BaFin Rejects Bitcoin.de's MiCA License Bid, Trading Stays Halted

Published October 7, 2026, 03:45 UTC. Based on Bitcoin Group SE's ad hoc announcement of October 6, 2026.

Germany's financial regulator has refused to authorize the operator of bitcoin.de under the European Union's crypto licensing regime, leaving trading on the platform, which the company says has more than 1.1 million registered users, suspended.

The BaFin decision

Bitcoin Group SE said in an ad hoc announcement on October 6, 2026, that the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) had refused the application of its subsidiary futurum bank AG for authorization as a crypto-asset service provider under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The company said BaFin's previous tolerance of futurum bank's crypto-asset services no longer applies as a result.

Eckert calls it a setback

Moritz Eckert, chief executive of Bitcoin Group SE, called the decision a setback. According to the announcement, the implementation of the measures BaFin required was already well advanced, but in BaFin's view the current level of implementation and the progress achievable in the short term were not sufficient, making a refusal unavoidable at this point. Eckert said the company takes a different view, but had prepared for the possibility. The company said it is reviewing the decision and has the opportunity to lodge an objection, and may also submit a new MiCA application in the future.

The alternative operating model

Instead of waiting, futurum bank AG plans to sign cooperation agreements with regulated German companies and resume trading on the technologically renewed bitcoin.de app under an adapted regulatory and operational model, according to the announcement. The company said trading could resume through those partners within the next few weeks. Customer assets remain secure and customer claims remain fully intact, the announcement said.

Trading halted since June

Trading on bitcoin.de has been largely suspended since June 12, 2026. The company had planned to relaunch the platform, originally a peer-to-peer marketplace matching buyers and sellers, as a brokerage with more than 100 cryptocurrencies, swaps and staking, but postponed the launch while futurum bank awaited MiCA authorization. In an August update, the company said customers' crypto holdings had already been moved to new custody infrastructure and the old trading system had been switched off.

MiCA's teeth in Germany

The refusal is one of the sharpest enforcement signals of MiCA in Germany. The regulation took full effect across the EU on December 30, 2024. Germany's national transition period, set by the Crypto Markets Supervision Act (KMAG), which designates BaFin as the German crypto supervisor, ended December 31, 2025, six months before the EU-wide transition ended on July 1, 2026. Separately, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, withdrew its MiCA application in Greece on June 24, 2026, days before the deadline, and EU regulators including the European Securities and Markets Authority and authorities in France, Germany and Greece have since been examining its use of MiCA exemptions, according to a Financial Times report published October 1, 2026.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Bitcoin Group SE, Ad hoc announcement: BaFin refuses MiCAR authorisation applied for by futurum bank AG (October 6, 2026), primary source
• Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.de Seeks New Model After BaFin Rejects MiCA Bid (October 7, 2026), secondary source