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TaxMaxi works out crypto taxes under German law today. Leave your email and we'll write once, when it's ready.

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TaxMaxi works out crypto taxes under German law today. Leave your email and we'll write once, when it's ready.

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Crypto bridges and taxes in Germany

How a transfer over a bridge is taxed in Germany, why it isn't explicitly regulated, and which bridges TaxMaxi reads for you.

In short

If you send a token over a bridge to your own wallet on another chain and the same token arrives there, on TaxMaxi's reading you aren't selling anything: it only changes chains, keeps its purchase date and cost basis, and the one-year holding period keeps running (paragraph 54).

If a different token arrives, that's a swap at the bridge, and the gain is taxable if you held the token for a year or less (paragraphs 54 and 58). Neither § 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) nor the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025 mentions bridges; there's also the reading that every bridge is a sale.

As of:
Based on:
§ 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025

What is a bridge?

A bridge moves a token from one blockchain to another, say USDC from Ethereum to Solana. The two chains know nothing of each other. A bridge's work is two transactions, one on each chain, which it links.

For tax, all that counts is what arrives and who gets it. The technology decides how the two sides are found.

Five kinds of bridges

Bridges carry a token across in five ways. For tax, the kind changes only what can arrive.

MessagingWormhole, Circle CCTP, LayerZero, Chainlink CCIP
Arrives: the same token. Locked or burned on one chain, newly issued on the other, 1:1. To your own wallet, that's no disposal.
Solvers and liquidityRelay, deBridge, Mayan, Across, Allbridge
Arrives: the same token or a different one. A solver pays you out on the other chain from its own money. If the same token arrives, that's no disposal; if a different one arrives, it's a swap at the bridge.
Rollup bridgesBase, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon
Arrives: the same token. A layer 2 chain's own bridge to Ethereum. To your own wallet, that's no disposal, even if the payout takes days.
AggregatorsLI.FI and Jumper, Bungee, Rango, the bridges inside wallets
Arrives: whatever the bridge underneath delivers. They pick a bridge, so for tax they aren't one themselves. What counts is what the bridge underneath does.
Custodialan exchange, WBTC, cbBTC
Arrives: the same coin. An exchange or custodian holds the coin and releases it on the other chain. Back to you, that's no disposal.

How TaxMaxi calculates a bridge

When your wallet sends a token over a bridge, TaxMaxi asks you once per bridge whose wallet is at the other end and what arrived there. If it reads that wallet too, it finds the answer itself. The paragraph numbers open the BMF letter at the spot an answer rests on.

My wallet, the same token
No disposal. The token changes chains and keeps its purchase date and cost basis. If TaxMaxi reads the wallet on the other chain too, it finds both sides by the bridge's number and doesn't ask at all (paragraph 62).
My wallet, a different token
A swap at the bridge: what left is disposed of, at the value it had. For the new token, the one-year holding period starts (paragraphs 54 and 58).
Someone else, for something in return
A sale or a payment: what left is disposed of at its market value (paragraphs 54 and 60).
Someone else, as a gift
No disposal, because you get nothing for it. Whether gift tax is due is a separate question (paragraph 54).

The other reading

The other reading

Not everyone reads a bridge this way. The DeFi guide by CoinTracking (as of 17 April 2026) says of bridges between chains, in our translation: "The tax administration treats this as a disposal plus a new acquisition."

On that reading every bridge would be a sale: the gain since the purchase would be realized for tax, and the one-year period would start again for the token on the new chain. TaxMaxi reads a bridge to your own wallet differently, because nothing goes to anyone else. Until a court or the ministry settles the question, a tax advisor can tell you which reading fits your case.

Which bridges TaxMaxi reads

TaxMaxi reads these bridges itself, on Solana and on Ethereum. Each one with its own page shows a real transfer with both ends and an example in euros.

  • WormholeBridge

    How is bridging through Wormhole taxed in Germany?

    Tokens you send to another chain over Wormhole: TaxMaxi asks you once per bridge whether the wallet there is yours and what arrived. Your own wallet with the same token is no disposal, and the lot moves there with its date and cost basis. What arrives over Wormhole counts as an arrival like any other, and what Wormhole keeps for its messages is a fee.

  • RelayBridge

    How is bridging through Relay taxed in Germany?

    A solver pays you out on the other chain from its own money, often in a different token.

  • deBridgeBridge

    How is bridging through deBridge taxed in Germany?

    An order on one chain that a solver fills on the other, often in a different token.

  • MayanBridge

    How is bridging through Mayan taxed in Germany?

    Swift, the route behind Phantom, Backpack and Jupiter's bridge: a solver pays out on the other chain from its own funds, often in a different token. With MCTP and Fast MCTP, Circle's CCTP carries your USDC across, and for an order it's swapped there into a different token: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours. What Mayan's relayer keeps of the USDC and the rent of the accounts are fees.

  • Circle CCTPBridge

    How is moving USDC over Circle's CCTP taxed in Germany?

    USDC that Circle burns on one chain and newly issues on the other, in the older version: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours. What arrives counts as an arrival like any other, and both sides carry the same number, so two of your wallets find each other on their own.

  • USDT0Bridge

    How is USDT sent through USDT0 and LayerZero taxed in Germany?

    Tokens their issuers send between chains over LayerZero, each with its own program: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours, and what you pay LayerZero in SOL is a fee. That includes USDT over USDT0: what USDT0 and the app keep is a fee too. What arrives counts as an arrival like any other, and both sides carry the same number, so two of your wallets find each other on their own.

  • AcrossBridge

    How is bridging through Across taxed in Germany?

    A deposit on one chain that a relayer pays out on the other from its own money, usually in the same token: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours. What the app keeps beside the deposit is a fee. Since July 2026, Across sends your USDC over Circle's CCTP.

  • AllbridgeBridge

    How is bridging through Allbridge taxed in Germany?

    Stablecoins, through Allbridge's pools until July 2026 and since then over Circle's CCTP and LayerZero: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours and what arrived. Allbridge's share, the gas in SOL or ABR0 and the rent of its accounts are fees. What arrives through the pools counts as an arrival like any other, sometimes a different stablecoin from the one that left.

  • NEAR Omni BridgeBridge

    NEAR's bridge between Solana and NEAR, also the way NEAR Intents pays out on Solana: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet there is yours and what arrived. The bridge's fee in the token and the SOL for its relayer and Wormhole's message are fees. What arrives from NEAR counts as an arrival like any other.

    1 program on the chain

  • Base–Solana BridgeBridge

    Base's own bridge to Solana, the Base app's route: TaxMaxi asks you once whether the wallet on Base is yours and what arrived. The bridge's gas and the rent of its message accounts, which never comes back, are fees, even if you prove a message from Base yourself. What arrives from Base counts as an arrival like any other, and both sides carry the same ID, so two of your wallets find each other on their own once TaxMaxi reads Base too.

    2 programs on the chain

Not read yet

These bridges turn up in real wallets. Until TaxMaxi reads them, it puts their transfers in front of you in the review, and you say what they were. That way nothing gets lost.

  • Wormhole NFT BridgeBridge

    NFTs you send to another chain over Wormhole.

    0 programs on the chain

  • Wormhole Connect RelayerBridge

    Wormhole transfers that a relayer sends and redeems for you.

    0 programs on the chain

  • Mayan Wormhole swapBridge

    Mayan's old swap over Wormhole, the auction behind Swift, and Mayan's deposit addresses, which you simply transfer to.

    3 programs on the chain

  • Chainlink CCIPBridge

    Tokens like LINK, WLFI and USD1 that move between chains on Chainlink's messages.

    2 programs on the chain

  • NEAR IntentsBridge

    Solvers that settle over NEAR: you deposit to a new address and often get a different token.

    0 programs on the chain

  • ChainflipBridge

    Coins swapped into a different coin on another chain through its validators' vaults.

    2 programs on the chain

  • HyperlaneBridge

    Warp routes, one program per token, such as TRUMP between Solana and the EVM chains.

    3 programs on the chain

  • LayerswapBridge

    You send to an address Layerswap gives you, and it pays out on the other chain.

    0 programs on the chain

  • rhino.fiBridge

    Stablecoins that rhino.fi pays out on the other chain from its own liquidity.

    1 program on the chain

  • GardenBridge

    Atomic swaps built around BTC: often a different coin arrives.

    2 programs on the chain

  • BungeeBridge aggregator

    Socket's app routes through other bridges such as Across, CCTP and Mayan. The bridge underneath decides what arrives.

    1 program on the chain

  • Circle GatewayBridge

    One USDC balance across several chains: a deposit into your own Gateway wallet, and USDC on another chain against it.

    2 programs on the chain

  • THORChainBridge

    Coins swapped into a different coin through its nodes' vaults. Trading on Solana has been halted since 22 October 2026.

    0 programs on the chain

  • Allbridge ClassicBridge

    The bridge for USDC and USDT from 2021 and 2022, with Allbridge's own tokens at the destination. It ends in November 2026.

    2 programs on the chain

  • Sonic SVM BridgeBridge

    The bridge between Solana and Sonic SVM.

    0 programs on the chain

  • Solayer sBridgeBridge

    Solayer's bridge between Solana and InfiniSVM.

    0 programs on the chain

Missing your bridge? Write to us at [email protected], with a transaction as an example.

Common questions

Is a bridge taxable?

Not if the same token arrives in your own wallet on the other chain: you've given nothing away and received nothing, and the token has only changed chains. That's how TaxMaxi reads a bridge. If a different token arrives, it's a swap; if it goes to someone else, it's a sale or a payment.

Does the one-year holding period restart after a bridge?

On TaxMaxi's reading it doesn't, as long as the same token arrives: the period runs from the purchase. Anyone who reads every bridge as a sale restarts it at the bridge. The BMF letter says nothing about bridges, so every TaxMaxi report states which bridges it counted as your own transfers.

Is a wrapped token the same token?

For a bridge, yes: if it issues its own version on the other chain, backed 1:1 by what's locked on the first chain, TaxMaxi counts it as the same token. If you swap a token into its wrapped form on one chain yourself, say ETH into WETH, that's a separate question, which the BMF letter also leaves open.

What about the bridge's fee?

What the bridge or a relayer keeps along the way is part of what you transferred: the tokens that arrive carry the cost basis of all the tokens that left. You pay the network fee in SOL or ETH, and that SOL or ETH counts as disposed of.

How does TaxMaxi know which sides belong together?

Almost every bridge gives a transfer a number that both chains show: Wormhole a sequence, Circle a nonce, Relay and deBridge the order's number. If TaxMaxi reads both wallets, it finds the two sides by that number. Without a number it suggests two matching sides to you (the same token, shortly after each other), and you confirm.

What does TaxMaxi do with a bridge it doesn't know?

TaxMaxi puts a transfer over a bridge it doesn't read yet in front of you in the review, with what it knows about the transaction, and asks what it was.

Sources

This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.

Bundesministerium der Finanzen

BMF-Schreiben vom 6. März 2025

Eine Abschrift des Schreibens, in dem das Bundesministerium der Finanzen festlegt, wie Finanzämter Kryptowerte besteuern. Die Absätze sind nummeriert; diese Nummern heißen Randnummern. Das Original ist oben verlinkt.

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