How is moving USDC over Circle's CCTP taxed in Germany?
In short
Send USDC over Circle's CCTP to your own wallet on another chain and you haven't sold anything. USDC arrives on the other side, it keeps its purchase date and cost basis, and the one-year holding period keeps running. That's how TaxMaxi reads a bridge. No rule says so explicitly, and there is also the reading that every bridge is a sale.
If the USDC goes to someone else, it's a sale or a payment, like any other transfer to another person.
- As of:
- 23 October 2026
- Based on:
- § 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025
What is Circle CCTP?
CCTP is Circle's own way of moving USDC between chains. Circle issues USDC itself, so it burns the USDC on one chain and mints it anew on the other. Many bridges and wallets use CCTP behind the scenes, among them Mayan, Across, Allbridge and Wormhole's Portal.
- The burn Circle's contract on the chain you're leaving Your USDC is burned, with a number for the transfer.
- The attestation Circle Circle confirms that the USDC has been burned.
- The mint Circle's program on the other chain With that confirmation, it mints the same amount of USDC to your wallet there.
For tax, what counts is what reaches you: USDC, from the same issuer.
Circle CCTP at a glance
- Type
- Bridge between chains
- Solana
- CCTPmbSD7gX1bxKPAmg77w8oFzNFpaQiQUWD43TKaecdCircle CCTP v1 program
- Solana
- CCTPiPYPc6AsJuwueEnWgSgucamXDZwBd53dQ11YiKX3Circle CCTP v1 program
- Ethereum
- 0xBd3fa81B58Ba92a82136038B25aDec7066af3155TokenMessenger
- Ethereum
- 0x0a992d191DEeC32aFe36203Ad87D7d289a738F81MessageTransmitter
- Solana
- CCTPV2Sm4AdWt5296sk4P66VBZ7bEhcARwFaaS9YPbeCCircle CCTP v2 program
- Solana
- CCTPV2vPZJS2u2BBsUoscuikbYjnpFmbFsvVuJdgUMQeCircle CCTP v2 program
- Ethereum
- 0x28b5a0e9C621a5BadaA536219b3a228C8168cf5dTokenMessengerV2
- Ethereum
- 0x81D40F21F12A8F0E3252Bccb954D722d4c464B64MessageTransmitterV2
- Solana
- execXUrAsMnqMmTHj5m7N1YQgsDz3cwGLYCYyuDRciVWormhole CCTP Executor program
- Solana
- CXGRA5SCc8jxDbaQPZrmmZNu2JV34DP7gFW4m31uC1zsWormhole CCTP Executor program
A CCTP transfer on both chains
Here's a real USDC transfer over CCTP from Ethereum to Solana, from a stranger's public wallets, the way TaxMaxi reads it: burned on Ethereum, minted anew on Solana, and tied together by the number Circle gives the transfer.
- −13,212 USDC Sent via Circle CCTPto your own wallet on Solana: not a disposal, purchase date and cost go with it
- −0.000021550962272382 ETH Network feethe ETH paid count as disposed of, and the fee isn't deducted anywhere
- +13,212 USDC Arrived via Circle CCTPthe same token, with its purchase date and cost from there: not an acquisition
- −0.000080001 SOL Network feethe SOL paid count as disposed of, and the fee isn't deducted anywhere
Exactly as much USDC arrives as left. On Solana, the wallet pays the fee for collecting it itself.
An example in euros
The example uses SOL so that there's a gain to show; the same goes for USDC. You buy SOL, send it a few months later over a bridge to your own wallet on Ethereum, and sell it there after more than a year. Here's how TaxMaxi works it out:
- 10 January 2024Bought 10 SOL for €1,000.00
- 1 June 2024Via a bridge to your own wallet on Ethereum, worth €1,500.00: not a disposal
- 1 February 2025Sold the 10 SOL on Ethereum for €2,000.00
- Proceeds
- €2,000.00
- Cost basis 10 SOL from 10 January 2024
- − €1,000.00
- Gain after 388 days since the purchase, tax-free
- +€1,000.00
Sale on 1 February 2025
The bridge didn't interrupt the one-year period: it has been running since the purchase, so the gain of €1,000.00 is tax-free and doesn't count toward the exemption limit either.
Anyone who reads the bridge as a sale calculates differently: on 1 June 2024, €500.00 of gain would have been taxable, and the one-year period would have started again. The sale 245 days later would then be taxable too.
Worked out by TaxMaxi's tax engine, on the same principles as for your wallet.
The legal basis
No law and no letter says outright whether a bridge costs tax: neither § 23 EStG on private sales nor the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025 mentions bridges. TaxMaxi calculates them by the principles the letter sets for swaps and for transfers between your own wallets.
The letter is divided into numbered paragraphs (Randnummern). Each principle below says what it rests on; a click opens the letter at that spot.
-
1
Over a bridge to your own wallet
If you send a token over a bridge to your own wallet on another chain and it arrives there as the same token, backed 1:1, that's not a disposal: it keeps its acquisition date and cost basis, just in a wallet TaxMaxi can't see, and the report says so. Whether a bridge is a disposal instead is disputed: the DeFi guide of CoinTracking sees every bridge as a disposal with a new acquisition, which realizes the gain since the purchase and restarts the holding period. The finance ministry's letter says nothing about bridges.
-
2
Between your own wallets on two chains
If a token leaves one of your wallets and arrives in another of your wallets in a separate transaction, over a bridge to another chain or through an exchange, that's one single move and not a disposal: it keeps its acquisition date and cost basis, and its holding period keeps running. A token the bridge backs 1:1 on the other chain is the same token. The number the bridge gives the transfer, which both chains show, links the two ends with certainty. If it's missing, TaxMaxi offers a send and an arrival of the same coin, close in time, with the arrival smaller by at most the route's fee, as a pair for you to confirm. What the bridge keeps along the way is part of what was moved.
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.
Common questions
Is a USDC transfer over CCTP taxable?
Not if it goes to your own wallet: the USDC only changes chains. USDC rarely makes a gain anyway, but the purchase date and cost basis move with it, and that counts when you swap it later.
Is swapping USDC for another token taxable?
Yes. USDC is a crypto asset too, so swapping it for another token is a swap like any other.
Does the holding period start again after a bridge?
On TaxMaxi's reading, no. If you read every bridge as a sale, the period starts again. The finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025 says nothing about bridges.
How does TaxMaxi know the wallet on the other chain is mine?
If TaxMaxi reads both wallets, it finds the two sides by Circle's number for the transfer. If it sees only one side, it asks you once per bridge whose wallet that was.
More bridges
This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.