Utility Tokens vs Security Tokens: Tax Differences

Classifying a token as a “utility token” or “security token” has relevant tax implications, although in practice the dividing line is blurred.

What is a utility token?

A utility token grants access to a service, platform or product. It does not represent an expectation of benefit derived from the efforts of others.

Examples: Cloud service access tokens, computing capacity usage tokens (FIL, RNDR), fee discount tokens (BNB, historical FTT).

Tax treatment:

• When purchasing: acquisition cost (without taxable event).
• When selling: capital gain/loss.
• When using the token to access the service: possibly considered a transmission at the consumption price (discussion point).

What is a security token?

A security token represents a participation in the profits, assets or income of a project or company. It meets the American "Howey test" or similar criteria: there is investment of money, common enterprise, expectation of benefits and effort from others.

Examples: Tokens that pay protocol dividends, participation tokens in DAOs with profit sharing, regulated STOs (Security Token Offerings).

Tax treatment:

• Periodic income (protocol dividends) → returns on movable capital.
• Gain on transmission → capital gain.
• Similar to company shares from a tax point of view.

The problem with hybrid tokens

Many tokens are hybrids: they have utility AND value characteristics. For example:

• ETH: Is it a commodity (utility like gas) or a security (expectation of return from staking)?
• BNB: Discount on fees (profit) + deflationary burn that generates expectation of revaluation.

The DGT has not issued clear classification criteria for hybrid cases. Spanish tax practice treats most cryptocurrencies as movable property (with capital gain in the transmission), regardless of whether they have utility or security features.

Implications of MiCA classification

The MiCA Regulation classifies tokens into:

• E-money tokens (EMT): Stablecoins backed by fiat currency.
• Asset-referenced tokens (ART): Stablecoins basket.
• Other crypto assets: Everything else (including BTC and ETH).

This MiCA classification is not directly equivalent to the fiscal utility/security distinction, but it serves as a reference to understand which assets are more regulated and have greater transparency.

Conclusion

In current Spanish tax practice, all tokens (utility, security, hybrids) are treated in a similar way: capital gain when selling, and capital gains when they generate periodic income. The utility/security distinction matters more for financial regulation (MiCA, CNMV) than for the calculation of personal income tax.