Next German Government Calls For Crypto Regulation, Blockchain Investments

Two months following the country’s general election, three German parties agreed on a program to be implemented by their forthcoming coalition government – and the produced document includes a call for stronger supervision of crypto assets by the European Union’s institutions. 

The three parties – namely the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Alliance 90/The Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FPD) – state in the document that the country requires a “comprehensive digital awakening” to maintain its economic competitiveness. 

“We are aware of the fact that a digital awakening that safeguards our values, digital sovereignty and a strong technology base can only succeed in a progressive European framework,” the three coalition partners say in the 177-page program.

The next government, which is likely to be headed by the SPD’s leader Olaf Scholz, is proposing to strengthen the combat against the illicit use of crypto at European level.

“The EU supervisory authorities should not only take care of the traditional financial sector, but also prevent the misuse of crypto assets for money laundering and terrorist financing,” according to the coalition agreement.

The parties recognize that the distributed ledger technology is a prospective field of development which needs further investments, alongside other technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics. They also want to use it to combat tax and financial fraud.

“Building on the measures taken in the last legislative period, we will do everything we can to prevent abusive dividend arbitrage transactions. To ensure this [system] is fraud-proof, we want new technical options, e.g. blockchain, to be used even more,” according to the document.

Prior to the 26 September election, which was lost by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), the Alliance ’90/The Greens bloc declared plans to make cryptocurrencies “traceable,” potentially making them much less attractive to users and investors in Germany. 

However, the participation of the FDP party, which has a strong free market identity, in the next coalition government makes such a policy unlikely to be adopted by Berlin.

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Learn more:

– 4,000 German Funds Greenlighted to Start Investing In Crypto (UPDATED)
– German Regulator Refuses to Budge in Binance Stock Token Dispute

– Council of European Union Advances Talks On MiCA, DORA Regulations
– A New ‘Wave of Regulatory Obligations’ Over Crypto Players in EU

– European Commission Targets ‘Crypto Wallets’ And Citizens’ Privacy
– European Commission Exploring Asset Register Option That May Include Crypto