One of Germany’s oldest crypto exchanges is stuck in limbo after the country’s financial regulator rejected its license application under the European Union’s MiCA rules, leaving customers waiting months longer for trading to return.
By Ana Gonzalez | October 8, 2026
Bitcoin.de, the trading platform operated by Bitcoin Group SE, has kept most of its trading suspended after Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, better known as BaFin, refused the MiCA application filed by the company’s banking subsidiary, futurum bank AG. For regular investors in Germany’s crypto market, the decision is a stark reminder that even long-established platforms can be forced offline by paperwork rather than by hackers or market crashes.
What Exactly Happened
Bitcoin Group announced on October 6 that BaFin rejected the application that futurum bank had submitted on June 27, 2025. The licensing process dragged on for more than 15 months, and during that time trading on Bitcoin.de has been largely unavailable since June 12, 2026. BaFin also informed futurum bank that its previous tolerance for providing crypto-asset services no longer applies, according to the company’s disclosure.
The company can lodge an objection within one month after being formally notified of the decision, and it says it is reviewing its options, including an objection or a brand-new MiCA application at a later date.
Why the Regulator Said No
Bitcoin Group’s own account of the regulator’s position is that BaFin considered futurum bank’s current implementation and operational readiness insufficient for authorization. In plain terms, the regulator was not convinced the bank was ready to run a modern crypto trading business under the strict new EU rulebook. The company disagrees with that assessment and says work on the measures BaFin requested was already well advanced, but BaFin has not published a detailed public decision explaining each reason for the refusal.
The backdrop matters here. Under MiCA — the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation — firms providing covered crypto services need authorization from their national regulator. Existing firms were allowed to keep operating under temporary national arrangements, but regulators in Europe have made clear that those grace periods are ending. Germany has become one of the EU’s largest crypto markets, and BaFin has shown it would rather force a platform to pause than let it operate without full approval.
The New Plan: Borrowed Licenses
Rather than waiting for another license application to run its course, futurum bank plans to rebuild Bitcoin.de around regulated partners. One regulated institution would initially act as the trading counterparty for Bitcoin.de customers, while another regulated German company would hold customer crypto assets. Neither partner has been named yet.
The frustration for the company is timing. Just one week before the BaFin decision, Bitcoin Group said its new platform, website and mobile app had been technologically completed and had passed functional and security testing. The planned product range included more than 100 cryptocurrencies, crypto swaps, savings plans and staking, with investments starting from as little as one euro. All of those plans were tied to regulatory approval that never came.
The partner-based setup is not a novel invention. Nexo, another platform serving European customers, already routes custody through the German provider Tangany and brokerage services through DLT Finance to keep operating in the European Economic Area. Bitcoin Group has not said whether its structure will mirror that arrangement.
What This Means for Your Crypto
If you hold crypto on Bitcoin.de, the company says futurum bank will keep custody of your assets until they are moved to the planned regulated custodian, and that customer claims remain intact. Bitcoin Group CEO Moritz Eckert called the decision “a setback for us” but said the company is working to restore trading through the rebuilt app within the next few weeks. No firm reopening date has been announced, so treat any timeline as a goal rather than a promise.
The broader lesson for European investors is simple: the MiCA transition is not an abstract regulatory debate. It decides which platforms can keep serving you, and a missed application can take a functioning exchange offline for months. If your exchange is still waiting on a MiCA license, it is worth knowing what happens to your assets if that approval is delayed or denied.
The Verdict
Bitcoin.de’s ordeal shows both the strength and the sting of Europe’s new rulebook. Strong, because regulators are demanding real operational readiness before letting platforms handle customer money. Stinging, because a fifteen-month wait ended in a rejection that leaves customers of a decade-old brand without a working exchange while a fix is assembled. For now, all eyes are on whether the partner model gets Bitcoin.de trading again — and whether other pending applicants across Europe face the same wall.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Fifteen months of waiting and BaFin still said no. Then the new app passes functional and security testing one week before the rejection. You cannot script worse timing than that.
at least futurum keeps custody until the new custodian takes over, that was the part everyone panicked about. nexo already runs the same partner setup with tangany and dlt finance, so there is a working template at least
futurum bank held an actual banking license for years and still couldnt clear mica. tells you how heavy that rulebook really is
klaus reiner below waiting since june 12 is the real story. five months of frozen funds because bafin couldnt decide in fifteen
bafin took 15 months to decide futurum bank wasnt operationally ready, and killed the old tolerance arrangement the same day. trading frozen since june 12 for paperwork. germany speedrunning how to lose a crypto market
15 months of review to land on a no, and the old tolerance arrangement dies the same day. zero transition path for customers trading there for a decade
the objection route is mostly a stalling tactic honestly. bafin rarely reverses these without materially changing the application, so a fresh filing is the realistic path. question is whether customers wait another 15 months or just move to a platform that already has the license
agree the objection is theater. futurum should just copy the nexo tangany setup and refile, another 15 months of limping on an arrangement that no longer exists isnt a plan
the nexo tangany setup works because nexo never needed a german banking license to begin with. futurum spent years building one and thats exactly the box it got judged inside
nexo tangany is the exact reference i keep seeing and for good reason. futurum had a banking license the whole time and still tried to clear MiCA solo. sometimes the fast path is admitting you need a partner
replying to gretch_ka, another 15 months on the objection route would kill whatever userbase is left. copy the partner template, refile, and let people trade while it processes
been a Bitcoin.de customer since 2018. account sitting frozen since june 12 and now this. 15 months of waiting on BaFin just to get a no
same boat. what gets me is the platform passed security testing a week before the rejection. tech was ready, paperwork wasnt
tech ready, paperwork not — that is the whole mica story in one sentence. the rulebook cares about governance, outsourcing arrangements, capital buffers, not whether your app passes a pen test. painful but predictable
governance and capital buffers are exactly the boxes small shops struggle to tick. the big exchanges hired mica teams a year early and sailed through
small shops struggle because MiCA asks for the same governance paperwork a tier one bank employs entire departments for. one size rulebook and the size is extra large
franzis template point but flipped, the dutch and french partner routes cleared through other EU regulators too. bafin is the outlier inside its own rulebook
micawatcher the app passing security testing a week before the no is the detail that kills me. tech ready, regulator wanted a different org chart
klarheit gets it backwards, nobody held a gun to futurums head on the build vs buy call. nexo paired with tangany in weeks, futurum insisted on its own license for 15 months
Accounts frozen since June 12 while the new app passed security testing a week before the no. BaFin graded org charts and users paid for it in five months of no trading.
the partner route is basically what Nexo already does with Tangany for custody. not glamorous but it works, and honestly futurum bank should have hedged like this a year ago
100+ coins, staking, savings plans from 1 euro… all of it tied to a yes that never came. brutal way to learn not to build on an approval you dont have yet
nexo runs fine with tangany and dlt finance, so futurum has a proven template to copy. question is whether users come back after five months frozen out
15 months for a no, then the tolerance arrangement killed the same day. Caught between jurisdictions is right, meanwhile the dutch and french went the partner route ages ago.
the dutch went the partner route back in 2023 if i remember right. germany spent the same two years defending a rulebook instead of copying it