I think it depends on what your intentions are in the country you're travelling to. If you plan to use (unlock) your wallet while you're there then yes.
I found a Swedish travel site that says:
Besides notes and coins, “cash and equivalent assets” is also defined as traveller’s cheques, cheques, promissory notes, debt instruments, debentures, shares, money orders and securities.
I'm thinking bitcoin is closest related to cheques
Thanks for the link. However, there is no clear statement of the term
cryptocurrency... In some fields (in banking, for example) it's written in plain sight that you are not allowed to use the account for incomes obtained from crypto. Therefore I'm thinking that if in some fields the term
crypto (or
cryptocurrency) is used, it should be also used in case it influences somehow passing the border...
If you're not going to unlock your wallet or spend funds from it then I think it's unlikely you have to tell anyone. I also think you'd probably be safe unlocking your wallet to send funds to an exchange in your home country, converting your crypto to that currency and paying using your bank card for things (but you may be safer holding funds on an exchange as you travel as it'll be considered similar to a bank account then).
I never used a centralized exchange nor I ever will
They are pure evil and you expose yourself to very high risks by using them. What I was thinking about was a possible situation when someone simply wants to have some backup
money crypto with him and, in case he runs out of cash, he could go to a cash-in / cash-out crypto ATM and exchange some crypto with fiat.
The part about not going to spend funds from the wallet and if so there would not be any need to say anything to anyone -- what difference would it make even if they would question you (assuming that they (custom officers) would find out somehow that you're carrying a crypto wallet), then you'd tell them you don't intend to use it and still use it at a crypto ATM?
Or at a local shop or restaurant which could accept crypto payments? Nobody would know that you made that transaction, right?
By the way, thinking about this a funny pic came into my mind:
I've been wondering about this too, but I'm mainly curious if I'd have to declare Bitcoin hodlings when entering the US. Within Schengen/EU, I'm not so worried about it.
Just curious, what makes you feel safer in Europe, if you would be in this situation?
What if you just wrote 12 seed words on a piece of paper? What if you memorized the 12 words?
This would be even easier
A more fundamental question is: do you carry Bitcoin? One could argue you don't carry it: Bitcoin doesn't exist on an address, it exists only on the blockchain. How is that different than bringing my online banking credentials, which allows me to transfer more than €10,000?
That's a very good question... But, honestly, what do you think the outcome would be in case someone (caught by a customs officer with an undeclared BTC wallet holding more than the equivalent of 10.000E) would try to have this debate with the customs officer?
It's hard to imagine the custom officer would have the necessary knowledge or the will to understand that, in fact, you don't physically have BTC, but you only poses private keys which allow you move some coins, if you want to.
It is also worth noting that when shares and securities are mentioned as "cash or equivalent assets" that have to be declared, they are referring to the physical certificates. Otherwise folks would have to declare their investment bank accounts.
I think they might be able to make a case if you were to carry physical bitcoins or paper wallets
This is what I'm also thinking...
then you can argue for a long time about whether you are obliged to say at the border that you know by heart the seed phrase from a cryptocurrency wallet that stores, for example, $ 10,000,000.
I made some checks but not even Google is able to answer to this question. However, this is what I found about
European Union Cash Controls:
As part of the EU’s efforts to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism, all travellers entering or leaving EU territory are already obliged to complete a cash declaration when carrying EUR 10 000 or more (or equivalent in other currencies, bonds, shares or travellers’ cheques). Customs authorities are empowered to check persons, their luggage and their means of transport. They are also empowered to detain undeclared cash. [...]
1) The definition of ‘cash’ in the rules will be extended to include certain other valuable items.
This means that as of that date, you must lodge a cash declaration if you are carrying EUR 10 000 (or its equivalent in other currencies) or more in value of one or more of the following items included under the new definition of cash, when entering or leaving the EU:
Banknotes and coins (including currency now out of general circulation but that can still be exchanged in a financial institution or central bank),
Bearer negotiable instruments such as cheques, travellers’ cheques, promissory notes and money orders,
Gold coins with a gold content of at least 90 %,
Gold bars, nuggets or clumps with a gold content of at least 99.5 %.
(The part about gold bars may be also an answer for the example given by LoyceV about that Italian smuggling gold bars.)
From what I see, there is no reference to cryptocurrency.
However, even if there would be a reference inside the law (a law which I / we can't find at the moment) for being coerced to declare if you own BTC worth of more than 10.000E -- this would only raise more questions in my head: what happens if you have a wallet with BTC worth of -- let's say -- 8000E (thus you don't declare it when leaving the country) and, when you reach your destination, BTC price soars and your wallet is worth of more than 10.000E without you even thinking about it? They'll simply confiscate your money which value more than 10.000E due to a sudden price growth?
