its “illegal usage” especially in recent years..

[Wildwest]

Currently there is no official list of the friendliness of using Bitcoin in a country although there are some media that release the problem but there is no accuracy so it is considered junk news, so this is indeed something that must be made a survey by the media so that we know the most friendly countries using Bitcoin and the government accepts without any restrictions in using Bitcoin, But for a country that is already using crypto for legal tender and I think this is a country that is friendly to the use of Bitcoin.

[flyingcarpet]

Hello. I would be interested to know if there is a list anywhere that ranks countries according to their "Bitcoin friendliness".

I don't know if there is such a list, but they are working to tax bitcoin in the country I live in now. They will probably deduct taxes from the money you throw in the stock market through banks. This tax will be directly proportional to the size of the money you will transfer. The news that is spoken now is like this, but I hope it is not true.

If bitcoin is not banned in a country, their approach to bitcoin is similar. They are looking for ways to ask additional taxes from those who invest only with bitcoin.

If there is a sequence or list, I'm sure it varies a lot. Because as a result of negative news, their attitude towards Bitcoin changes immediately. That's why I never looked at the rankings.

[retreat]

As far as I know, there is no website that lists crypto-friendly countries. But countries like Luxemberg, Malta, El Salvador are countries that are cryptocurrency friendly, and for other countries you can search on Google. And other countries such as Germany, America, and many other countries can be said to be quite friendly to cryptocurrencies, but because of their strict regulations it makes them seem like they are not friendly to cryptocurrencies, but so far people have not found problems using cryptocurrencies in these countries, it's just that limited use.

[pooya87]

Some users are mentioning Taxes and KYC as criteria for "bitcoin friendliness". I have to say I disagree. Not having any taxes on bitcoin doesn't make a country bitcoin friendly and having KYC doesn't make one not-friendly. It depends on how much restrictions the government is placing in front of bitcoin adoption. KYC could exist and yet not restrict adoption, meanwhile they could have 0 tax on bitcoin and yet shut your bank account if you use an exchange!

[demonica]

Well you can find a lot of lists online but mostly, they are based on the government's stand towards crypto. Like how they regulate crypto and also the population of people using Bitcoin and crypto. But if you're looking for a list based on experiences, it would be hard to say. Personally, I don't have much knowledge about other countries' openness towards Bitcoin and the use of crypto so I can't really compare it here in my country. Unless you've been travelling a lot and exploring crypto experiences with different countries, then maybe you can create your own list.

But probably those developed countries are top when it comes to lists since they're often advanced and open towards innovation.

[Lucius]

I think the most coolest & Bitcoin-friendly countries should be "El-Salvador" & "Central African Republic" simply because in those areas Bitcoin is fully legalized as legal tender and as such could be easily accessible by citizens without stress.

You still haven't found out that Bitcoin is no longer "legal" in CAR? Even when it was official, what do you think it looked like in real life, most people don't even have the internet, let alone know what Bitcoin is?

~snip~
However, Malta, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany and Croatia are excellent countries for Europeans when it comes to crypto taxation. Bulgaria and Estonia also benefit from pretty low taxes. France should be avoided, as should Italy and Austria, for example.

Considering that I am a resident of one of the listed countries, I can say that i really have no objections regarding taxes because it is possible to pay 0% tax if a certain condition is met (sale 1 or 2 years after the investment). As for other things, I can say that there are no bans on using BTC and other cryptocurrencies as a payment method, and many are adding this option to their online stores using payment processors that of course protect them from the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

[adzino]

Hello. I would be interested to know if there is a list anywhere that ranks countries according to their "Bitcoin friendliness".

For example, I know from my own experience that Germany is friendlier than Britain. What do I mean by this? I mean it is just easier to transfer money from exchanges to banks and the other way around, the German tax people are generally "cool" with people owning Bitcoin, plus you do not pay capital gains tax on any crypto held longer than a year. Meanwhile, British banks are all angsty and I have heard of people getting their accounts shut down because they transfer fiat to/from an exchange.

Has anyone ever compiled such a list? It would be interesting to do our own rankings, I think, from personal experience!

I know lots of online magazines like Forbes sometimes do lists of "ten Bitcoin-friendly countries". But these sort of articles are usually just fluff (like "ten countries it is easy to retire to" and from experience I know their "lists" are rubbish).

So which are the best from the point of view of the individual like us? I know Germany is pretty good and I would tend to imagine the smaller and more "dynamic" countries like Estonia ought to be better, but what about Asia, Central America, etc? Which country is best of all???

I am sure you can google it and get a list of bitcoin friendly country compiled by someone. And yeah, the list might look like some random countries complied, but then it is up to you to do your research and decide which is the best for you. What might be best for someone, might not be best for you. Maybe a country has very friendly bitcoin law, but the quality of life over there isn't good, so moving there might not be worth it. I did google it and yeah, Germany is actually in the top in most cases. Little bit surprised to see that El Salvador didn't make it to the top on any list.

[Ale88]

India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan are very like to change their own laws for unban and ban Bitcoin.

China is already letting Hong Kong to use bitcoin and several crypto-related companies have been opening in the last months so my guess is that they are slowly changing their mind and in the next future they will do the same also on Mainland China. They are not stupid, if the rest of the world is embracing bitcoin why would they be left behind? No idea about the other countries you mentioned.

[The Cryptovator]

Bitcoin is an authentic decentralized cryptocurrency, in contrast to governments which are centralized organizations that consistently strive for control over everything. As a result, it becomes challenging to compile an up-to-date and comprehensive list of countries that have embraced Bitcoin, as each country has the ability to modify its regulations as it sees fit. Nevertheless, you can gain a general understanding by referring to a few sources available on Google.

[sokani]

Is this list accurate and up-to-date?

Because last time I checked, the Netherlands and Canada aren't too crypto-friendly. They still have excessive regulations...
Similarly, Luxembourg taxes cryptos enormously, ranging from 0 to over 50% depending on the conditions (0 being for donations and gifts in crypto).

I have some doubts about the quality of this list personally.

However, Malta, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany and Croatia are excellent countries for Europeans when it comes to crypto taxation. Bulgaria and Estonia also benefit from pretty low taxes. France should be avoided, as should Italy and Austria, for example.

Outside Europe, Singapore is a good country when it comes to crypto tax, Malaysia too, the Cayman Islands, (Puerto Rico has a special status too which is very interesting), and Georgia is top of the top.

As for crypto-friendly usage and culture, because I think OP is not just talking about taxes, it's still harder to come up with a list of countries, things change quickly, and most countries are on an equal footing in this respect.

It varies and I think it depends on the source. I've gone through it and I don't accept the compilation. I used to think Switzerland is the most crypto-friendly nation in the world based on some articles I read but it's very surprising to see them at the bottom. This source puts them in the second position after Germany; https://nomadcapitalist.com/finance/cryptocurrency/the-most-and-the-least-crypto-friendly-countries-in-the-world/ and this other source places them on second spot after Singapore; https://learn.bybit.com/investing/most-crypto-friendly-countries/

[Gyfts]

Some users are mentioning Taxes and KYC as criteria for "bitcoin friendliness". I have to say I disagree. Not having any taxes on bitcoin doesn't make a country bitcoin friendly and having KYC doesn't make one not-friendly. It depends on how much restrictions the government is placing in front of bitcoin adoption. KYC could exist and yet not restrict adoption, meanwhile they could have 0 tax on bitcoin and yet shut your bank account if you use an exchange!

High taxes effectively limits Bitcoin profitability, though.

I've seen some countries float the idea of a "wealth tax" on crypto meaning  holding some amount of crypto and not liquidating would incur tax liability if you happen to profit from your holdings. The tax code is already complicated enough in the U.S., and most European countries have high tax rates -- it's enough to deter crypto growth.

"Friendless" countries IMO are those with low regulation and low tax rates. South America and some APAC countries are far better for Bitcoin than the U.S., Europe, China, India, etc.

[bbc.reporter]

I speculate that America will be in the Forbes list of top 10 most friendly countries for bitcoin while Blackrock is applying for their spot ETF hehehehe.

Tbh, that’d be a big lie. America is on my personal list somewhere at the bottom of friendliness. Mandatory KYC everywhere, tax forms are a huge pain, no ATMs where you can buy without ID.. it’s really bad.

Agreed. It will only be another storyline created for the purpose of collective brainwashing and it should be expected hehehe. Blackrock owns shares of many mainstream news media companies in America and it would not be shocking if they also own shares of the company that has corporate control on Forbes magazine.

These people are our owners. They control the companies of almost everything we use and buy in our daily lives. What we wear, what we eat, where we work, much of everything.

[UchihaSarada]

Tbh, that’d be a big lie. America is on my personal list somewhere at the bottom of friendliness. Mandatory KYC everywhere, tax forms are a huge pain, no ATMs where you can buy without ID.. it’s really bad.

Flags in Bitcoin Treasuries show the USA. is a most appearing country in the list. Are these flags useful to consider what country is most Bitcoin friendliness?

Bitcoin nodes are mostly run by people in the USA. Is it enough to call the USA. as a most friendly nation for Bitcoin?

I believe it is not enough because more companies are moving out of the USA. Friendly policies can change to unfriendly policies by governments like China wanted to crack down Bitcoin mining and things changed after a few days.

https://bitnodes.io/

[Flexystar]

This could be interesting project and will give clear idea about country and their approaches. I think we will need to plot the specific criteria which will define who should be better than the other one. Let us say adoption status, legality status in the country, number of users, generated address, bitcoin ATM, exchangers volume for that particular country. These could form the basic structure for this purpose and can end up having this compilation as mentioned in the OP. I might do this because it seems very good idea. More data can be think about but will need to search over the web for the same. What do you guys think about such idea?

[Fiatless]

India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan are very like to change their own laws for unban and ban Bitcoin.

China is already letting Hong Kong to use bitcoin and several crypto-related companies have been opening in the last months so my guess is that they are slowly changing their mind and in the next future they will do the same also on Mainland China. They are not stupid, if the rest of the world is embracing bitcoin why would they be left behind? No idea about the other countries you mentioned.

I don't think China is changing its mind regarding the ban on Bitcoin. This is because there has been a massive promotion of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). The government is giving incentives to Chinese citizens to use digital yaun. The Chinese government just started a program that offers highly discounted transport fares to people that will pay with the digital yaun.

This could be interesting project and will give clear idea about country and their approaches. I think we will need to plot the specific criteria which will define who should be better than the other one. Let us say adoption status, legality status in the country, number of users, generated address, bitcoin ATM, exchangers volume for that particular country. These could form the basic structure for this purpose and can end up having this compilation as mentioned in the OP. I might do this because it seems very good idea. More data can be think about but will need to search over the web for the same. What do you guys think about such idea?

The major criterion for evaluating how friendly nations are to Bitcoin is government policies. A favorable policy will attract more investors because they will be sure that their investment is protected by the law. A good law will give rise to more ATMs, the establishment of more exchanges, and an increase in the volume of transactions. In Africa, countries like Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco are very unfriendly to bitcoin. While in other countries it is alegal, which is neither legal nor illegal. While countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia bitcoin are friendly to Bitcoin.

[yazher]

Malta
Canada
Slovenia
The Netherlands
Portugal
Germany
Luxembourg
Estonia
Singapore
Switzerland

I remember back then, only Germany is a country that is totally friendly with bitcoins, and now look at that, we have many countries that are willing to show their support and courage to show others that they don't really care whether the others are hostile against bitcoins and here they are fully putting their trust in it and the miners operating in their country as well. Maybe if only those hostile countries are neutral and let the miners do their job freely by just paying some taxes that they need to pay, we might get huge progress throughout these years despite the hostility of the banks for bitcoins.

[Wimex]

I was doing some research because the question caught my attention... well, with all the talk about Salvador and its great acceptance by BTC, I thought it would be in top 1, but according to this website it is positioned at number 3.

Website: https://originstamp.com/blog/top-5-crypto-friendly-countries/

This year, 2023, he has carried out a study where it is observed that the country most friendly to Bitcoin is Japan, since we must remember that it approved a law that approves BItcoin as a currency for legal use. This in one country leads a business conglomerate to incorporate BTC as a payment method.

As you had commented that Germany is more of a friend of Bitcoin than Great Britain, certainly since we see it in the number 2 position. The Ministry of Finance of this country in 2013 declared Bitcoin as: "unit of account" Something quite favorable for the legality of bitcoin After Germany would be El Salvador, since most of us already know how this country has welcomed Btcoin enormously. It is a top 5 of 2023 you can see it in the link above

[Mr.suevie]

Currently there is no official list of the friendliness of using Bitcoin in a country although there are some media that release the problem but there is no accuracy so it is considered junk news, so this is indeed something that must be made a survey by the media so that we know the most friendly countries using Bitcoin and the government accepts without any restrictions in using Bitcoin, But for a country that is already using crypto for legal tender and I think this is a country that is friendly to the use of Bitcoin.

And that particular country in question should be el Salvador and central African republic, because based  on stats gathered about this two country, they seem to be only two countries currently accepting bitcoin as a legal tender and at such I think calling them bitcoin friendly is definitely correct although there are some European country like Switzerland where bitcoin use is also very active, but i would only count these other country when actually full adoption and use as legal tender has fully taken place.