Germany Sets Standard for Bitcoin Regulation

Stanislav Wolf is the initiator of the first Bitcoin conference in Germany. The Cologne native has connected to the local Bitcoin scene early and has promoted Bitcoin and its acceptance across the Rhineland metropolis. He has been busy with attending bussiness school at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University as he is intensely focused on digital currencies and is considered one of the first users of the Bitcoin in Germany. The CoinTelegraph chatted with Stanislav Wolf about the upcoming Bitcoin Conference in Cologne, Bitcoin in Germany and the forthcoming regulation in New York City.

Bitcoin has long been officially given the status of 'Private Money' in Germany. This makes Germany the first country in the World to recognize Bitcoin as a currency, according to report an August 2013 article in Die Welt. Back then, the German Finance Ministry's response to a query from parliamentary Finance Committee member Frank Schaeffler, was that Bitcoin was recognized as having the status of, 'Private Money'. This decision clearly opens the way for Bitcoin while opening the way for potential taxation and other forms of financial regulation. recognized US IRS has it wrong. This....

Representatives at a Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Germany this June announced support for "appropriate regulation" of virtual currencies. A global organization comprised of the heads of state from some of the world's largest economies including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, the G7 met in Bavaria on 7th and 8th June. According to the group's summit statement, the G7 is looking to oversee digital currency activity through the lens of terrorism financing, which it deemed "a major priority". Part of this process, the statement read, includes regulating emerging....

In an oft overlooked statement German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in December 2011 commented on Bitcoins. Although this statement directly concerns only Bitcoin businesses domiciled in Germany, one should be aware that BaFin is one of the most influential regulatory bodies in the EU. BaFin's statement could therefore be a blueprint for regulation in other European countries or EU regulation. Even if a particular Bitcoin business is not domiciled in Germany, it may be advisable for them to understand the BaFin statement and heed its possible consequences. The statement....

Berlin has long been seen as something of a hub of bitcoin activity, but Germany as a whole has lagged slightly behind the UK in terms of bitcoin popularity... until now. For the first six months of the year, the UK was home to a higher number of downloads of the original bitcoin client (Bitcoin-Qt) than Germany. Since then, Germany has taken the lead, with 19,248 Bitcoin-Qt downloads taking place in the country from 1st July to the time of writing, compared with 16,826 in the UK. Those based in Germany have also been giving CoinDesk more attention over the past few months. In June and....