Be careful:Germany can seize Bitcoin worth over €100 000 without a criminal case

[nikola22]

Germany's parliament officially passes bill letting customs seize Bitcoin and other crypto worth over €100,000 without a criminal case. Customs could hold Bitcoin and other assets of unclear origin for 30 days and finance court could then extend that by another 150 days. Customs would still need factual signs of illegal origin, not just a large balance.

The bill still needs approval from the Bundesrat, before taking effect on January 1, 2027. According to government estimates, the mechanism for confiscating assets of unexplained origin will generate approximately €308 million for the budget annually, starting from 2028.

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2121912611881328644

We see that more and more authorities want to confiscate Bitcoin and other crypto assets from people for virtually any reason. Moreover, it is almost certain that these authorities will determine the legality of these funds and invent rules that allow them to seize as much as possible. That is precisely why privacy is becoming increasingly important. If there is no information indicating that a person owns Bitcoin, it becomes much more difficult to seize it.

[obuoma]

It seems the German government are regretting selling off their confiscated Bitcoins and are looking for ways of replenishing same, hence this new bill. They are already making estimate of how much they can raise annually from such seizures which means they already have Bitcoin they are targeting. If the Bitcoin have unknown origin, does it really give the government the power to seize and possibly sell them? Owners of these coins may sue if it were in some countries where nobody is above the law.

[Joy_learns_crypto]

Anonymity is crucial, the German or any other nation can only seize the bitcoin they are aware is in your possession, because no trace linking you to owning bitcoin not case of seizing your bitcoin.
Australian are complaining that banks can call the police on you when you try to withdraw a good amount of your own money from the bank, so it is not new to me if Germany wants to seize the bitcoin of their citizens even without any criminal case. The citizens there have to keep their bitcoin private.

[Dickiy]

It seems the German government are regretting selling off their confiscated Bitcoins and are looking for ways of replenishing same, hence this new bill. They are already making estimate of how much they can raise annually from such seizures which means they already have Bitcoin they are targeting. If the Bitcoin have unknown origin, does it really give the government the power to seize and possibly sell them? Owners of these coins may sue if it were in some countries where nobody is above the law.

The proposed bitcoin confiscation bill certainly proves there is some kind of regret on the part of the government.  I was looking for information related to the amount of bitcoin that the German government has sold and found this A Total of more than 50,000 bitcoins sold in 2024 that Sale reached €2,639,683,413. 92 (source chatGpt)

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Do note that is the German Customs that the law applies to. In other words it applies when crossing borders and as such puts crypto inline with existing currency deceleration requirements around the world tho for fiat and other financial instruments the mandatory declaration threshold is usually $10k. For those the same rules apply: when declaring it you must prove where the money comes from to bring it in. If seized from not declaring you must provide source of it to get it back.

Again, that is the same for most countries in the world. One problem - those rules apply to physical assets. Just as with your credit cards it's not like you are carrying a pouch full of crypto. Aside from proving you have enough money to pay for your visit to a country even the US does not care about your credit limits. Just how will Germany know you have access to crypto when crossing their borders?

[Wincob]

It seems the German government are regretting selling off their confiscated Bitcoins and are looking for ways of replenishing same, hence this new bill. They are already making estimate of how much they can raise annually from such seizures which means they already have Bitcoin they are targeting. If the Bitcoin have unknown origin, does it really give the government the power to seize and possibly sell them? Owners of these coins may sue if it were in some countries where nobody is above the law.

You get it, this was what I had in mind lol, they sold everything and they are feeling like they are missing out already, if I am in Germany I will get rid of anny crypto wallet that's linked with any centralised exchanges, this is the solution.

Bitcoin wallet addresses have no IP address and location, no one will never know that you are holding Bitcoin unless you linked them to a centralised platforms where KYC requirements are been passed.

Avoid KYC verification completely and also old Bitcoin address.

[NeuroticFish]

Germany's parliament officially passes bill letting customs seize Bitcoin and other crypto worth over €100,000 without a criminal case. Customs could hold Bitcoin and other assets of unclear origin for 30 days and finance court could then extend that by another 150 days. Customs would still need factual signs of illegal origin, not just a large balance.

The bill still needs approval from the Bundesrat

There are 2 things here:
* It's a bill that still needs approval, which, from what I've read, is not a formality, but there's a big political coalition favoring it.
* It's related to "unclear origin" i.e. possibly illegal funds. In theory the govt can ask you prove the origin of your money. In reality, with crypto, this can become interesting... in a very bad way.

Of course, I expect it's something meant in theory to help against criminals, but in reality still the average Joe will be the only one to suffer, since the criminals will be one or two steps ahead.

Do note that is the German Customs that the law applies to.

Are you certain? I've also got triggered by the word customs but no, it seems that this law covers any illegal funds. At least this is what the AI I've asked told me