Germany's crypto tax draft would take about 13% of the sale price from holders without receipts

The 50% default is an assumed purchase price. Without credible proof of cost, the state would book every coin as bought at half its sale value, on the premise, as Hansen described it, that the asset doubled ^[2]. Apply the combined 26.375% rate to that base and an undocumented sale owes 13.19% of gross proceeds ^[1][1]. The default bill and the documented bill match in one case only, a coin that exactly doubled ^[2].

Below a double, the default costs more. A holder who bought for 10,000 euros and sold for 8,000 has a loss and owes nothing on documented figures. Under the default the same sale owes about 1,055 euros ^[3]. Patrick Hansen works at Circle, the largest issuer of stablecoins licensed under the EU's MiCA rules ^[6]. He wrote that the rule "will hit normal consumers/investors particularly hard," and named people "who in recent years have sometimes bought with little profit or even at a loss" ^[3]. He called the doubling assumption too high given Bitcoin's annual decline and weak altcoins, and said it could tax gains that do not exist ^[4]. (The draft as reported would exempt certain stablecoins ^[13]; the 26.375% he objects to lands on Bitcoin and Ethereum holders ^[1].)

Above a double, the default is the smaller bill. Buy at 2,000 euros and sell at 10,000, and documented tax is about 2,110 euros against roughly 1,319 under the 50% base ^[4]. The report does not say how the Finance Ministry would treat a holder who declines to document a winner.

"The protection of existing holdings effectively depends on reliable documentation," David Hoetzel, an associate partner at the Poellath law firm, said ^[8]. The old rules survive only for coins bought before the cutoff ^[9]. That means a record now has to prove two things: what a lot cost, and which side of the date it was bought on. The ministry will accept tax returns, exchange transaction records and structured personal spreadsheets as support ^[10].

If the final text lowers the base, every default figure above shrinks in proportion ^[7][1]. If the base survives at 50%, I'd expect it to hit hardest on holders whose history sits outside a single exchange's export, since the ministry already counts exchange records and spreadsheets as proof ^[10][11]. The other version is a roughly 13% levy on proceeds for everyone who kept nothing ^[1]. Hansen's complaint points to that version. His concern is people who "don't even notice this regulatory change," and an exchange export helps only someone who knew to save it ^[3].

Germany is also leaving coins already held alone. Today retail sellers generally owe nothing when they cash out, and the draft would tax gains on new purchases whatever the holding period ^[12]. Day traders come out ahead, since the flat rate replaces a top income-tax rate of 45%, a cut of about 18.6 points ^[14][6].