Albania

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-14Europe

Is crypto legal in Albania? (2026)

Yes — cryptocurrency is legal in Albania. Current status: Legal — Law 66/2020 licence framework. Oversight sits with AFSA · Bank of Albania (under MiCA-style draft). Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-14).

Framework: Law No. 66/2020 "On Financial Markets Based on Distributed Ledger Technology", in force since 1 September 2020, made Albania one of the first European jurisdictions with a dedicated DLT-market statute; a MiCA-inspired crypto-asset law is now in preparation.

Law 66/2020 regulates the issuance of digital and virtual tokens and the licensing, monitoring and supervision of entities distributing, trading and storing them. The Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) assesses the financial and regulatory side of applications, with the National Agency for Information Society (NAIS/AKSHI) certifying the technology. Five licence types exist: DLT exchange ("bourse"), digital-token agent, innovative-service provider, third-party portfolio custodian, and automated collective-investment enterprise. In practice the market never developed under the law — as of 2026 no licensed providers are active in Albania, and parliament has publicly pressed regulators to complete the implementing bylaws. Albania is an EU candidate, so MiCA does not apply directly; 2026 reports describe a new draft crypto-asset law modelled on MiCA under which providers would be authorised and supervised jointly by the AFSA and the Bank of Albania.

Tax treatment

Crypto income became explicitly taxable under the income-tax law in force since 1 January 2024: individuals pay a flat 15% on capital gains from virtual-asset trading, while crypto income earned as business activity — including mining — is taxed as ordinary business income.

• Individual capital gains: 15% flat, from 1 January 2024
• Business/mining income: taxed as ordinary income at standard rates

Travel rule applicability

Status: general AML law applies. Virtual-asset providers fall under Albania's AML framework: customer due diligence for transactions above 1,000,000 lek, identity verification, ongoing monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting to FIU-Albania. Dedicated FATF travel-rule transfer thresholds for VASPs are pending verification. A May 2025 Global Initiative bulletin flags seizure of crime-linked virtual assets as a persistent challenge across the Western Balkans, including Albania.

Notable enforcement actions

• 2022. Parliament called on the AFSA and other regulators to accelerate the bylaws needed to make Law 66/2020 operational, and moved to bring crypto income into the tax net.
• 2024. 1 January — the new income-tax law took effect, taxing individuals' virtual-asset gains at 15%.
• 2025–2026. Regional AML pressure over virtual-asset seizures in the Western Balkans, and a MiCA-modelled draft crypto-asset law signalling a reset of the framework under joint AFSA / Bank of Albania supervision.

Public licensed CASP list

None active. Although Law 66/2020 provides five licence categories, no licensed digital-asset trading firms currently operate in Albania. Any future register under the MiCA-style draft law is expected to sit with the AFSA and the Bank of Albania.

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Albania crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Albania — practical notes

Albania is a framework-on-paper market: the licence categories exist, but with zero active licensees and long-delayed bylaws, entrants face untested procedure rather than settled practice. The 15% individual gains tax is clear and competitive for the region. Firms planning entry should track the MiCA-aligned draft law — an EU-accession-driven regime with dual AFSA / Bank of Albania supervision would supersede the 66/2020 architecture.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel's research desk on 2026-07-14 from the primary and secondary sources listed below. Claims that could not be verified against a source are omitted or marked pending — we do not republish unverified third-party datasets. Submit corrections and primary-source links to [email protected].

Sources

• AFSA — Law No. 66/2020 on financial markets based on distributed ledger technology (official PDF)
• Lightspark country brief — Albania compliance overview (tax, AML, licensing status)
• Exit.al — Albania parliament calls on regulators for quicker cryptocurrency bylaws
• OCNAL — Albania’s new crypto law: a turning point (MiCA-inspired draft, 2026)
• Global Initiative — Risk Bulletin #21: seizing crime-related virtual assets in the Western Balkans (May 2025)
• Bitok — Overview of crypto regulations in Albania