MiCA · EMT · DAC8
For a limited company, a stablecoin is not “sort of crypto”. It is either a means of payment or a speculative position — and the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) has already said which basket a MiCA-regulated e-money token belongs in. Select Financial Services books USDC, USDT and EURC so that your accounts, your corporate tax return under the Business Income Tax Act (EVL) and your DAC8 readiness all tell the same story.
Typical clients: SaaS and AI companies invoicing or getting paid in stablecoins, developers and contractors paid in USDC, and crypto companies holding part of their treasury on-chain.
EMT — an e-money token, not a third kind of crypto
The EU’s MiCA Regulation ((EU) 2023/1114) splits crypto-assets into three baskets. An EMT (electronic money token, sähkörahatoken) aims to keep a stable value by referencing one official currency — the dollar or the euro. An ART (asset-referenced token) references a basket or another right. The third basket is crypto-assets whose value is not stabilised: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and the rest.
In this split, USDC is an EMT: a dollar token, redeemable at par, with its reserve in short-term government paper. That makes it a B2B payment rail, not “an altcoin in the portfolio”. How that rail buys America’s debt and why companies vote with their feet is covered in our article The stable dollar buys America’s debt – and people vote with their feet.
Verohallinto treats EMTs as currency — and names USDC
The in-depth tax guidance Taxation of crypto-assets (Kryptovarojen verotus, VH/3057/00.01.00/2025, 18 December 2025), chapter 1.1, says in substance:
An e-money token aims to maintain a stable value by referencing the value of an official currency. Verohallinto regards as official currency all crypto-assets that aim to maintain a stable value by referencing the value of one official currency and whose value is backed by an equivalent amount of official currency or other low-risk, liquid financial instruments. For tax purposes these are not considered crypto-assets but are equated with official currency, so their use and exchange are treated in the same way as the use of an official currency.
Verohallinto, chapter 1.1 (unofficial translation)
Source: vero.fi – Kryptovarojen verotus
The tax authority sets two conditions: one official currency as the reference AND an equivalent reserve in that currency or in low-risk, liquid instruments. When both are met, the token is not a “crypto-asset” for tax purposes. It is treated like the dollar or the euro. Another Verohallinto page, on the shadow economy and economic crime, even names the token: it gives Bitcoin and the e-money token USDC as examples of generally accepted means of payment.
Source: vero.fi – Virtuaalivaluutat
Bitcoin is an example of a means of payment that does not meet the currency criteria. USDC is an example of an e-money token that does. That difference is the whole point of this page.
What this means in your company’s books
Being treated as currency does not exempt a transaction from bookkeeping. It means a different account and a different tax treatment.
- BTC → USDC is a disposal of bitcoin. The gain or loss is realised on the BTC.
- USDC → EUR is a currency exchange. It produces an exchange-rate difference, not a crypto disposal — provided the token meets the two conditions in the guidance.
- A purchase invoice paid in USDC is a payment in currency. The record is converted to euros at the rate on the payment date.
- USDC held in the treasury is a foreign-currency financial asset, not a pile of inventory tokens.
- USDT also references the dollar, but its reserve is not the same as USDC’s. The guidance requires low-risk, liquid backing, and the gold and bitcoin held in USDT’s reserve do not automatically qualify. That is why USDT cannot be labelled a currency by copying the USDC sentence. It needs a case-by-case assessment.
In a limited company this is EVL treatment — not the €1,000 rule of the Income Tax Act (TVL) for individuals, and not the deemed acquisition cost (hankintameno-olettama).
MiCA is classification, DAC8 is reporting
MiCA defines which token is an EMT. DAC8 defines what exchanges and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) report to Verohallinto from 2026 onwards. If your service provider reports USDC as “crypto” and your books treat it as “currency”, the first one to notice the mismatch will be the authority.
What Select does
- We separate your EMT treasury from speculative token holdings.
- We link CEX, DEX and on-chain records into one audit trail.
- We book a B2B stablecoin payment as a purchase or a sale — not as “crypto trading”.
- Where the guidance and the reserve do not line up — typically USDT, yield pools and wrapped dollars — we apply for an advance ruling (ennakkoratkaisu) from Verohallinto when needed.
- We keep you DAC8-ready.
We cover Solana and DeFi positions on DeFi tax and crypto accounting in Finland. For the market view on euro tokens, read Euro stablecoins limp because the market is not a seminar. See also all our services in English.
Talk to us
Select Financial Services Oy, Fredrikinkatu 61, 00100 Helsinki. Tell us what you hold, where it sits and how your company uses it — we will tell you how it should be booked and taxed in Finland.