Best Bitcoin Apps in Germany 2026: Trade Republic vs. Bitpanda vs. Bison

Buying Bitcoin in Germany is easy. Buying it on the right app — and knowing what the tax office will want from you later — is where expats get caught out. Three platforms dominate the regulated end of the market: BISON, the crypto app of the Börse Stuttgart group; Bitpanda, the Austrian all-rounder with the widest selection; and Trade Republic, the Berlin neobroker many expats already use for their ETF savings plan. All three let you buy Bitcoin within minutes, and they differ in exactly the places that matter: what a trade really costs, whether you can move your coins to your own wallet, and how much help you get when the tax return is due. This guide compares the numbers, then explains the German tax rules that should drive your choice. It is general information, not investment advice.

Why regulation comes first

Since the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) took full effect at the end of 2024, any platform actively serving German customers needs a licence. That makes checking the licence your first safety test — because some of the biggest global exchanges do not have one: Binance, for example, holds no MiCA licence. Trade with an unlicensed offshore platform and your coins sit outside EU supervision, whatever the app promises. All three platforms in this comparison pass the test: BISON's operator and custody company are BaFin-licensed, Bitpanda holds a MiCA licence issued by BaFin for Germany, and Trade Republic is a BaFin-regulated securities firm. A licence does not make crypto itself safe — prices are volatile and you can lose money — but it means the company holding your coins is supervised and must keep client assets separate from its own.

The three platforms in detail

BISON — the regulated minimalist

BISON is run by EUWAX AG, part of the Börse Stuttgart group, with custody by Boerse Stuttgart Digital Custody GmbH — a thoroughly German, BaFin-licensed setup. The selection is deliberately small, around 70 cryptocurrencies, because BISON lists only established coins. There is no trading fee as such; your cost is a spread of typically around 1.25% on Bitcoin and Ethereum and around 1.75% on smaller coins. SEPA deposits are free, and savings plans start from as little as €0.01. Two features stand out for expats: you can transfer your coins out to your own wallet, and the app produces an integrated tax report that organises your trades for the German tax return — genuinely valuable at filing time.

Bitpanda — the widest shelf

Bitpanda, based in Vienna, holds a MiCA licence issued by BaFin for its German business and offers by far the broadest shelf: several hundred cryptocurrencies, plus stocks, ETFs and precious metals in the same app. There is no separate fee line; the cost is built into the quoted price — around 0.99% for Bitcoin and around 1.49% for most other coins, so roughly €9.90–14.90 on a €1,000 Bitcoin trade. Active traders can switch to Bitpanda Fusion, with maker/taker pricing from around 0.25%. Transfers to your own wallet are possible, and savings plans are available across the range.

Trade Republic — crypto inside your depot

Trade Republic is the Berlin neobroker many expats already use, BaFin-regulated and best known for ETF savings plans. It offers around 50 cryptocurrencies alongside the depot. Pricing is simple: a €1 external fee per trade plus a spread of roughly 1%. Savings plans are available, and the convenience is real — crypto, shares and ETFs in one app, one login, one annual statement. The hard limitation: Trade Republic does not let you transfer coins to an external wallet. You can only buy, hold and sell inside the app, so “not your keys, not your coins” applies in full.

What a €1,000 Bitcoin purchase really costs

The three pricing models look different but land in the same place for a typical buy: roughly €10–15 in total costs on a €1,000 Bitcoin purchase. The models matter more than the totals. A pure spread scales with trade size, while Trade Republic's flat €1 fee is trivial on €1,000 but takes 4% of a €25 trade before the spread even starts. If you trade often or in small amounts, favour a no-flat-fee model; if you buy rarely and hold, the difference is a few euros a year.

Spreads are not fixed — they widen on smaller coins and in volatile markets at all three apps, so treat these figures as typical, not guaranteed.

German crypto taxes: the one-year rule

For most expats, this section matters more than any fee table. In Germany, crypto is not taxed like shares. A sale is a private sale transaction (privates Veräußerungsgeschäft, §23 EStG), and the rules reward patience:

• Hold for more than one year, and the gain is completely tax-free. Buy Bitcoin, wait twelve months and a day, sell at a profit — the tax office gets nothing, however large the gain.
• Sell within a year, and the gain is added to your taxable income and taxed at your personal rate — up to 45% plus solidarity surcharge.
• The €1,000 threshold (Freigrenze): if your total gains from all private sales in a year stay below €1,000, you pay no tax. But it is a cliff, not an allowance: gains of €999 cost €0, while gains of €1,000 make the entire amount taxable.
• FIFO applies: the tax office treats your oldest coins as the ones sold first. Keep records of every purchase date and price — the apps' transaction histories and BISON's tax report help, but the responsibility is yours.
• Swaps count as sales. Exchanging Bitcoin for Ethereum, or paying for something with crypto, realises the gain on the coin you gave up.
• Staking and lending no longer extend the holding period — the old ten-year rule was abolished in 2022. Rewards are taxed as other income when you receive them, with a €256-per-year exemption threshold; afterwards the normal one-year clock runs on those coins.
• Nobody withholds the tax for you. Unlike shares, brokers do not deduct crypto tax automatically. Taxable sales are declared by you, in Anlage SO of your tax return.

The practical consequence: in Germany, when you sell can be worth more than where you bought. A few euros of spread difference vanish next to a tax bill you could have avoided by waiting out the year.

Reform watch: the one-year rule is under threat

One cloud on the horizon, clearly labelled as undecided: in a draft dated 30 September 2026, the Federal Finance Ministry proposed treating exchange-traded cryptocurrencies as capital income from 2028 — a flat 25% withholding tax regardless of how long you held them, which would abolish the one-year exemption. Under the draft, coins bought by 31 December 2026 would keep the old rules, so purchase dates would become decisive. As of mid-October 2026 the cabinet had not adopted the draft: it is a proposal, not law, and today's rules still apply. It is one more reason to keep clean purchase records from day one.

Which app should you choose?

Choose BISON if you are a beginner who values simplicity and paperwork help: a small, curated selection, a German exchange group behind it, wallet transfers allowed, and a tax report built for the German rules. Choose Bitpanda if you want the widest selection — hundreds of coins plus stocks, ETFs and metals in one app — or plan to trade actively via Fusion. Choose Trade Republic if your ETF savings plan already lives there and you want crypto in the same app, accepting that your coins can never leave it. And if self-custody is a principle for you, the choice narrows to BISON or Bitpanda. Whichever you pick, decide your holding period before you buy: in Germany, the calendar is part of the strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is crypto tax-free in Germany after one year? +
  Yes. Crypto gains are taxed as a private sale transaction (§23 EStG), and if you hold a coin for more than one year before selling, the gain is completely tax-free — whatever the amount. The clock runs per purchase, and the tax office applies FIFO, so your oldest coins count as sold first.
• What happens if I sell within a year? +
  The gain is added to your taxable income and taxed at your personal income-tax rate, which can reach 45% plus solidarity surcharge. One protection exists: if your total gains from all private sales in a year stay below €1,000, you pay nothing. But it is a threshold, not an allowance — at €1,000 or more, the entire gain is taxable.
• Do the apps deduct the tax automatically? +
  No. Unlike shares and ETFs, where German brokers withhold tax at source, no platform deducts crypto tax for you. If you sell within the one-year window, you declare the gain yourself in Anlage SO of your tax return. BISON's integrated tax report is designed to prepare exactly this paperwork.
• Can I move my coins to my own wallet? +
  With BISON and Bitpanda, yes — both let you transfer coins to an external wallet you control. With Trade Republic, no: you can only buy, hold and sell inside the app. If self-custody matters to you, that alone rules Trade Republic out.
• Which app is cheapest for a €1,000 Bitcoin purchase? +
  It is close to a tie: you pay roughly €10–15 in total at all three. BISON charges a spread of typically around 1.25% (≈ €12.50), Bitpanda builds around 0.99% into its price (≈ €10), and Trade Republic charges a €1 fee plus a spread of roughly 1% (≈ €11). The models differ more than the totals — a flat fee hurts small, frequent trades most.
• Will the one-year tax-free rule be abolished? +
  It is under discussion, not decided. A Finance Ministry draft from 30 September 2026 proposes taxing exchange-traded crypto as capital income from 2028 — a flat 25% regardless of holding period — with coins bought by 31 December 2026 keeping the old rules. The cabinet had not adopted the draft as of mid-October 2026, so today's rules still apply.