A petition demanding the retention of Germany's one-year tax-free holding period for cryptocurrencies has reached the Bundestag's Petitions Committee after gathering 44,439 signatures, well above the 30,000-signature quorum required to trigger further parliamentary process.
Under current German tax law, private investors who hold cryptocurrencies for more than a year can sell them free of capital gains tax. A government draft law, the Referentenentwurf, would end that rule, taxing gains from newly acquired cryptocurrencies as capital income irrespective of how long they have been held.
Reaching the quorum does not force a political decision. It does, however, put the issue formally on the parliamentary agenda: petitioners are entitled to a public hearing before the Petitions Committee, and the responsible ministry must respond to the demand.
Former FDP Bundestag member Frank Schäffler has mounted a parallel campaign against the draft, sending form letters to CDU constituency MPs in an effort to stop the bill before it can reach cabinet review. As an alternative to scrapping the exemption, Schäffler has proposed extending the one-year tax-free holding period to stocks as well, rather than abolishing it for crypto.
ECB expands tokenisation infrastructure
Elsewhere in the region, the European Central Bank has launched Pontes, a new system linking tokenised securities with central bank money. Deutsche Bank, Deka, KfW and the Bundesbank are among the German institutions able to use Pontes to settle digital securities. The ECB plans to invest part of its own funds in tokenised securities settled through the system, with additional services and longer operating hours planned by 2028.
Raiffeisen brings Bitpanda into its network
Raiffeisen Bank International will integrate Bitpanda group-wide across its network banks, giving institutions across Central and Eastern Europe the ability to set up their own crypto services for roughly 18 million customers. The underlying infrastructure will be provided by Bitpanda Enterprise. Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien has already integrated crypto directly into its banking app since 2024.
BaFin warning
Germany's financial supervisor BaFin has warned investors about three websites—tavorello.net, spacexfy.ai and elitfinanz.com—for offering crypto asset services without the required authorisation.
