Crypto Germany

BaFin, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, has issued more authorizations under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) than any other national regulator, 69 by August 2026 against 35 in France and 29 in the Netherlands. A MiCA license is valid across the EU once granted, so a firm can choose where to apply, and Germany's supervisor became the preferred choice for a number of large platforms.

Bitpanda, a retail crypto platform founded in Austria, was among the first large companies to receive a MiCA license, and it took that license from BaFin. The exchange Kraken holds its MiCA authorization from the Central Bank of Ireland, which granted it to two Payward companies on 25 June 2025 according to the ESMA register.

Custody and exchange services for crypto-assets fall under MiCA, supervised in Germany by BaFin. A German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, KWG) license remains relevant for qualified custody of cryptographic instruments excluded from MiCA, rather than as an extra requirement for every crypto custodian. Several established German banks have integrated regulated crypto services into their existing business. DZ Bank, the country's second-largest financial institution, received BaFin approval to launch a crypto trading platform for the cooperative banking sector under MiCA.

DekaBank, the asset manager and securities services bank owned by the savings bank sector, received approval from BaFin and the European Central Bank to offer crypto custody. Until then, custody had mostly been the business of specialist firms, not a bank as large as DekaBank. For institutional investors, Deutsche Börse in Frankfurt runs the Deutsche Börse Digital Exchange, a regulated spot venue for crypto-asset trading.

For a private individual, gains from selling bitcoin or other crypto-assets held for more than one year are tax free under section 23 of the Einkommensteuergesetz, with no upper limit on the tax-free amount. Gains realized within a year of purchase are taxed as other income, though a small yearly allowance for private sales still applies.

Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance has drafted a bill that would replace the one-year exemption with flat capital income taxation for covered crypto-assets acquired or received from 2027, closer to how gains on shares are already taxed. Withholding would begin in 2028, and the proposal has not become law. Investors and tax advisers are watching the draft, since it would end a rule that has set German tax treatment of crypto apart from most other EU countries.

Compliance teams at exchanges and custodians spend much of their working time on MiCA's daily requirements: travel rule data attached to every transfer, and the market abuse rules the regulation writes specifically for crypto-assets. Because BaFin issues so many of the EU's licenses, German-licensed firms also watch how the European Securities and Markets Authority coordinates supervision across member states, since a license from one country now carries obligations that other regulators can question.

On the bank side, the arrival of DZ Bank and DekaBank changes who a retail or institutional customer can buy crypto-assets from, moving part of the market away from crypto-only platforms and into accounts customers already hold. Someone new to the field should distinguish MiCA authorization for crypto-asset services, including custody, from the KWG license for qualified custody of cryptographic instruments excluded from MiCA, since the assets and activities determine which permissions a firm needs.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for people who build, run and regulate crypto businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities and holds events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

Finance Loop partners with OKX, a crypto exchange operating under a MiCA license in Europe, and supported the Bybit EU Crypto Evening at TechQuartier, where a senior Bybit policy director spoke on compliance under MiCAR. Finance Loop is also a founding member of the German Bitcoin Association and a member of Bundesblock, the German blockchain federal association. Finance Loop sponsored the CAC 2025 in Frankfurt and partnered with the Crypto Assets Conference 2026. Finance Loop has a long-term partnership with BTC-ECHO, the German-language media platform for Bitcoin and blockchain, supported the German Blockchain & AI Week 2025 in Berlin, and holds finance and web3 events in Munich with W3MUC and DLT Germany. Related pages: crypto in Frankfurt, MiCA in Germany, tokenization in Germany and bitcoin in Germany.

A crypto exchange, broker or custodian needs the applicable MiCA authorization to provide crypto-asset services, including custody, with BaFin responsible in Germany. A KWG license applies separately to qualified custody of cryptographic instruments excluded from MiCA. The fintech contact point at BaFin helps a new company determine which permissions its model needs.

For a private investor, gains on crypto-assets held for more than a year are currently tax free with no cap, under section 23 of the Einkommensteuergesetz. Gains on assets sold within a year are taxable. A draft bill would end the one-year exemption for covered crypto-assets acquired or received from 2027, with withholding from 2028. The proposal has not become law, so future treatment remains subject to the legislative process.

DZ Bank, the central institution for Germany's cooperative banks, launched a MiCA-licensed crypto trading platform, and DekaBank, owned by the savings bank sector, received approval for crypto custody from BaFin and the ECB. Both give a retail or institutional customer a way to buy crypto-assets through accounts already held there, alongside specialist platforms such as Bitpanda and Kraken.