Policy Reference

EU Crypto Regulation

Explore EU crypto laws, including MiCA rules, exchange licensing, stablecoin regulation, taxes, AML compliance, and digital asset oversight.

European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
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Law database

31 law profiles

Law / Bill
Draft Intro Committee Passed Enacted In force
Germany Crypto-Asset Income Tax Treatment Guidance IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Einzelfragen zur ertragsteuerrechtlichen Behandlung bestimmter Kryptowerte

Germany’s 2025 BMF circular explains income tax treatment of crypto-assets, including mining, staking, lending, airdrops, ICOs, private sales, valuation and records. It replaces the 10 May 2022 circular and applies to open cases after Federal Tax Gazette publication.

Last action: Mar 20, 2026 - 2026 BMF positive list

Next: Jan 1, 2027 - §147a threshold reference changes

Profile BMF circular landing page Milestone source
Germany Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) eWpG; BGBl. I 2021, p. 1423; FNA 4134-5 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Gesetz über elektronische Wertpapiere

Germany’s eWpG provides a register-based route for issuing eligible securities electronically, including crypto securities in crypto securities registers supervised through BaFin licensing.

Last action: Feb 10, 2026 - StoFöG amendment effective

Profile Current consolidated eWpG text
Germany Electronic Securities Registers Regulation (eWpRV) eWpRV; BGBl. I 2022 p. 1882; FNA 4134-5-1 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Verordnung über Anforderungen an elektronische Wertpapierregister (eWpRV)

German regulation setting operational, documentation, access, data-security and DLT-specific requirements for central electronic registers and crypto securities registers under the eWpG.

Last action: Feb 10, 2026 - §17 repealed

Profile eWpRV, BGBl. I 2022 p. 1882
Germany Future Financing Act Tokenized Securities Amendments BGBl. 2023 I Nr. 354; Art. 13, 16 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Gesetz zur Finanzierung von zukunftssichernden Investitionen (Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz – ZuFinG)

Germany’s Future Financing Act amended company and electronic-securities law so certain shares can be issued as electronic securities, including crypto-register shares where the company’s articles permit it.

Last action: Feb 10, 2026 - StoFöG eWpG update

Profile Federal Law Gazette: ZuFinG, BGBl. 2023 I No. 354
DAC8: EU Crypto Tax Reporting Directive Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 In force Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 of 17 October 2023 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation

DAC8 expands EU tax administrative cooperation to crypto-assets, requiring reporting crypto-asset service providers to collect and report transaction data for automatic exchange among Member States.

Last action: Jan 1, 2026 - Main application date

Next: Jan 1, 2027 - Pre-existing user self-certification benchmark

Profile Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226
BaFin Crypto Custody Guidance under the Banking Act BaFin mb_200302_kryptoverwahrgeschaeft; KWG §1(1a) s.2 no.6 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Guidance notice – guidelines concerning the statutory definition of crypto custody business (section 1 (1a) sentence 2 no. 6 KWG)

BaFin’s 2020 guidance explained when crypto custody was a regulated financial service under Germany’s Banking Act. MiCAR/KMAG and the amended KWG now shape current custody supervision.

Last action: Dec 31, 2025 - KMAG transition expires

Profile BaFin crypto custody statutory-definition guidance
EU DLT Pilot Regime (Regulation (EU) 2022/858) Regulation (EU) 2022/858; CELEX: 32022R0858 In force Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Regulation (EU) 2022/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology, and amending Regulations (EU) No 600/2014 and (EU) No 909/2014 and Directive 2014/65/EU

EU pilot regime for DLT market infrastructures handling crypto-assets that qualify as MiFID II financial instruments, with supervised exemptions from parts of MiFID II, MiFIR and CSDR.

Last action: Dec 4, 2025 - Amendment package proposed

Profile Regulation (EU) 2022/858 official text
Germany Money Laundering Act Crypto-Asset AML and Transfer Regime GwG; BGBl. I 2017 p. 1822; FinmadiG BGBl. 2024 I No. 438 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Gesetz über das Aufspüren von Gewinnen aus schweren Straftaten (Geldwäschegesetz – GwG), as amended for crypto-assets and transfers.

Germany’s GwG, as amended by FinmadiG, brings MiCA crypto-asset service providers and certain ART issuers into AML scope and adds crypto-transfer/self-hosted-address due diligence alongside EU TFR travel-rule requirements.

Last action: Apr 15, 2025 - KryptoWTransferV expiry announced

Next: Jul 10, 2027 - EU AML package application

Profile Geldwäschegesetz (GwG) consolidated official text Milestone source
Germany Financial Market Digitalization Act (FinmadiG) BGBl. 2024 I Nr. 438 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Gesetz über die Digitalisierung des Finanzmarktes (Finanzmarktdigitalisierungsgesetz – FinmadiG)

Germany’s FinmadiG aligns national financial laws with MiCA, crypto transfer rules and DORA, creating KMAG and BaFin powers for crypto markets, AML transfer rules and operational resilience.

Last action: Jan 17, 2025 - DORA application date

Profile Federal Law Gazette: FinmadiG, BGBl. 2024 I No. 438
BaFin MiCAR Crypto-Asset Services Guidance BaFin Merkblatt, Jan. 2025 Effective Details Draft Draft: Completed Intro Introduced: Completed Committee In committee: Completed Passed Passed: Completed Enacted Enacted: Completed In force In force: Current

Merkblatt – Hinweise zu den Kryptowerte-Dienstleistungen nach MiCAR (Stand: Januar 2025)

BaFin’s January 2025 MiCAR guidance explains Germany’s approach to crypto-asset services, CASP authorisation, Article 60 notification and domestic-scope questions.

Last action: Jan 3, 2025 - BaFin guidance published

Profile Merkblatt Kryptowerte-Dienstleistungen nach MiCAR

Information is for general purposes only and not legal advice. See full disclaimer.