Impozitând aurul proștilor? Directiva DAC8, insolvența și dilema investitorului în criptoactive
Taxing Fools’ Gold? DAC8, Insolvency and the Bitcoiner’s Dilemma

Summary/Abstract: The EU’s legal framework for crypto‑assets has built the perfect observatory without first agreeing on what is observed. DAC8, MiCAR, and the TFR have pierced the once‑impenetrable bubble that concealed crypto‑assets from tax authorities, but the effect of these instruments is constrained by the absence of harmonisation at the level of substantive law. Standardised reporting requirements generate vast volumes of information that Member States filter through their own provisions. In the insolvency proceedings of a crypto‑custodian, the unharmonised tax treatment compounds with inherently fragmented insolvency provisions across the Union, transforming transparency in matters of taxation into a tool for discretion rather than protection. Drawing on the proceedings of Mt. Gox, FTX, Bitgrail, Quadriga, and Cryptopia, the article argues that the Bitcoiner’s dilemma is not one of opacity but of incoherence: the tax authority treats him as the “owner” of crypto‑assets, when he holds nothing more than a claim against the debtor’s estate, faces unfavourable conditions for recovering any losses, and watches the tax authority reap the windfall of a bull market that emerged during the proceedings, contrary to all expectations.

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