Euro trading pairs on cryptocurrency exchanges: 34 of the 399 assets on the Coinbase exchange have a

Euro trading pairs or detours: technical details when buying crypto assets

People who buy crypto assets in Germany need to take out euros. However, whether or not a trading platform offers an order book in euros depends on the platform's product strategy, not investor preference. On August 17, 2026, we counted how many tradable assets actually owned euro trading pairs out of the four exchanges available in Europe. The results range from full coverage to an exchange where only one out of every twelve assets is quoted in euros, with wide variations.

This difference is not insignificant. In the absence of euro transaction matching, the path to the target token requires an intermediate step that constitutes a separate transaction from a tax perspective. One purchase becomes two transactions, the second transaction may fall within the scope of a private disposal transaction under Article 23 of the German Income Tax Act.

Euro trading pairs or detours: What happens in practice

A trading pair consists of the underlying asset and the denominated currency. In the SOL/EUR trading pair, Solana is the underlying asset and the euro is the denominated currency: you pay euros and get Solana, and the whole process is one transaction, one price. If the trading pair does not exist, the only way to obtain the token through the exchange's order book is to first buy other assets that the exchange accepts as the denominated currency. Typically this means U.S. dollar or U.S. dollar stablecoin (such as USDT or USDC).

So a transaction becomes a chain. First you convert euros into intermediate assets, and then use the intermediate assets to exchange target tokens. When selling, the same chain proceeds in reverse. Each step has its own price, transaction costs, and what is easily overlooked-its own tax attributes.

Survey on August 17, 2026: Four exchanges had a total of 2629 trading pairs

We retrieved the open market catalogs of four exchanges that serve or are accessible to German customers: Bitvavo, Kraken, Bitstamp and Coinbase exchanges. All four interfaces return HTTP 200 status codes. We only evaluated trading pairs that were active and tradable at the time of retrieval; trading pairs that had been suspended, removed, or only announced were not included in the statistics. From these pairs, we derive the underlying asset set for each exchange and check how many of them have at least one euro order book. Pure currency pairs (i.e., fiat money itself as the underlying asset) have been eliminated because they artificially lower ratios.

This analysis covers a total of 2629 active trading pairs and 821 different underlying assets. The method is simple and straightforward, and anyone calling the same address can be repeated. However, it measures only what is displayed in the order book. Additional products offered by the exchange through the buy or redemption interface are not among them, and we will discuss this in detail below.

Coinbase Exchange: 34 of 399 assets have euro trading pairs

The clearest finding in the investigation involved the Coinbase exchange, the platform's orderbook venue. The platform has a total of 517 active trading pairs involving 399 underlying assets. Among them, 34 assets are in the euro order book, accounting for 8.5%. The U.S. dollar dominates, with 397 trading pairs; 352 of the 399 assets are not denominated in any other currency than the U.S. dollar.

The assets traded in euros on this platform are basically large-scale, long-standing assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, Litecoin and Dogecoin. In contrast, many of the assets that do appear in the German portfolio do not have euro trading pairs: Sui, Aptos, Arbitrum, Optimism, Near, Hedera, Toncoin, Render, Aggressive, Celestia, Sei, Ondo, Ethena and Lido are among the 365 assets that do not have a euro order book at the reference date.

Kraken, Bitstamp and Bitvavo: How big is the difference in euro coverage

At the other end of the spectrum is Bitvavo. The platform lists 440 active trading pairs, of which 429 are against the euro and 11 are against the USDC. As a result, all 428 underlying assets evaluated have euro order books, with a coverage rate of 100%. This is no accident, but a structural reflection of its tailor-made structure for the European market.

Bitstamp has 298 active trading pairs and 137 underlying assets, of which 132 are quoted in euros, accounting for 96.4%. Five exceptions are special circumstances: two U.S. dollar stablecoins, an Ethereum pledged derivative, and Zcash and ZKsync.

Kraken operates the broadest market to date, with 1374 trading pairs. Among the 621 underlying assets, 519 have euro order books, accounting for 83.6%. Almost all of the 102 assets that do not have euro trading pairs are young or very small tokens; the more well-known ones include Decred, Casper, OKB, Coin98, Wemix, and several Ethereum liquidity pledge tokens. If investors are size-oriented when choosing, there will be few gaps on this exchange.

When direct trading pairs are missing, intermediate assets become bridges. From a tax perspective, it is always an independent asset with its own holding period.

Among the 821 assets, 167 have no euro trading pairs on the four exchanges.

The four exchanges overlap, resulting in a total of 821 different underlying assets. Of these, 654 assets have euro order books on at least one exchange. For 167 assets (more than one-fifth), we found no euro pairs on any of the four exchanges.

This number is the most practical point in the entire survey because it describes both the way out and its limitations. Within a single exchange, the gap can be filled by switching platforms. But for these 167 assets, switching within the scope of our testing doesn't help: Anyone who wants to buy them through the order book cannot bypass the intermediate steps.

What does the order book survey result mean for the redemption interface

A limit needs to be made here, otherwise the numbers will be misunderstood. What we count is the order book. Almost all large providers also operate simplified buying interfaces, often referred to as "quick buy" or "redemption", through which assets without euro trading pairs can be purchased in euros with one click. This clearly applies to Coinbase, whose app displays euro amounts to German customers, although the order book behind it is mainly quoted in US dollars.

The difference is what happens at the moment of clicking and how much you can see. In the order book, you can see supply, demand and your expenses separately. In the quick purchase interface, you get a single final price that already includes redemption and provider profits. Whether providers route internally through U.S. dollars and how they book accounts are not known from the outside. Therefore, our investigation does not mean that you cannot buy these assets in euros. The conclusion is that there is no publicly quoted euro market on these exchanges.

Converting crypto assets constitutes disposal: Article 23 How EStG views detours

From a tax perspective, the German tax authorities 'exchange of one crypto asset for another is regarded as a disposal of abandoned assets and an acquisition of received assets. This is the key to why the chain mentioned in the first part can become expensive. The first step from euro to intermediate asset is pure acquisition, which does not trigger any tax event per se. The second step, from the intermediate asset to the target token, is the disposal of the intermediate asset.

Buying directly through euro trading pairs would never occur. You only have one acquisition, one acquisition date and one acquisition cost denominated in euros. By taking the detour, you go through two acquisitions and one disposal, and it all happens less than a day after you hold the actual target token. When selling, the same situation repeats itself.

The holding period is recalculated from the intermediate token

The one-year rule applies to private disposal transactions: if there is more than twelve months between the acquisition and disposal, the proceeds are exempt from tax. This period applies to individual assets rather than the entire portfolio or investment concept.

For intermediate assets, this means that it has its own holding period, which is usually very short. Exchange euros for USDT today, and exchange USDT for target tokens two minutes later, then you will hold the stablecoin for two minutes. The income within these two minutes belongs to the income within a one-year period, so in principle, tax is required. The size of the amount does not change its mechanism, but only affects the scale.

USDT is a U.S. dollar asset: Why you're betting on exchange rates too

This is a point that is often ignored in practice. The USDT and USDC are pegged to the U.S. dollar rather than the euro. Therefore, the two remain stable against the US dollar. But for investors in euros, the dollar stablecoin is not a static asset, but a foreign exchange position.

Taxable income is determined in euros and comes from the difference between the euro-denominated acquisition costs and the euro-denominated disposal income. If the exchange rate changes between your two steps, then even if the stablecoin remains unchanged against the U.S. dollar, there will be a gain or loss. For redemption that lasts several seconds, this does not matter. But if you hold intermediate assets for days or weeks, such as waiting for the entry price, then you will fully bear this exchange rate fluctuation.

The dollar stablecoin remained static against the dollar. But your earnings are still measured in euros.

2.72% fluctuation range: Changes in the ECB's reference exchange rate over a three-month period

How big this fluctuation is can be seen from official data. We calculated the European Central Bank's euro reference exchange rate for the past 90 days (May 18 to August 14, 2026, a total of 65 bank working days). During this period, the reference exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar fluctuated between 1.1340 and 1.1649; on August 14 it was 1.1567. The difference between the lowest and highest values is 2.72%.

Anyone who deposits funds in a U.S. dollar stablecoin during this period will therefore experience fluctuations of this magnitude, with the direction depending on when it comes in and out. This is not a forecast for the next few months and cannot be extrapolated; it is just a measured range for a quarter that has ended. But the number does help to see the proportions: Exchange rates are a bigger item than many transaction costs, which are often a few tenths of a percent.

EUR 1000 threshold and records: Why many small conversions become troublesome

A tax exemption threshold of € 1000 per year applies to private disposal transactions. If the total proceeds of such transactions are below this amount, no tax will be required. Once exceeded, the entire amount (not the excess) will be subject to tax. This makes many small intermediate steps less tax issues than bookkeeping issues: they all need to be calculated, and you have to know them to understand your overall situation.

In practice, this means that each detour adds two lines to your record, including date, time, quantity and euro equivalent. For fixed investment plans executed monthly, one position will generate more than 20 additional transactions a year. Investment portfolios and tax tools that can extract historical records directly from exchanges are created for this purpose. People without such tools have more reason to avoid detours.

Redemption and quick purchase: Why does convenient routes hide price differences?

So here's the question: Wouldn't detour through the quick purchase interface be a more convenient solution? It's certainly more convenient, but rarely cheaper. A single final price makes it impossible to tell how much is market exchange rate and how much is profit. In the order book, you can see the spread and express fees separately and compare them with other exchanges.

The visible price component of the crypto exchange only covers part of the cost, which we measured separately on August 17, 2026: in the analysis of withdrawal fees and actual network fees, the difference in Bitcoin reached eight to sixteen times. To understand the total cost of a position, you must also consider the trading path, redemption steps and withdrawal fees.

Limitations of this analysis: What we did not investigate

This survey is a snapshot at a single point in time. Exchanges will continue to list and cancel pairs; today's ratios may vary in a month. We have no time series data.

The four exchanges are not the entire market. We chose Bitvavo, Kraken, Bitstamp and Coinbase exchanges because their market catalogs are open and can be retrieved without registration. Other equally obvious options for German investors could not be included for technical reasons: Binance's public search returned HTTP 451 errors, Bitpanda returned HTTP 401, and Bison returned HTTP 403. Our analysis does not express an opinion on its euro coverage.

We also do not measure transaction costs, liquidity in each euro order book, or actual transaction prices. The existence of euro pairs does not mean that there is sufficient trading volume; illiquid euro order books may in some cases execute worse than detours. We have never placed any orders. In addition, we are not tax advisers: the tax treatment described here reflects the overall framework and is not a substitute for case-specific recommendations.

Checking euro trading pairs: Practical Points

Check whether your assets have a euro order book before buying. The market overview for each exchange displays the available trading pairs. If you only find a dollar or stablecoin trading pair, you know in advance that the intermediate steps are coming. Which authorized providers view the euro as the rule rather than the exception, please refer to the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Minimize the time spent holding intermediate assets. When a detour is unavoidable, perform two consecutive steps immediately. The longer you hold a U.S. dollar stablecoin, the greater the exchange rate fluctuations you will introduce into taxable transactions you did not intend to enter into. If you are looking for a new exchange, crypto exchange comparison can help you narrow your candidate list.

Record each intermediate step immediately. Dates, times, quantities and euro equivalents should all be filed and do not wait until next year. Tools that can pull history directly from the exchange can save you this trouble; see Comparison of Crypto Tax Tools and Portfolio Trackers for options.

(As of August 17, 2026. This article does not constitute investment advice. Price and fee structures may change; please check terms with your provider before purchasing.)