Top 10 most crypto-friendly countries revisited (2025)
The first-ever article on CryptoSlate, printed in 2017, examined the most crypto-friendly countries on the planet. Today, we’re revisiting that record and looking at which countries proceed to be crypto havens and which have dropped off the record totally.
Spoiler alert: 2025’s high nation didn’t even make the record eight years in the past, and 2017’s winner now falls exterior the highest 10.
Most crypto pleasant countries in 2025
The new order facilities on clear licensing, predictable taxes, and area for institutional flows, whereas a number of early leaders from 2017 fade as enforcement tightens or priorities shift.
The United Arab Emirates ranks first in 2025, marking an eight-year reshuffle within the jurisdictions attracting digital-asset exercise.
The UAE’s rise has been constructed on purpose-built regulators in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and onshore zones that allow corporations get hold of a single, understandable rule set. Individuals face no private earnings tax and company buildings might be organized in free zones that publish crypto licenses and compliance guides, giving corporations a path to function at scale.
The nation additionally channels (*10*) via its monetary facilities, a dynamic that seems in regional circulation knowledge and within the rising footprint of worldwide exchanges in search of permissions there.
| 2025 rank | Jurisdiction | 2017 standing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | New |
| 2 | Switzerland | Improved |
| 3 | Singapore | Improved |
| 4 | Hong Kong | New |
| 5 | Canada | New |
| 6 | United States | New |
| 7 | Cayman Islands | New |
| 8 | Bermuda | New |
| 9 | Australia | Declined |
| 10 | Panama | New |
Winners
Switzerland stays close to the highest on the again of long-running “Crypto Valley” infrastructure, secure banking interfaces for token issuers and custody corporations, and a recognized posture from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
Retail traders benefit from favorable capital-gains treatment in some cantons, which continues to draw treasury and buying and selling operations. Singapore strikes up as its Payment Services Act matured right into a licensing framework that lets exchanges, brokers, and custodians function underneath one supervisor.
The city-state’s lack of a capital-gains tax for people additional reduces friction for workers choices and liquidity occasions.
Hong Kong reenters the higher tier after its Securities and Futures Commission rolled out a full licensing regime for virtual-asset buying and selling platforms and funding merchandise. The metropolis pairs that rulebook with no capital-gains tax on private crypto earnings, positioning it as a distribution hub for tokenized funds and structured notes.
Canada’s standing displays a monitor document of approving crypto exchange-traded merchandise and supervisory steering for platforms underneath provincial regulators.
The United States, whereas wrestling with federal rule fragmentation, now channels giant institutional flows after spot Bitcoin ETFs opened in early 2024, with broader digital-asset laws again on the agenda in 2025, as mapped by the Atlantic Council’s Crypto Regulation Tracker.
Policy competitors now runs via the tax code. Jurisdictions that take away capital-gains frictions or supply easy guidelines for long-term holdings are attracting each workers and company treasuries. Germany exempts crypto held for greater than 12 months from earnings tax, a rule that strengthens home self-custody and staking methods.
El Salvador maintains zero capital positive aspects and earnings tax on Bitcoin transactions alongside legal-tender standing, creating clear accounting remedy for inbound miners and repair suppliers, per Koinly.
Singapore and Hong Kong don’t levy capital-gains taxes on people, and the UAE’s private tax regime continues to be a draw for founders and market-making groups.
Losers
The different aspect of the ledger reveals how early momentum can ebb as frameworks tighten or market construction adjustments.
Estonia, first in 2017, lands outside the highest tier after revoking 1000’s of licenses and shifting supervision from the Financial Intelligence Unit to the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority to align with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regime.
Companies now navigate stricter substance, audit, and capital necessities, and the nation is concentrated on EU harmonization somewhat than issuing giant volumes of standalone licenses.
Japan, fifth in 2017, continues to refine token classifications underneath the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and policymakers have ready a shift to a flat 20 p.c capital-gains tax from 2026, strikes aimed toward integrating token markets with current securities guidelines.
South Korea’s 2024 Virtual Asset User Protection Act introduced broader oversight, market-abuse guidelines, and incident-reporting thresholds.
Financial authorities additionally acknowledged crypto corporations as enterprise companies in 2025 to open credit score channels and assist capital formation. The pivot created a compliance-heavy atmosphere that favors bigger platforms with audited custody and threat programs.
The Netherlands recedes as nationwide applications wound down and coverage work shifted to EU MiCA implementation, with exercise now centered on trade associations and bank-led pilots somewhat than broad nationwide initiatives.
Russia exits the friendliest jurisdiction lists as guidelines that took impact in early 2025 constrain home use and reserve crypto exercise for narrow investor classes, aligning with central-bank communications on cost restrictions and the digital ruble program.
What separates the 2025 leaders is the depth of institutional plumbing.
Chainalysis’ newest index provides weight to giant transactions of 1 million {dollars} and above to replicate the post-ETF atmosphere, a change that elevates markets with bank-grade custody, liquid trade rails, and guidelines that allow pension funds and asset managers maintain publicity at dimension, in line with Chainalysis.
Those flows put the United States close to the highest for general adoption at the same time as retail-focused metrics favor India, which leads in grassroots utilization.
Asia-Pacific accounts for greater than one-third of worldwide market share and stays the fastest-expanding area by exercise in Chainalysis’ datasets, pushed by trade hubs in Singapore and Hong Kong and quantity out of India and Vietnam.
The eight-year comparability makes the via line clear. Jurisdictions that produce a single door for licensing, publish tax therapies that finance groups can mannequin, and combine banks, custodians, and market surveillance into the rulebook are those attracting scale.
The UAE, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States now anchor that cohort. Countries that pulled again or reoriented towards broader financial-crime controls have ceded floor, with Estonia, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Russia reshaped by these selections.
The result’s a map that rewards regulatory maturity and institutional entry somewhat than early-stage experimentation.
Most crypto-friendly countries adjustments from 2017 to 2025
| Country | 2017 Rank | 2025 Rank | Change | 2017 Status | 2025 Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAE | Not ranked | 1 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | Global crypto hub, VARA regulation, $30B+ transactions, zero taxes |
| Switzerland | 3 | 2 | +1 | Crypto Valley Zug, headquarters for main tasks | Still Crypto Valley chief, clear FINMA framework, favorable taxes |
| Singapore | 10 | 3 | +7 | SGD digitization trial, TenX improvement | MAS regulation, no capital positive aspects tax, robust fintech sector |
| Hong Kong | Not ranked | 4 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | SFC licensing, no capital positive aspects tax, institutional focus |
| Canada | Not ranked | 5 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | Early Bitcoin ETF adoption, clear CSA pointers |
| United States | Not ranked | 6 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | Major regulatory reforms 2025, Trump administration assist |
| Cayman Islands | Not ranked | 7 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | VASP framework, no direct taxes, monetary hub |
| Bermuda | Not ranked | 8 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | DABA framework, BMA steering, tax advantages |
| Australia | 7 | 9 | -2 | Removed double taxation, Parliamentary Friends group | ASIC regulation, complete framework, sandbox applications |
| Panama | Not ranked | 10 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | No capital positive aspects tax, creating digital asset legal guidelines |
| El Salvador | Not ranked | 11 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | Bitcoin authorized tender, zero crypto taxes, Bitcoin City |
| Germany | Not ranked | 12 | New | Not in 2017 rankings | Tax-free after 1 yr holding, BaFin oversight |
| Estonia | 1 | 13 | -12 | First e-residency, blockchain healthcare system | Transitioning to EU MiCA framework, FSA oversight from 2025 |
| Japan | 5 | 14 | -9 | Bitcoin recognition, governmental blockchain adoption | FSA regulation, shifting tokens underneath FIEA, deliberate tax reform |
| South Korea | 8 | 15 | -7 | Major buying and selling volumes, FinTech roadmaps | VAUPA implementation, FSC oversight, enterprise firm recognition |
| Mauritius | 6 | 16 | -10 | ConsenSys partnership for “Ethereum Island” | Basic framework however much less aggressive globally |
| Netherlands | 9 | 17 | -8 | Government blockchain analysis since 2013, Bitcoin City Arnhem | DBC program ended 2024, EU MiCA compliance |
| Gibraltar | 4 | 18 | -14 | First regulatory framework for blockchain | Maintaining blockchain framework however decrease prominence |
| Russia | 2 | Banned/Restricted | – | Masterchain ledger, Putin assist for Ethereum | Domestic crypto banned, restricted to rich traders solely |
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