Here's why Germany is voted the most crypto-friendly country
In 2019, Germany became the first country to adopt blockchain technology as its development strategy countries and drive their country’s potential for digital transformation, making it an attractive region for developing blockchain, Web3 and Metaverse applications in digital citizenship, fintech, climate, business and government tech.
The Association of German Savings Banks – a network of 400 savings banks in German-speaking countries, starts developing a fintech blockchain application to enable customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. For example: Volkswagen, About You, SAP, BrainBot, and BigchainDB, among others, have been developing applications such as NFT, metaverse, Web3, govtech, and crypto payments, which are widely used to purchase goods in e-commerce.
To fund the development of these technologies, Roundhill Investments, the sponsor of an ETF focused on technology innovation funds, has launched the Roundhill Ball Metaverse UCITS ETF on Deutsche Börse Xetra, Germany's first metaverse exchange-traded fund. Additionally, Germany’s Funds Act allows pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and corporate investment funds to allocate up to 20% of their assets as digital assets.
Crypto Assets
By the end of 2021, approximately 2.6% of Germans have used cryptocurrencies. According to a recent report by KuCoin, 44% of Germans are motivated to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Mark Mason, Marketing Manager for Dash:
“Dash is an alternative cryptocurrency that provides financial freedom without borders. It works by allowing people to use their phones as banks account to accelerate financial inclusion. It is decentralized, permissionless and censorship resistant.”
Germany is one of the top 10 countries for cryptocurrency mining and is the Home to Northern Data, the EU's largest mining company, which is powered almost entirely by renewable energy. Crypto mining is taxable as a business.
Startups
Many blockchain startups have settled in Germany’s cryptocurrency capital Berlin, fintech angel investor Christian Angemayer’s Apeiron Investment Group Berlin-based Denario and Penta are supported, as well as Cologne-based Nextmarket and Frankfurt-based Northern Data.
Paycer, a Hamburg-based fintech startup focused on cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, is developing a bridging protocol that will aggregate DeFi and cross-chain crypto services and integrate They are combined with traditional banking services.
On the other hand, Berlin-based fintech startup Forget Finance focuses on using online coaching to motivate young people to save and invest in cryptocurrencies through a combination of artificial intelligence bots and real financial experts.
Central Bank Digital Currency
According to a survey by the German central bank Deutsche Bundesbank, the share of cash payments by German consumers in consumer transactions has grown from 2017 from 74% to 60% in 2020. As such, the Bundesbank has been working on distributed ledger technology asset settlement. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is exploring the creation of a CBDC dubbed a digital euro.
Metaverse is the next wave of Web3, changing how we interact, socialize, work, play video games, fund charities , buy and sell non-fungible tokens and participate in concerts, sporting events and conferences. In 2017, the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe acquired a large number of nfts, well ahead of the 2021 frenzy. Now "ZKM Cube" is an outdoor public viewing cube-shaped screen that displays various collections.
Utherverse founder and CEO Brian Shuster explained, "Since 2005, Utherverse has been building and operating an online virtual world community where people can socialize, participate in events and start businesses in real time.
Utherverse combines the best of the Internet, gaming and virtual reality for the ultimate virtual world experience. For example, Secret City is a game developed by Utherverse Digital Inc. 81% of its users are in Germany. We have developed over 100 patents and patents pending for core internet technologies and virtual worlds, and are the undisputed leaders in virtual world architecture and VR economics. There is a lot of metaverse-related noise, and frankly, most claim Companies offering both property and tokens dangerously underestimate the complexity of the task at hand. Almost every company that has attempted to make a metaverse has failed. The third-generation Utherverse and its utility token are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2022. ”
Crime
Germany is a member of Europol’s Joint Cybercrime Operations Task Force, which works to combat transnational cybercrime.
According to Europol’s 2022 report:
“Over the past few years, the amount and sophistication of this virtual currency used for criminal activity and money laundering has varied. The criminal use of cryptocurrencies is no longer limited to cybercriminal activities, but now involves all types of crimes that require the transfer of monetary value.”
Following a report, the German Federal The Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt) shut down the servers of Hydra, the world's largest illegal darknet market. Hydra has facilitated over $5 billion in Bitcoin since its launch ( BTC ) transaction. Following the German action, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Hydra in a coordinated international effort aimed at "stopping the proliferation of malicious cybercriminal services, dangerous drugs and other illicit products available through Russian sites."
Chinalysis Public Sector CTO Gurvais Grigg told me: “The delisting of Hydra was notable not only because it was the largest darknet market, but also because of the money-laundering services it offered to convert cryptocurrencies into Converted to Russian rubles.”
“Combined with last year’s sanctions against Garantex as well as Suex and Chatex, government agencies are clearly targeting cybercriminals for ransomware, darknet market sales, scams and Withdrawal point for possible sanctions evasion.”
Digital asset regulation
Germany is one of the few European countries to start regulating cryptocurrencies before the EU crypto-asset market or MiCA regulation one of the countries. According to Robin Matzke, a lawyer and blockchain expert advising the German Bundestag, Germany’s cryptocurrency custody regulations require those who control private keys on behalf of others and serve the German market, regardless of whether they are in the European Union or not. There are relevant operating licenses.
Lone Fønss Schrøder, CEO of blockchain company Concordium, explained:
“The new draft regulations call for significant changes to the way cryptocurrencies are currently transferred. This is a huge challenge for a decentralized encryption solution that has anonymity as a core value and is committed to peer-to-peer (P2P) and self-custody. Also, many projects may be blocked by their communities from changing their solutions.”
Author: Selva Ozelli, Esq., CPA is an international tax attorney and CPA who frequently writes about tax, legal and accounting issues.
Source: Cointelegraph
source: Here's why Germany is voted the most crypto-friendly country
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