FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jon Hautamäki, Max Atallah and Mikael Huhtala, Nordic Law
1.2.5 Insolvency Finland has not enacted crypto-specific insolvency or resolution legislation. The insolvency of CASPs and other digital asset businesses is therefore governed by general law, primarily the Bankruptcy Act (120/2004) and the Restructuring of Enterprises Act (47/1993), supplemented by applicable regulatory requirements under MiCA and other financial services legislation. Under MiCA, authorised CASPs are subject to cli- ent asset segregation and custody requirements that are highly relevant in an insolvency context. Client crypto-assets must be kept separate from the firm’s own assets and may not be used on the CASP’s own account. These rules are intended to ensure that cli- ent assets remain identifiable and can be separated from the insolvency estate, thereby enhancing client protection. If a CASP enters insolvency, the FIN-FSA may with- draw its authorisation and take supervisory measures. However, Finland does not have a dedicated reso- lution regime for crypto-asset firms comparable to the bank recovery and resolution framework under the BRRD, leaving insolvency to be handled through general procedures. In practice, crypto-asset insolvencies raise specific challenges that are not expressly addressed under Finnish law, including the identification and tracing of assets on decentralised networks, control and recov- ery of private keys, and the valuation of highly volatile assets. These issues are likely to require case-by-case resolution as the regulatory and market framework continues to develop. 1.2.6 Industry and Trade Bodies Finland does not have a dedicated self-regulatory organisation specifically representing the crypto-asset industry, and no formal self-regulatory code specific to crypto-asset businesses has been developed. The Finnish Cryptocurrency Association (Konsensus) is the most directly relevant industry body, focusing on edu- cation, advocacy and ecosystem development within the crypto-asset sector, though it does not perform any formal regulatory or quasi-regulatory function.
typically have higher energy consumption profiles than proof-of-stake alternatives. 1.2.4 Tax Finland’s tax framework for digital assets was signifi- cantly updated by the Finnish Tax Administration’s guid- ance of 18 December 2025 (VH/3057/00.01.00/2025), which replaces earlier virtual currency guidance and extends to staking, DeFi tokens, wrapped tokens and pooled arrangements. Crypto-assets are generally treated as assets rather than currency or securities. Taxable realisation events include disposal for fiat, use as payment, and cryp- to-to-crypto exchanges, with gains and losses cal- culated per acquisition and reported in euros in the relevant tax year. E-money tokens (EMTs) and asset- referenced tokens (ARTs) may be treated differently in certain contexts due to their stabilisation features but are not equated with official currency. Staking rewards are generally taxed as income when received, with classification depending on the nature of the activity. Transactions within staking, liquidity pools and other DeFi arrangements may trigger tax- able events depending on their structure. Costs directly related to acquiring, holding or dispos- ing of crypto-assets, such as transaction fees, are generally deductible. For companies, crypto-assets are treated as business assets, with profits taxed as business income and losses deductible subject to general rules. At EU level, DAC8 introduces mandatory reporting obligations requiring crypto-asset service providers to report customer transaction data to tax authorities, including the Finnish Tax Administration. Key uncertainties remain around complex DeFi activi- ties – such as liquidity provision and yield farming – particularly regarding the timing and characterisation of taxable events, as well as the treatment of cross- border arrangements involving foreign CASPs or decentralised protocols.
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