How is bridging through deBridge taxed in Germany?
In short
If you send a token through deBridge to your own wallet on another chain and the same token arrives there, you haven't sold anything. It keeps its purchase date and its cost basis, and the one-year holding period keeps running. That's how TaxMaxi reads a bridge. No rule says so explicitly, and there's another reading under which every bridge is a sale.
If a different token arrives, say SOL instead of USDC, that's a swap at the bridge. The gain on it is taxable if you held the token for no more than a year.
- As of:
- 23 October 2026
- Based on:
- § 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025
What is deBridge?
deBridge is a bridge you use to send tokens between Solana, Ethereum and many other chains. On one chain you place an order: what you give, and what you want to get on the other chain. A taker fills it there out of their own money and receives what you put in afterwards.
- The app app.debridge.com You pick the chain, token and amount, or an app that uses deBridge in the background.
- The order deBridge's contract on the chain you're leaving Your token goes into the order, which has a number, along with the fees.
- The fill a taker on the other chain The taker pays you and gives the same number, often in a different token if that's what you ordered.
For tax, all that counts is what reaches you: the same token in your own wallet, or a different one.
deBridge at a glance
- Type
- Bridge between chains
- Solana
- src5qyZHqTqecJV4aY6Cb6zDZLMDzrDKKezs22MPHr4deBridge program
- Solana
- dst5MGcFPoBeREFAA5E3tU5ij8m5uVYwkzkSAbsLbNodeBridge program
- Ethereum
- 0xeF4fB24aD0916217251F553c0596F8Edc630EB66DlnSource
- Ethereum
- 0xE7351Fd770A37282b91D153Ee690B63579D6dd7fDlnDestination
- Ethereum
- 0x663DC15D3C1aC63ff12E45Ab68FeA3F0a883C251DeBridgeRouter
One deBridge order on both chains
Here's a real deBridge order from Ethereum to Solana, from a stranger's public wallets, as TaxMaxi reads it: the order on Ethereum and its fill on Solana, linked by the order number both of them carry.
- −435.777944 USDC Sent via deBridgeto your own wallet on Solana: not a disposal, purchase date and cost go with it
- −0.17438 USDC deBridge feewhat the bridge or the app keeps for the transfer
- −0.001 ETH deBridge feefor the transfer; the ETH paid count as disposed of
- −0.000258608810228526 ETH Network feethe ETH paid count as disposed of, and the fee isn't deducted anywhere
- +434.652071 USDC Arrived via deBridgethe same token, with its purchase date and cost from there: not an acquisition
deBridge takes a fixed fee in ETH and a small share of the token. Whatever is still missing between the two sides after that, the taker keeps. The taker also pays the transaction fee on Solana.
An example in euros
You buy SOL, send it a few months later through deBridge 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 deBridge 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
- Proceeds value of the SOL sent
- €1,500.00
- Cost basis 10 SOL from 10 January 2024
- − €1,000.00
- Gain after 143 days, taxable
- +€500.00
If ETH arrives instead: a swap at the bridge
If it stays the same token, the bridge doesn'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. If ETH arrives, the gain of €500.00 up to the bridge is taxable, within the exemption limit of €1,000 a year.
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.
- 3
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 deBridge order taxable?
Not if the same token arrives in your own wallet. It only changes chain, and TaxMaxi carries it forward with its purchase date and its cost basis. If a different token arrives, it's a swap, and the gain is taxable if you held the token for no more than a year.
What if I cancel an order?
Then deBridge gives you your token back. TaxMaxi counts it as your own, with its purchase date and cost basis, and not as a new acquisition.
Does the one-year holding period start again after a bridge?
On TaxMaxi's reading it doesn't, as long as the same token arrives. Anyone who reads every bridge as a sale has the period start again. The finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025 says nothing about bridges. In every report, TaxMaxi shows you which bridges it counted as your own transfers.
What about deBridge's fees?
What deBridge and the taker keep is part of what you transferred: the tokens that arrive carry the cost of all the tokens that left. You pay the fixed fee in ETH, and that ETH counts as disposed of.
More bridges
This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.