More than 600,000 investors in Romania choose crypto over stocks

A much greater number of investors in Romania are putting money into cryptocurrencies compared to those willing to place their bets on traditional equity. Capital markets can hardly keep up with the new, technology-based crypto markets, says the head of a local financial industry organization who announced the finding.

Well over half a million Romanian citizens have invested in crypto assets, according to Horia Gustă, president of the EU nation’s Association of Fund Administrators (AAF). Almost three times fewer people turned to the country’s stock exchange in search of profits, revealed the expert.

Bitcoin buyers in Romania found to be many more than shareholders

While more than 600,000 Romanian investors have decided to acquire cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, their country’s equity market has attracted only 220,000, Gustă pointed out, quoted by the business news outlet Economica and the English-language portal Romania Insider.

The AAF official highlighted the sizable difference during the European Conference on Financial Services (ECFS) 2025. The latest edition of the forum, organized by Romania’s Institute of Financial Studies (ISF) and Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), was recently held in the city of Brașov.

Excessive regulations and insufficient financial education have been the main barriers to bringing more investors to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), Gustă is convinced. He noted that while platforms like the BVB have had to abide by burdensome EU rules, crypto operators have not been subjected to any until recently.

In November, lawmakers in Bucharest gave cryptocurrency investors a temporary tax break by approving amendments to Romania’s Tax Code. In accordance with the changes, earnings of private individuals from investments in cryptocurrencies were exempted from income tax until July 31, 2025, as per a report by Profit.ro.

Sponsors of the measure argued that it will increase transparency for crypto-related transactions carried out by Romanian taxpayers, allowing authorities to more accurately gauge the size of the nation’s digital assets market amid government intentions to tighten regulations for the crypto sector in the near future.

The authors of the legislation also insisted that the tax amnesty would generate additional cash flow into the country’s economy when returns on crypto investments enter bank accounts in Romania. At the same time, a text extending the tax break to income from a number of different sources, including other investments, was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament.

Classic capital markets struggle to compete with technology-driven crypto markets

In the increasingly strict regulatory environment, traditional markets find it hard to keep up with markets based on new technologies, which is causing significant risks, the AAF president elaborated, questioning whether the sector really needs all the compliance requirements.

“What could we do to innovate more? Europe is so regulated that you won’t find any advertising for any investment fund. There are many regulations, and they don’t help. Crypto had no rules and developed in a few years,” Horia Gustă explained.

In contrast with the crypto space, the stock market in Romania grew with great efforts from both government bodies and market players, all of which got involved in financial education, stressed the AAF head. In his own words, it’s still hard to explain to people what these investments mean.

Sorin Mititelu, vice-president of the ASF, believes that new technologies will eventually transform all financial markets. Rejection is the initial reaction, because any change comes with additional costs, he remarked. But Mititelu believes that evolution in the industry will nevertheless continue.

Other participants in the discussions highlighted some of the risks associated with digitalization and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular. ISF President Valentin Ionescu listed a few, including lack of transparency, discrimination, and algorithmic prejudice, as well as incorrect or incomplete data.

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