Report contents
MENA · Established
Israel
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 57 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +2 |
| Inflation 3.5% · unbanked 11% · remittances 0.2% GDP · capital controls 0 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.037 |
| Need multiplier | ×0.555 |
| Livability score | 0.377 |
Raw 57/84 = 0.679 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.04, from five components: inflation 3.5% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 11% of adults, remittances 0.2% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.00 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.56. Livability score 0.377, rank #51 of 79.
Three findings
One of the oldest brick-and-mortar Bitcoin scenes anywhere
Israel posts a top-band merchant score: between 150 and 230 businesses accept Bitcoin nationally, with nearly 50 physical storefronts in Tel Aviv, from tattoo parlours to car repair to bars, anchored by the Bitcoin Embassy operating since 2014 and a mature Lightning Network (instant low-fee Bitcoin payment layer) community. It is one of the deepest organic retail crypto cultures in the index, built on enthusiasm rather than necessity.
Legal asset, blocked at the bank
The Israel Securities Authority regulates most crypto as securities and tax certainty is high at a 25 percent flat capital gains rate, yet banks routinely block fiat-to-crypto transfers even where the activity is fully legal. The friction is structural: a regulated path that is open but expensive, with the Bank of Israel's Directive 411 obliging banks to assess crypto funds case by case rather than refuse outright.
Capability that need does not reward: a -17 rank slide
Israel ranks #34 on raw capability but falls to #51 once need is applied, because the Crypto-Necessity Index is just 0.04: inflation 3.5 percent, 11 percent unbanked, zero capital controls. Crypto activity is dominated by institutional trading and Tel Aviv's Web3 startup base, not household survival, so the remittance corridor sub-score is 0.
In one line
"Israel has accepted Bitcoin at Tel Aviv storefronts since 2014, long before most governments had a rulebook. This is a market that adopted crypto because it wanted to, not because the currency forced its hand."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 3/4, trending liberalising. The Securities Authority's amendment letting non-bank Tel Aviv Stock Exchange members offer crypto trading and custody became operational in 2025, and the Finance Ministry published draft amendments classifying digital assets as capital assets at 25 percent. Both are draft-stage signals; the initial brokerage opening is narrow, covering Bitcoin and Ether first.