Is Crypto Legal in Germany?

Germany applies the crypto travel rule through Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 from 30 December 2024, with no minimum threshold for crypto-asset transfers; GwG § 6(4a) obliges crypto-asset service providers to ensure compliance, BaFin supervises them (GwG § 50), and transfers over EUR 1,000 to or from a self-hosted address require a check that the client owns or controls it.

Under Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, applicable in Germany since 30 December 2024, the originator's crypto-asset service provider must send with every crypto transfer the originator's name, distributed-ledger address or crypto-asset account number, and address, official document number, customer number or date and place of birth (Art 14(1)), plus the beneficiary's name and address or account (Art 14(2)).

Grace periods for missing travel-rule protocols under Germany's 2021 national crypto transfer ordinance are superseded as the operative regime: since 30 December 2024 the directly applicable Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 governs crypto transfers, and GwG § 6(4a) requires crypto-asset service providers to take adequate measures to ensure compliance with it.

German AML law now refers to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 for crypto transfers: FinmadiG Art 8 defined it in GwG § 1(28) and § 1(29)–(30) and requires crypto-asset service providers to take adequate measures to ensure compliance with it (GwG § 6(4a)); Regulation 2015/847 is no longer the basis of the crypto travel rule.

Germany taxes an individual's gain from the private sale of 'other assets' (andere Wirtschaftsgüter) only when acquisition and sale are no more than one year apart (EStG §23(1) S.1 Nr.2), and leaves the year's total private-sale gain untaxed when it is below €1,000 (EStG §23(3) S.5). Corporations are taxed differently: all income of a German corporation is treated as business income (KStG §8(2)).

Gains from private sales within one year of acquisition are taxed at the individual's progressive income-tax rate (for 2026: 0% up to the €12,348 Grundfreibetrag, top rate 45% from €277,826 taxable income; EStG §32a(1)), but stay tax-free when the year's total private-sale gain is below €1,000 (EStG §23(3) S.5).

A private sale of an 'other asset' held for more than one year is outside EStG §23(1) S.1 Nr.2, so the gain is not taxed whatever its amount; the holding period rises to ten years for assets from whose use as a source of income income was earned in at least one calendar year (EStG §23(1) S.1 Nr.2 S.4).

Losses from private sales under EStG §23 may only be set against private-sale gains of the same calendar year; unused losses reduce private-sale gains of the immediately preceding year or of later years under the rules of §10d (EStG §23(3) S.7–8), and cannot be set against other income.

Gains from crypto derivatives settled in cash (Termingeschäfte with a Differenzausgleich) are capital income under EStG §20(2) S.1 Nr.3, taxed at the 25% flat rate (EStG §32d(1)) plus the 5.5% solidarity surcharge (SolzG 1995 §4), with no one-year exemption; capital income is reduced by the annual Sparer-Pauschbetrag of €1,000 (€2,000 for jointly assessed spouses; EStG §20(9)).

Income from units in an investment fund, including a fund investing in crypto-assets, is 'Investmenterträge' (distributions, Vorabpauschalen and gains on selling the units; InvStG 2018 §16(1)), which counts as capital income under EStG §20(1) Nr.3 and is taxed at the 25% flat rate of EStG §32d(1), with no one-year exemption.

Mining, staking, referrals, or payments received in crypto: Taxed as income at disposal or receipt (market value), with rates up to 45%; hobby miners cannot deduct costs, but businesses can.

Income from services taxed as other income under EStG §22 Nr.3 (e.g. occasional brokerage or the letting of movable items) is not subject to income tax when it totals less than €256 in the calendar year; above that the whole amount is taxable, and losses from such income may only be set against §22 Nr.3 income.

NFTs: Taxed like crypto-assets (no specific guidance).

German annual tax returns for a calendar year are due seven months after its end, i.e. by 31 July of the following year, unless tax law provides otherwise; later deadlines apply where a tax adviser prepares the return (AO §149(2)–(3)). The BZSt's 31 July date is a separate duty of crypto-asset service providers to report user data under KStTG §9(1), not a filing channel for individuals.

Crypto gains of a German corporation (GmbH, AG) are business income because all income of such corporations is treated as business income (KStG §8(2)); they bear corporate income tax of 15% for assessment periods up to 2027, falling one point a year to 10% from 2032 (KStG §23(1)), plus municipal trade tax on a 3.5% base rate multiplied by the municipality's Hebesatz (GewStG §§2(2), 11(2)).

The core German income-tax rules for private crypto holders are in the Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG): §22 Nr.2 with §23 (private sales, one-year holding period, €1,000 exemption limit, loss ring-fence) and §22 Nr.3 (other income from services, €256 exemption limit).

Under the Kryptowerte-Steuertransparenz-Gesetz (KStTG) of 22 December 2025 (BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 352, Germany's DAC8 transposition, in force 24 December 2025), crypto-asset service providers must report data on reportable users to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) annually by 31 July for the preceding reporting period (KStTG §9(1)); the duties apply for the first time to calendar year 2026 (KStTG §21).

BMF Guidance: Official letter (March 6, 2025) on crypto income tax: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Downloads/BMF_Schreiben/Steuerarten/Einkommensteuer/2025-03-06-einzelfragen-kryptowerte-englisch.pdf?blob=publicationFile&v=2

No German primary source records a 2009 tax classification of crypto-assets as private assets; the claim of an unchanged policy from 2009 through 2026 could not be verified.