Crypto savings accounts: CeFi, Nexo and Crypto.com Earn

CeFi (Centralized Finance) platforms such as Nexo, Crypto.com Earn, and previously Celsius and BlockFi, offer interest for depositing cryptocurrencies. They are the equivalent of bank deposits but in the crypto ecosystem. Its taxation in Spain has important particularities.

How do crypto savings accounts work?

You deposit BTC, ETH or stablecoins (USDC, USDT) on a CeFi platform. They lend your crypto to traders or institutions and pay you a percentage of the profits.

Active platforms (2025):

• Nexo: Daily interest in crypto or NEXO tokens.
• Crypto.com Earn: Flexible or fixed deposits, APY depending on token and term.
• Coinbase Rewards: Interest for holding certain assets.
• Binance Earn: Savings products on BNB Chain.

Taxation of interest: return on movable capital

Crypto interest received from CeFi platforms are income from movable capital (savings base).

Why movable capital and not another type:

• It is performance derived from transferring capital (your crypto) to a third party.
• There is no transfer of the main asset (it is still yours).
• It is analogous to the interest on a bank deposit.

Tax rate based on savings:

• 19% up to €6,000
• 21% from €6,001 to €50,000
• 23% from €50,001 to €200,000
• 27% from €200,001 to €300,000
• 28% more than €300,000

Interest assessment

Interest is valued in euros at the market price at the time of receipt:

• You receive 0.001 BTC in interest when BTC is worth €50,000 → income of €50.
• You receive 10 USDC in interest → income of ~€10.
• You receive 5 NEXO tokens when NEXO is worth €1/token → €5 deposit.

Each interest payment (even daily) is an event that you must record.

When does interest accrue?

If interest is credited daily (like in Nexo), technically each day there is an income. Fiscally:

• The most prudent thing to do: Declare according to the frequency of accreditation (daily, weekly, monthly).
• In practice: Many taxpayers accumulate interest for the year and declare it as an annual total.
• Definitive AEAT criteria: There is no specific criterion published yet. The conservative position is to declare upon accrual.

Interest charged on NEXO tokens or platform tokens

Nexo and some other platforms pay interest on their own token (NEXO, CRO, etc.):

• Time of receipt: Income of movable capital → price of the token at that time.
• If you later sell the token: Additional capital gain/loss on the price you had already declared.

Example: you receive 10 NEXO when NEXO is worth €1 → you declare €10 of interest (movable capital). You sell those 10 NEXO when NEXO is worth €1.5 → you declare €5 of additional capital gain.

Platform risk: CeFi bankruptcy cases

Celsius Network (August 2022) and BlockFi (November 2022) went bankrupt. Many users lost their deposit:

• Interest already collected before bankruptcy: declared and taxed. There is no reversal.
• Principal trapped: Asset loss when the bankruptcy process is closed (see article on crypto collapses).
• Interest pending collection but not collected before the bankruptcy: They are not taxed (they were not collected).

Are retention agreements applicable?

Unlike bank deposits, CeFi interest does not have automatic withholding if the platform is not in Spain. The taxpayer must self-declare the income.

If the platform is in the EU (Nexo is from Bulgaria, but operates under European licenses), does the European savings tax apply? The directive was repealed in 2016 → does not apply. The Spanish taxpayer must declare without prior withholding.

Summary: steps to declare CeFi interests

1. Export interest history from the platform (Nexo, Crypto.com offer annual CSV).
2. Convert each payment to euros using the price on the payment date.
3. Add all the interest for the year → total return on capital.
4. Include in the Income Tax Return in the corresponding section.

Updated: April 2026 | Fiscal year: 2025