Moldova to regulate cryptocurrency ownership and trading in 2026

The Eastern European nation of Moldova will regulate cryptocurrency ownership and transactions as part of a comprehensive framework to be adopted this year.

Admittedly unable to prohibit the use of decentralized digital assets, the small country is required to implement the latest EU rules as a candidate for membership.

EU hopeful Moldova sets out to put its crypto space in order

The Republic of Moldova will implement legislation regulating investment, trading, and conversion of cryptocurrencies in 2026, its Finance Minister Andrian Gavriliță announced.

The framework will also introduce strict rules for taxation and the prevention of money laundering, the government official revealed, speaking to the TVR Moldova channel.

In the interview, also quoted by the Eurasia Daily portal, Gavriliță noted that the respective bill is currently being drafted by several institutions.

Participants include the National Bank of Moldova, the National Commission for Financial Markets, and the Office for Prevention and Combating Money Laundering.

The initiative is part of the country’s commitments to the European Union, which adopted its comprehensive Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, Gavriliță emphasized, explaining:

“We can’t just ban it. We are obliged to regulate and clarify. Citizens have the right to own these currencies. We will have the relevant legislation this year.”

The new law will determine who has the right to conduct crypto transactions, convert digital coins into the national fiat, the Moldovan leu, or foreign currencies, and will define which organizations will be authorized to operate in this market.

Using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to buy goods and pay for services will not be permitted, remarked the representative of the executive power in Chișinău, and elaborated:

“You won’t be able to make payments with them, just as you can’t pay with euros or dollars. The leu will remain the national currency. But owning, trading, and converting them will be legal.”

The regulation will be drafted in line with current European directives, taking into account the experience gained by neighboring Romania, with which Moldova is historically and ethnically very close, and other EU member states.

New Moldovan legislation to sort out matters related to taxation

Moldova’s upcoming crypto rules will also impose taxation of crypto-related incomes and capital gains, Andrian Gavriliță indicated.

Under the future tax regime, cryptocurrency holdings will not be taxed, but profits from transactions with them will. The minister detailed:

“If you are a tax resident of Moldova and receive income from cryptocurrency transactions, you must pay a 12% tax, just like on any other income.”

The official added that the framework will also address money laundering and security risks. He highlighted a recent case of treason involving the transfer of large amounts of cryptocurrency, which, in his view, demonstrated the vulnerability of the unregulated sector. Gavrilită stressed:

“We need to find a middle ground – legalize this field while preventing the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal financing and money laundering.”

A court in the capital, Chișinău, recently sentenced Moldovan citizen Denis Cuculescu to 15 years in prison for treason and large-scale fraud.

He was convicted in absentia for allegedly using his crypto expertise to transfer and cash out significant sums of money, “assisting a foreign state in carrying out hostile activities” against his country, according to the indictment. Cuculescu is believed to have left for Russia after working for its special services.

The latter has been previously accused of meddling in Moldova’s internal affairs and trying to influence its elections amid the ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine.

Territories in the eastern part of the nation are still occupied by the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria, a pro-Russian entity formed around the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

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