Crypto-Assets and the Treasury: The New Frontier of Tax Crime

The myth of anonymity in cryptocurrencies has fallen. The Tax Agency (AEAT) and cybercrime units today have blockchain traceability tools (such as Chainalysis) that allow tracking the digital money trail with millimeter precision. This has led to a wave of tax inspections and criminal proceedings against "early adopter" investors, miners, and Web3 sector companies, accused of tax fraud and money laundering.

Volatility and Tax Crime

Calculating the defrauded quota in crypto assets is technically complex and a source of errors by the Inspection. How is an asset valued that rises 20% and falls 30% in a single day? For tax fraud to exist (art. 305 CP), the quota must exceed 120,000 euros. Our defense focuses on economic expert reports that apply rigorous FIFO/LIFO valuation methods and discount all latent losses and gas fees, often ignored by the Administration, to reduce the tax base below the penal threshold.

Money Laundering and 'Mixers'

The use of privacy tools like Tornado Cash or passing funds through exchanges without KYC (Know Your Customer) is automatically interpreted by the Prosecution as an indication of money laundering. However, we defend that the pursuit of financial privacy is not synonymous with criminal concealment. To convict for laundering, it is necessary to prove a predicate offense (illicit origin of funds). If the investor can prove they bought their BTC or ETH legally with savings in 2015, the subsequent use of a mixer may be an administrative infraction, but never a crime of money laundering.

The Impact of MiCA Regulation and DAC8

European regulation MiCA and the DAC8 directive impose massive reporting obligations on exchanges (CEX). This means that the Treasury already has, or will soon have, all data on their operations. The strategy of "waiting to see if they don't notice" is legally suicidal in 2025.

Criminal Liability of Exchanges and OTCs

We also defend exchange platforms and OTC desks accused of being necessary cooperators in scams or laundering committed by their users. The key is to demonstrate the implementation of an effective Compliance model that complies with money laundering prevention regulations (AML), proving that the platform acted with due diligence and reported suspicious transactions to SEPBLAC.