Ireland Bars Crypto From State Savings Scheme Targeting $203B in Deposits

In brief

• Tánaiste Simon Harris said Sunday that crypto assets will be excluded from Ireland's new savings and investment scheme.
• Cryptocurrencies, derivatives and interest-bearing cash are all shut out, while shares, bonds, funds and ETFs qualify.
• The scheme is designed to move some of the $203 billion (€175 billion) Irish households hold in bank deposits.

Crypto will have no place in the tax-advantaged savings accounts Ireland is preparing to open to every adult in the country.

Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris set out the shape of the scheme on Sunday in a video posted to Instagram, saying he wanted the accounts to “make a real difference in building up your own economic resilience.” Savers will be able to hold shares, bonds, funds, exchange-traded funds and insurance-based products, according to reports. Crypto assets are excluded, along with derivatives and interest-bearing cash.

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Each Irish tax-resident aged 18 or over will be entitled to one account. Contributions up to a tax-free threshold will escape tax entirely, with anything above it charged an annual low flat rate. There will be no minimum contribution and no minimum lock-in period, though an annual contribution cap will apply. The thresholds and rates land on Budget day, October 6, with accounts expected to open next year.

The target is the roughly $203 billion (€175 billion) sitting in Irish household deposit accounts. Irish households hold just 2.3% of their financial assets in direct investments such as listed shares and bonds, against an EU average of 7.5%, and a little over 2.2% in investment funds, according to Central Bank of Ireland research published in late 2025. Both are among the lowest rates in the bloc, in a country that hosts more than €5 trillion in fund assets.

Where the tax break lands

The exclusion lands as the government prepares to loosen the tax treatment of the products that did make the list. Harris confirmed that deemed disposal, under which certain funds are treated as sold every eight years and taxed at 38%, will not apply to the new accounts. He said the government would examine the rule more broadly in the coming weeks.

The charge was cut from 41% to 38% in the last budget, and a 2024 government report on the funds sector recommended scrapping it altogether. Harris told the Dáil earlier this year that he was “not convinced” it remained fit for purpose, calling it “outdated.”

Crypto is one of the few assets Irish savers do hold. The Central Bank research found roughly 10% of adults own crypto-assets, predominantly young men, with an average holding of €2,266. More than half said they had bought out of curiosity.

Crypto's exclusion follows a run of tightening measures. Harris launched Ireland's first national anti-money laundering strategy on August 13, bringing enhanced checks on transfers involving private wallets and stricter due diligence on firms dealing with overseas crypto companies. It built on a 30-point action plan published in June that named crypto-asset misuse among the country's evolving financial-crime threats.