Bitcoin ATM in Germany: Fees, BaFin Authorisation and Tax

A Bitcoin ATM is a publicly sited exchange machine where you swap cash for Bitcoin. This is permitted in Germany, but only with a BaFin authorisation for the operator. It is almost always expensive: while online trading venues charge between one and one and a half percent, the markups at a machine run to ten percent and more, according to the consumer advice centre of North Rhine-Westphalia. So anyone who only wants to know whether the box in the shopping centre is legal and what it costs already has the short answer: legal yes, cheap no. This piece answers the questions that come after that. How the process works technically at the device, at what amount your ID is demanded, what happens for tax purposes when you receive coins for cash, and how to recognise a machine operated without authorisation. Unlike at a bank branch, nobody stands across the counter from the customer at a machine to answer questions. Are Bitcoin ATMs legal in Germany? Yes, though not without conditions. As long ago as September 8, 2020, BaFin clarified that publicly siting machines at which cryptocurrencies can be acquired or disposed of constitutes proprietary trading under Section 1(1) sentence 2 no. 4 lit...