Buying Bitcoin under 18 does not work on your own in Germany. No statute stops a 16-year-old from owning Bitcoin, yet the providers who handle the purchase will not take minors as customers, and a contract concluded without parental consent remains provisionally invalid. Two clean routes are left: the parents buy in their own name, or they buy and then gift the coins to the child. Which of the two is chosen decides who owns the coins, who pays the tax and who is liable if anyone later disputes the deal.

The question comes up more often than the legal position suggests. Teenagers hear about crypto assets at school, on video platforms and from friends, and many parents want to set something aside for their child that goes beyond a savings…