Three routes and no dates: BaFin rejects Bitcoin.de's MiCAR license, Futurum Bank AG continues to h

Must read for Bitcoin.de users: Asset Security and Response Strategies after License Denial

If you hold cryptocurrency assets at bitcoin.de, the short answer is: From the operator's perspective, your balance still exists, but you cannot trade for the time being. The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has refused authorization from bitcoin.de operator futurum bank AG as a crypto asset service provider. Parent company Bitcoin Group SE announced the news in a mandatory disclosure on Tuesday, October 6, while saying customer assets will continue to be held safely until transferred to an alternative regulated custodian and all customer rights will not be affected.

This ongoing process now has results. At the end of September, the situation was still that the application was still in the hands of regulators and the platform was waiting for permission; we reported on this in our September 29 article. This article will explain the practical consequences of this refusal decision: what will happen to your balance, what paths Bitcoin Group SE itself points out are feasible, how changing custodians will affect the duration of your position, and how to verify through other exchanges whether they have the license that was just denied here.

BaFin rejects MiCAR authorization and tolerates the transition period

MiCAR, the EU Cryptographic Asset Markets Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, which stipulates who can commercially provide crypto asset services within the EU, and the obligations that come with it. Crypto Asset Services refers to any commercial activity involving other people's cryptographic assets, including exchanges, trading venue operations to custody, etc. Any service provider needs to be authorized by the competent regulatory body; in Germany, this is BaFin.

It was this authorization that the authorities rejected futurum bank AG. Bitcoin Group SE's disclosure document contained a game-changing sentence: "With this decision, futurum bank AG's previous regulatory tolerance in providing crypto asset services no longer exists." Regulatory tolerance refers to the tacit acceptance of an activity by a regulatory agency during the operation of a program. This is not a permit, and once the process makes a decision, tolerance ends.

The company itself relayed the reasons. Based on the disclosure documents, BaFin believes that the current level of implementation and operationalization progress, as well as further progress that can be achieved in the short term, is insufficient, making it inevitable to refuse authorization at this stage. In the same disclosure, Bitcoin Group SE CEO Moritz Eckert called the decision a setback, arguing it was materially incorrect, and noted that progress had been made in implementing the required points. This is the account of the affected companies; there is no official reasoning issued by regulators on the matter.

It is important to realize that denied authorizations are administrative decisions about organizational, process and document requirements. It does not involve the company's solvency, nor does it deny the existence of customer rights.

Wording on custody: Client assets are protected and rights are not affected

For you as a customer, everything depends on the two sentences in mandatory disclosure. First sentence: Futurum bank AG will continue to hold customer assets safely until they are transferred to an alternative regulated custodian. Second sentence: All customer rights and interests will not be affected. These two sentences appeared in a public company's announcement, which means that the company is responsible for the content.

Custody here means that the service provider holds the keys to your cryptographic assets and manages them for you, while the assets still belong to you financially. It is this separation between "hold" and "ownership" that explains why the disclosure document makes two separate commitments: one about custody and one about interests.

What is not mentioned in the disclosure document is equally important. It did not state the date of the transfer to the alternative custodian, did not name future custodians, and did not mention when withdrawals might begin. It is only announced that futurum bank AG will inform customers of the specific arrangements, the steps and timetable required by customers on its official website in the near future. As a result, anyone planning to withdraw money today can only confirm the existence of the asset and cannot determine the date.

Prior to the transfer to an alternative regulated custodian, customer assets remained held by futurum bank AG, according to Bitcoin Group SE.

From Markets to Brokers: Timeline since June 12

此次拒绝打击的是一个几个月来未正常运行的平台。据行业出版物 Cointelegraph 报道，bitcoin.de 的交易自6月12日起已基本暂停。背后是一个重建过程：原本直接撮合买卖双方的原始市场将被改造成一个经纪商模式，支持一百多种加密货币，具备兑换功能和质押功能。原定于6月底发布，但因缺乏授权而推迟。

据同一报道，8月份的一份声明称，客户的持仓已移至新的托管基础设施，旧的交易系统已关闭。这解释了为何此处持仓和交易是两回事：资产位于新环境中，只是上面的交易市场缺失了。我们在8月份的文章中阐述了僵局是如何开始的，并在另一篇文章中涵盖了8月底股东大会对此产生的结果。

这一情况的规模使其具有相关性：Bitcoin Group SE 声称 bitcoin.de 拥有超过110万注册用户，运营历史超过十年。据其自身称，该公司持有 futurum bank AG 100%的股份和 Sineus Financial Services GmbH（一家受 BaFin 监督的投资公司）50%的股份。因此，受影响者并非小众群体，而是德国加密市场中最知名的地址之一。

加密货币不是存款：此处不适用存款保险

此时，一种期望会破灭。法定存款担保保护每个客户在每个机构高达10万欧元的账户资金。然而，加密货币不是存款，而是托管资产，在德国没有针对加密余额的存款保险；我们在10月4日的《加密市场监督法》概览中对此进行了描述。

取代存款保险的是另一个原则：资产隔离。托管的加密资产应与服务提供商自身的资产分开存放，《加密市场监督法》第45条规定了在破产情况下如何分配托管的加密资产。这是德国每个托管人的通用规则。这并非对 futurum bank AG 状况的陈述；就其自身状况而言，Bitcoin Group SE 表示所有客户权益均不受影响。

在实践中，这意味着您余额的保护不依赖于保证基金，而是依赖于资产保持干净的隔离并正确转移。这就是为什么宣布转向受监管托管方是未来几周的决定性事件，也值得阅读相关的官方公告。

异议、重新申请、合作：Bitcoin Group SE 的三条路径

披露文件列出了三条路径，且都没有日期。第一条是异议，即向发出行政行为的机构提出的正式上诉。公司写道，他们正在审查该决定，并有提出异议的机会。披露文件中未规定截止日期；任何给出具体截止日期的人都不是从本来源读取的信息。

The second path is to re-apply for MiCAR authorization at a later time. The third is the path the company claims it is currently pursuing: strike a cooperation agreement with a regulated German company, one for trading and one for custody, making transactions possible again through the technologically updated bitcoin.de application. The time frame given in the disclosure document is: "in the next few weeks."

For you, the combination of three paths and zero dates means one thing: the current lack of predictability. Anyone who relies on trading at a specific moment should not rely on undate guarantees for this position. Anyone who can let assets stay, based on the wording of the disclosure document, has no reason to make a hasty decision.

Whoever owns the key is not limited to the license of any single service provider.

Impact of changing custodians on position periods and documentation

For privately held crypto assets, Article 23 of the German Income Tax Law applies a one-year position period : If more than twelve months exist between acquisition and disposal, the proceeds of private disposal are exempt. Tax liability applies within one year, proving that the responsibility for the acquisition date and acquisition cost lies with you, not the platform.

转移至另一个托管方在税务方面触发什么后果，取决于 futurd bank AG 尚未公布的具体安排。只要这些条件开放，任何笼统的声明都是不负责任的。需要做的是准备工作：在账户仍可访问时，立即导出完整的交易记录，保存账户对账单和交易记录，并注明每种加密货币资产的持仓日期及数量。如果后来更换托管方，您将拥有白纸黑字的早期持仓记录。

准备工作的第二部分涉及托管本身。硬件钱包是一种将私钥离线存储的设备，这样服务提供商就不会介入您与加密资产之间。任何打算长期持有部分库存的人都可以将这部分资产从对授权程序的依赖中移除；市场比较可在我们的硬件钱包概览中找到。为此付出的代价是个人责任：谁丢失了密钥，谁就丢失了硬币，且无人能找回。

过渡期许可、KMAG 和公司数据库：决定的背景

MiCAR 在整个欧盟范围内直接适用，但不包含德国的程序规则。这一空白由《加密市场监督法》（简称 KMAG）填补：它是 MiCA 法规的德国实施版本，作为《金融市场数字化法》第1条生效，并取代了银行法中的加密规则（此前被视为加密托管业务）。

理解本案的关键是过渡期许可: According to KMAG Article 50, providers already on the market are allowed to continue working while applying for a new authorization. The transitional period permit expired on December 31, 2025. Since then, German crypto providers no longer have gray areas, which is why the tolerance state mentioned in the disclosure document has become the last resort for operations. The detailed obligations arising from authorizations are listed separately in the MiCA Obligations Overview.

Anyone who wants to complain about the relationship between customers and providers can also find a way in the regulations: the applicable period of application of the complaint process and when it will be introduced to the regulatory body were explained in August.

How to check the visibility of MiCAR authorizations on other exchanges

This case provides a test question that goes beyond bitcoin.de: Does the provider holding your funds and coins actually own the license, or is it just in the process of application? Two registers can answer this question. BaFin's corporate database is the official register granted by Germany; the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) public register lists authorized crypto asset service providers throughout the alliance. If a provider is not among them, this is not a matter of detail, but the answer.

There are two qualifications related to this. First, the entry does not state price loss: the authorization covers supervision, capital and organizational requirements, and it is not a guarantee of your funds, nor is it a promise of price increases. Secondly, there are often cases on websites where other companies 'real registration numbers are used for publicity; therefore, it only makes sense through cross-checking of names, addresses, and domain names. Which locations in Germany can display licenses and their differences in fees and options are shown in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

A little note on our market environment

Bitcoin and large altcoins continue to operate independently of this program. The denial involved only access through a specific provider, not the crypto asset itself.

bitcoin.de: Your next three steps

1. lock in positions and history while access remains. Export transaction, acquisition data and account statements and archive them separately from the platform. Tools that can permanently record these can be found in our Tax and Portfolio Tool Comparison.
2. Wait for official announcement, ignore third parties. Bitcoin Group SE has announced that it will publish the timetable and required steps on its official website. In this case, so-called helpers will usually contact you via email, phone, or instant messaging software; no one will credibly ask for your mnemonic words or ask for a prepayment to recover money. If you need an alternative venue, please choose from a comparison of regulated crypto exchanges and check your own registration entries.
3. Move long-held portions out of third-party custody. Assets that are intended to be held for a certain period of time should not be placed on the trading floor in any case. Which devices are suitable candidates and their differences are detailed in the Hardware Wallet Comparison.

(As of October 7, 2026. This article does not constitute investment advice. Price and fee structures are subject to change; please check terms with your provider before purchasing.)