Crypto Accounting for Estonian Companies

Not necessarily — and this is one of the most important policy decisions to make upfront. IAS 38 allows different classifications for different categories of intangible assets, provided each category is assessed on its own merits. A reasonable approach: BTC and ETH (large-cap, liquid, held as treasury) under IAS 38 with the revaluation model; small DeFi tokens (illiquid, speculative) under IAS 38 with the cost model (due to difficulty establishing a reliable active market price). LP tokens and DeFi protocol positions may require a different treatment again — possibly as financial assets under IFRS 9. Document each classification in your accounting policy with the rationale. The key is that the policy is set at the category level, applied consistently within each category, and documented before the first acquisition in each category.

An airdrop of tokens with clearly non-zero market value is income at the fair market value at the time of receipt. Post: DR Crypto Assets — Token (at €3,000) / CR Revenue — Airdrop Income (€3,000). The €3,000 becomes the cost base for these tokens. If you later sell them for €5,000, the additional gain is €2,000 — recognised in P&L at disposal. If the airdropped tokens have effectively zero market value at receipt (no active market, no exchanges listing them, no price reference), you may record them at zero and only recognise income when they become valuable and are sold. Document the basis for any zero-value recording. EMTA has not published specific guidance on airdrops, but the general principle — income at FMV on receipt — is the defensible approach for tokens with an observable market price.

ETH gas fees are a disposal of ETH — you are spending a small amount of ETH (at its current market price) to pay for network processing. Each gas payment has two accounting effects: (1) the ETH disposed creates a gain or loss against its cost base (usually small, but must be tracked), and (2) the fee itself is an expense. For the fee classification: gas fees on crypto acquisitions (buying tokens) should be capitalised into the cost of the acquired asset — they increase the cost base. Gas fees on business-purpose DeFi transactions (swapping, staking) are operating expenses (Account 5040). Gas fees on transfers between your own wallets are a minor cost with no clear standard treatment — most practitioners expense them. For high-volume DeFi operations, tracking individual gas fees at the transaction level is essential — the cumulative impact on cost bases and expenses is material.

Mining creates two accounting entries on the date the BTC is received: (1) record the BTC at its FMV of €25,000 as an asset, and (2) record €25,000 as mining revenue. Your costs (€8,000 electricity + pool fees) are operating expenses (Accounts 5020 and 5030), recognised in the period incurred. Gross profit from mining = €25,000 revenue minus €8,000 costs = €17,000. The BTC is now on your balance sheet at €25,000 (which becomes its cost base). For Estonian corporate tax purposes, the €17,000 mining profit is retained earnings — no immediate tax. Tax arises when dividends are distributed. If you later sell the BTC at €30,000, the additional gain is €5,000 (€30,000 minus the €25,000 cost base established at mining receipt). This gain also increases retained earnings without immediate tax.

Koinly requires three things to produce accurate records: (1) all wallet addresses — every Ethereum address, Bitcoin address, and wallet on any chain that the OÜ controls, including smart contract positions; (2) exchange API connections — API keys for each exchange with read-only access so Koinly can pull transaction history directly; and (3) manual entries for any transactions not captured by APIs — typically over-the-counter purchases, peer-to-peer transfers, DeFi protocol interactions on chains Koinly doesn’t support fully, and any historical transactions that predate the API connection. Your accountant will then review Koinly’s auto-classified transactions, manually correct any misclassified events (particularly DeFi interactions), export the cost basis data, and use it to prepare the journal entries for your accounting software. Koinly itself does not post to your accounting software — your accountant takes the output and translates it into proper accounting entries.