AfD wants to make Bitcoin a strategic asset in Germany

As the European Union prepares to fully deploy the MiCA regulation by the end of the year, Germany is raising a dissenting voice. The main opposition party, the AfD, has just tabled a shock motion in the Bundestag. He calls for bitcoin to be recognized as a strategic reserve asset, distinct from other cryptos. This unexpected position calls into question the uniformity of the European regulatory framework and could pave the way for a review of the institutional treatment of bitcoin within member states.

A parliamentary motion to recognize bitcoin as a strategic asset

In a motion tabled on October 26 in the Bundestag, the opposition party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) calls on the German government to make bitcoin a strategic asset, to be distinguished from other cryptos regulated by the European MiCA framework, while the country would have lost 5 billion in BTC.

The text is concerned about the impact of current regulations on the local ecosystem, and estimated that “the hyper-regulation of bitcoin-related service providers and users in the context of the national implementation of MiCA jeopardizes Germany's capacity for innovation, its financial freedom and its digital sovereignty”.

The AfD considers that bitcoin cannot be assimilated to a simple financial asset. Its decentralized structure, its algorithmic rarity and its technological potential would, according to the party, justify political and regulatory treatment in its own right.

In this motionseveral concrete demands are put forward to strengthen the place of bitcoin in the national strategy:

• Recognize bitcoin as a strategic asset that can be part of national reserves, due to its resilience in the face of monetary instability;

• Preserve the tax exemption after 12 months of holding, considered as an incentive for long-term investment;

• Maintain the VAT exemption on transactions relating to bitcoin, in order to avoid disadvantageous treatment compared to traditional currencies;

• Guarantee the right to self-custody for citizens, seen as a fundamental protection of financial freedom;

• Explore the energy uses of bitcoin, particularly as an integration solution for surplus renewable energy.

These proposals bring the debate around bitcoin into a new dimension in Germany: that of an issue of digital sovereignty and economic policy, well beyond purely fiscal or technological logic.

Towards a European debate on the application of MiCA?

This position by the AfD comes against a backdrop of growing debate around the applicability of the MiCA framework to all cryptos in a uniform manner.

Germany is not an isolated case. This October 22, in France, Éric Ciotti, MP and president of the UDR party, tabled a similar motion calling for relaxing the application of MiCA in order to encourage innovation, particularly in terms of stablecoins, while expressing firm opposition to the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

These initiatives suggest the emergence of criticism of the European regulation, perceived by certain actors as a brake rather than a lever for technological adoption.

On the side of MiCA's defenders, however, some voices point out that the European regulatory framework has allowed Germany to position itself as one of the leaders of the crypto market in Europe. According to a report published by analytics firm Chainalysis, Germany ranks third in Europe in terms of crypto value received, behind the UK and France.

This performance reveals the German paradox: while the country clearly benefits from its crypto-friendly legislation, part of its political class is now worried about the potential abuses of overly rigid regulation.

In the medium term, these challenges could pave the way for a redefinition of the scope of MiCA, or the introduction of national exceptions for specific assets such as bitcoin. However, it is important to know whether these calls will be heard in Brussels, or whether harmonization will remain the Union's top priority. This debate, eminently political, could weigh heavily on future regulatory balances. In the meantime, the German initiative marks a notable precedent and could encourage other member states to demand more flexibility in the application of European regulation to cryptos.