Since the law regulating the taxation of crypto capital gains was introduced in Italy, one of the major doubts that has always circulated is whether the stablecoin DAI is fiscally relevant or not.
In fact, the law from this point of view was not very clear, and the subsequent European regulations of MiCA had further complicated the issue.
To tell the truth, there had been an official statement from the Agenzia delle Entrate, but these statements do not have legal value, so the doubts remained.
Now they seem to have been definitively clarified.
The issue of the stablecoin DAI in Italy
To settle the matter once and for all, the honorable Giulio Centemero has sent an official letter to the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance requesting explicit clarifications regarding the taxation of capital gains generated from sales of cryptocurrencies in stablecoin.
In fact, DAI (now also called USDS) is in all respects a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, even though it is not collateralized in USD.
The question from Centemero specifically concerns the exchange of cryptocurrencies into stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies.
In particular, it distinguishes between e-money token (EMT) and asset-referenced token, precisely because the new European regulation identifies within the category of stablecoin the subcategory of e-money tokens.
The key point is that while it was already certain that swaps in e-money tokens were fiscally relevant, it was not yet entirely clear if those in asset-referenced token were as well.
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The response of the Ministro
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In his written response, the Minister explicitly states that the exchange between cryptocurrencies and asset-referenced tokens “is not fiscally relevant“.
The issue can therefore be said to be clarified once and for all.
The Minister also adds that the motivation behind this statement is that asset-referenced tokens cannot be classified as electronic money, and above all, they are not redeemable at nominal value.
In fact, DAI tokens (or USDS) are issued by a decentralized finance protocol (MakerDAO, now Sky), and they are not redeemable at face value. Their face value is always artificially maintained at $1 thanks to specific algorithms, but it is not possible to return the tokens to the issuer in exchange for USD.
Instead, collateralized stablecoins like USDT and USDC are redeemable at par in dollars, and according to what the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance says, this would be the main discriminant.
In his writing he says:
“if the holder of the stablecoin does not have the right to credit at nominal value against the issuer, the possible exchange of the same with a cryptocurrency does not constitute a realization event”.
All this refers to the law text, and in particular to article 67, paragraph 1, letter c-sexies), of the TUIR, where it is written that “The exchange between crypto-assets with equal characteristics and functions does not constitute a fiscally relevant case”.
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The USDT issue
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The issue of the fiscal relevance of DAI (USDS) in Italy is therefore to be considered closed.
However, the issue of the fiscal relevance of USDT (Tether) remains open.
USDT falls into the category of USD-collateralized stablecoins that give the holder the right to credit at face value against the issuer. In fact, anyone can return USDT to Tether, for example through the Bitfinex exchange which acts as the primary market, receiving USD in return at par.
However, the European regulation MiCA does not include it in e-money tokens, because Tether is not registered in the EU as an e-money (electronic money) issuer.
In other words, as of today according to European regulations, USDT cannot be considered electronic money, even if it is directly redeemable in fiat at par.
On the other hand, the question from the honorable Centemero was specifically dedicated to asset-referenced tokens, and not to the fiscally relevant nature of USDT in Italy. At this point, it will presumably be necessary to wait for a further explicit pronouncement on the matter.
The on-chain collateralized stablecoin DAI
DAI (or USDS) is an algorithmic stablecoin.
That is, although its market value is always kept around $1, it is not collateralized in dollars, but in cryptocurrencies (in particular Bitcoin and Ethereum).
Precisely for this reason, the risks of depeg are greater, although to be honest, from 2021 to today, its market value has never truly depegged from the US dollar.
This means that it is not advisable to hold DAI in the long term, because the risk of depeg exists, but there are no problems holding it in the medium/short term, as long as you do not hold it when the crypto markets crash.
However, there is a problem.
In fact, the new European regulation prohibits exchanges from providing EU users with stablecoin services that are not e-money tokens, and indeed the use of DAI has already been widely limited by many crypto exchanges.
In fact, starting from April, in theory, all exchanges with users residing in the EU will have to remove their access to trading pairs in DAI, which will therefore only remain convertible into USDC, other authorized stablecoins, or fiat currency.
Therefore, those who want to continue to be able to sell crypto in DAI in the EU will need to use decentralized exchanges.
