Norway Ends Crypto Mining Tax Breaks: What It Means for Miners in 2026

For years, Norway was one of the most attractive places in the world to mine cryptocurrency. Cheap, renewable electricity from hydropower and wind made it possible to run massive mining farms at a fraction of the cost seen in the U.S. or China. But things changed in 2025. The Norwegian government quietly ended the tax deductions that made mining profitable for small operators and family-run operations. It wasn’t a ban. It wasn’t a sudden crackdown. It was a slow, deliberate shift - and now, miners are feeling the pinch.

What Actually Changed?

There was no big announcement. No press conference. No headline-grabbing law passed in parliament. Instead, the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten) quietly updated its guidance in early 2025 to remove the ability to fully offset mining equipment costs against income. Before 2025, miners could depreciate their ASIC rigs and GPUs at 30% per year. That meant if you spent 100,000 NOK on mining hardware, you could deduct 30,000 NOK from your taxable income each year. That deduction is now capped at 15% per year.

That might sound small, but for a miner running a 50-kilowatt setup, it’s a 50% increase in annual tax burden. Let’s say you earned 400,000 NOK in Bitcoin rewards last year. Under the old rules, you could deduct 45,000 NOK in equipment depreciation and another 120,000 NOK in electricity - leaving you with 235,000 NOK taxable income. Now, with the depreciation cut in half, your taxable income jumps to 280,000 NOK. That’s an extra 9,900 NOK in taxes - nearly $900 USD - just from one change.

Why Did Norway Do This?

Norway’s energy grid runs on 98% renewable power. That’s a point of national pride. But crypto mining, even at just 1% of total energy use, started drawing criticism. Environmental groups pointed out that while the energy was clean, it was being used for speculative digital assets instead of homes, hospitals, or electric vehicle charging. In 2024, the government commissioned a study that found mining operations were growing at 37% per year - faster than the country’s population growth.

Politicians didn’t want to ban mining outright. Norway still wants to be seen as tech-friendly. But they also didn’t want to be seen as giving away cheap energy to foreign investors. So they went after the tax breaks - the one thing that made mining profitable for small operators. Big industrial farms with access to institutional capital and low-interest loans still survive. But the mom-and-pop miners? Many have shut down.

Who Got Hit the Hardest?

The real losers were individual miners and small co-ops. Think of a guy in Trondheim who ran five ASICs in his garage. He bought them in 2022 when Bitcoin was at $30,000. He used his home electricity, which cost him about 0.15 NOK per kWh. He claimed 30% depreciation each year. He broke even in 18 months.

Now? His depreciation deduction is cut. His electricity rates rose 12% in 2025 due to grid balancing fees. And Bitcoin’s price hasn’t moved enough to compensate. He’s now paying more in taxes than he’s making in mining rewards. He sold his rigs last fall and switched to staking - which, by the way, is taxed the same way. No escape.

Even cooperative mining pools felt the blow. Before, if five people pooled their hardware, they could each claim 20% of the equipment cost as a deduction. Now, that’s halved. The administrative burden went up. The profit margin vanished. Two major co-ops in Bergen and Stavanger dissolved in late 2025.

What’s Still Allowed?

Mining isn’t illegal. You can still do it. You just can’t write off your hardware like you used to. Here’s what’s still in place:

• You still pay a flat 22% income tax on mining rewards - no change there.
• You can still deduct electricity costs, but only if you have a separate meter and can prove it’s used solely for mining.
• You can still claim software and cooling system expenses as business costs.
• You must report your cryptocurrency holdings as of December 31 every year - same as before.
• Capital gains on selling mined coins are still taxed at 22% - no new rate, just less room to reduce your taxable income.

The key difference? Before, you could use depreciation to turn a loss into a profit on paper. Now, you’re paying tax on real income, not theoretical gains. The government isn’t taxing you more - it’s just stopping you from hiding your income behind old equipment.

What About Big Mining Companies?

Large operators didn’t feel the same pain. Companies like NorMiner AS and ArcticHash have long-term power purchase agreements with state-owned utilities. They get rates below 0.10 NOK/kWh. They also use tax loss carryforwards from earlier years. And they’ve shifted to using newer, more efficient hardware - which means they depreciate less each year anyway.

One company in Tromsø told Bloomberg they’ve cut their energy use by 40% since 2024 by switching to 5th-gen ASICs. They’re still profitable. But they’re not hiring. They’re not expanding. They’re just holding steady.

How Does This Compare to Other Countries?

Norway isn’t alone. Germany tightened its rules in 2024, limiting deductions for home mining. Canada started taxing staking rewards the same as mining in 2023. The U.S. still allows full depreciation under Section 179 - but electricity costs are five times higher than in Norway.

What makes Norway unique is that it never offered special tax breaks. It just let miners use normal business deductions - and then pulled back on one of them. Other countries banned mining outright. Norway just made it less attractive. And that’s often more effective.

What Should Miners Do Now?

If you’re still mining in Norway, here’s what you need to do:

1. Re-calculate your depreciation schedule. Use 15% per year, not 30%.
2. Install a separate electricity meter if you haven’t already. You need proof to claim usage.
3. Track every coin you mine - record the NOK value at the exact time you received it.
4. Keep receipts for all hardware, cooling, and software purchases.
5. Consider switching to staking or running a node. The tax treatment is identical, but you don’t need expensive hardware.

And if you’re thinking about starting? Don’t. Not unless you have access to industrial-scale power and a 10-year business plan. The math doesn’t work anymore.

What’s Next?

The Norwegian government has signaled this might be just the first step. A draft bill in late 2025 proposed capping mining operations at 50 kW per facility - effectively banning large home setups. It’s still under review, but the direction is clear: Norway wants to keep its clean energy for people, not profit.

Some miners have moved to Iceland, where tax rules are still favorable. Others have gone to Georgia or Kazakhstan. But those places don’t have Norway’s stability, rule of law, or infrastructure. You’re trading tax savings for risk.

The era of easy crypto mining in Norway is over. It wasn’t a ban. It was a quiet adjustment - one that changed everything.