Anyone who holds bitcoin or other crypto assets and gets divorced usually asks the wrong question first, namely this one: do I now have to split my coins? Under German law the answer is, in the overwhelming majority of cases, no, your coins remain your coins. What gets divided is something else, namely the increase in assets accumulated during the marriage, and it is divided as a sum of money. That sounds like a technicality, but it decides whether you have to sell or not, and whether tax falls due when you do.

This piece explains how the equalisation of accrued gains works when part of the assets sits in a wallet: which key dates apply, what you have to disclose, who bears the price risk between the key date and payment, and at which…