In brief: in Germany you will usually set up a crypto company as a GmbH or a UG. What decides the matter, though, is not the legal form but the business model: anyone who holds, exchanges or arranges crypto-assets for others has needed authorisation from BaFin since MiCA, plus minimum capital of 50,000 to 150,000 euros depending on the service. Anyone offering software, analytics or content generally gets by without a licence. This guide sets out the steps in the right order.
Step 1: establish whether your business model requires authorisation
Before you call a notary, one question belongs settled: are you providing crypto-asset services within the meaning of the EU regulation MiCA? Those include, among others, the custody of crypto-assets for clients, operating a trading platform, exchanging against the euro or other crypto-assets, the execution and reception of orders, and advice and portfolio management.
If that is the case, you need authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider, CASP for short. In Germany it is granted by BaFin on the basis of MiCA and the German Crypto Markets Supervision Act. The transition periods for existing providers have now expired in all EU member states....
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