Dutch Government: > Hold a Bitcoin ETF = Capital gains tax > Hold Bitcoin on an exchange = Paper gains tax This is what they came up with after months of deliberation and a lot of pushback on taxing paper gains on stocks and crypto. The idea is that “financial instruments” under MiFID are now taxed based on capital gains (instead of paper gains, as in the initial proposal). Crypto is not a financial instrument under MiFID, so it’s taxed based on paper gains. After 2030, it will be moved into the capital gains category. But crypto is not a financial instrument under MiFID because it has its own regulation: MiCA. This part is so unbelievably stupid I can’t wrap my head around it. We got dedicated crypto regulation in the form of MiCA. We got DAC8 implemented for crypto exchanges, which requires exchanges to collect customer data and share it with the tax authority. In many ways, the Dutch crypto sector is better prepared for the new tax system than legacy banks. Many of these companies worked their asses off to comply with these regulations. Is this how you reward them? And I haven’t even started on the unintended effects for ordinary citizens. People will sell their crypto on exchanges, send the money to their broker, and buy a BlackRock Bitcoin ETF. It's literally a couple of clicks on your computer to go from paper gains to capital gains tax. What. The. Hell. This idea has so many loopholes and so many unwanted first-, second-, and third-order effects. It's a clear example of path dependency and the sunk cost fallacy. The government went down this road and apparently can't do what's best: scrap the current plan and start over. I hope they surprise me and fix this mess.