Tokenized Stocks and Tax in Germany: When the One-Year Holding Period Applies and When the Flat Tax Bites

If you buy a tokenized Tesla or Apple share through a crypto app, you probably start from a rule you know from Bitcoin: hold for a year and the gain is tax-free. Carrying that rule across is the most expensive mistake in this product segment. Whether the one-year holding period applies is decided by the category of income a gain has to be assigned to. For tokenized stocks that assignment regularly comes out differently than it does for a cryptocurrency. This article sorts the two regimes that come into consideration using the wording of the law. It does not replace tax advice in an individual case, because the classification hangs on how the particular token is structured contractually. Tokenized stocks: what sits behind the token, and why the legal wrapper decides the tax treatment The term “tokenized stock” does not describe a uniform product. What is meant is a token recorded on a blockchain whose value tracks the price of a real, existing share. How that link is established differs from provider to provider. In practice you will mainly meet two designs. In the first, a custodian holds the underlying shares and issues a token that securitises a claim against the issuer. In the s...