Tax authorities rethought crypto taxation in multiple countries during February, while macro and policy developments kept Bitcoin below the $70,000 mark and pushed Japan’s inflation under 2%.
Global tax moves
Several jurisdictions signaled changes to how digital assets are taxed. In the Netherlands, the lower house advanced a proposal on Feb. 12 to levy a 36% capital gains tax on unrealized gains in savings and liquid investments, a measure that would include crypto holdings. The plan drew criticism for potentially driving capital out of the country; the new cabinet said it would review and amend the bill after broad pushback.
In Israel, the newly formed Crypto Blockchain & Web 3.0 Companies Forum launched a lobbying effort aimed at easing crypto tax rules. Forum leader Nir Hirshmann-Rub said there is strong public support for looser treatment of stablecoins and tokenization and for simpler compliance; surveys cited by the group indicated more than a quarter of Israelis had crypto exposure in the past five years and over 20% currently hold digital assets.
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, announced plans to adapt local tax law to implement the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which requires crypto service providers to report client activity to help combat tax evasion.
Vietnam proposed exempting transfers and trading from VAT while imposing a 0.1% personal income tax on crypto transactions conducted via licensed providers. In India, despite sustained lobbying to change its approach, the 2026 Union Budget left intact a flat 30% tax on crypto gains with no allowance for loss offsets.
Bitcoin market pressures
Bitcoin remained under $70,000 for much of February. Analysts pointed to a mix of regulatory uncertainty and broader economic policy moves as headwinds. In the U.S., stalled progress on the CLARITY Act — owing to disagreements over ethics rules, bailout provisions and stablecoin regulation — fostered investor caution, a point noted by some Federal Reserve officials.
Tariff policy intensified market unease. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the 1977 IEEPA, the administration applied a 10% tariff increase under the Trade Act of 1974. Market participants and some crypto executives linked the tariff-heavy environment to weaker risk appetite across assets, with Swan CEO Cory Klippsten identifying tariffs as a significant drag on Bitcoin over the past year.
Japan’s inflation, markets and political gamble
Japan’s inflation rate slipped below 2% in February — the lowest in roughly three years. Prime Minister Sanae Takaishi called snap elections to restore the Liberal Democratic Party’s majority, a gamble that succeeded: the LDP secured a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives with 316 seats. The Nikkei 225 responded strongly, rising about 10% after the Feb. 9 vote.
A firmer yen and more attractive Japanese equities and bonds could divert capital from other markets, including U.S. equity ETFs and crypto, at least temporarily. Warren Buffett signaled continued interest in Japanese trading houses, suggesting more non-U.S. asset flows could be coming amid the yen’s relative stability.
Crypto ATM growth and tighter controls
Global cryptocurrency kiosks climbed by 290 in February to nearly 40,000, recovering to levels last seen in 2021 after a sharp post‑2022 decline, according to Coin ATM Radar. Regulators’ anti-money-laundering and consumer-protection concerns prompted operators to adopt stricter controls. In the U.S., the largest Bitcoin ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, began phasing in mandatory ID verification at terminals in response to regulatory pressure.
Editorial note
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