Trade Republic and Crypto: No Published Spread, No Tax Certificate and No Keys of Your Own

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk.

Trade Republic is Germany’s largest neobroker, and since November 14, 2025 you can not only buy around 50 cryptocurrencies there but also send them to a wallet of your own and receive them from it. That is what the company’s press release of the same day says.

What it does not say is the price. Trade Republic publishes no spread for crypto trading, and the official price overview on the website lists exactly six priced lines, not one of which concerns cryptocurrencies. In the small print the company writes it itself: the full price list is available in the app.

This article is an analysis, not a news item. It rests on three documents that Trade Republic makes public: the customer agreement in version 07.08 as of July 2026, the crypto execution policy of the same date, and the depositor information sheet. Added to that is BaFin’s company database, queried on September 5, 2026. All sources are listed in full at the end.

What actually belongs to you in Trade Republic crypto

The good news first, because it is often misrepresented: at Trade Republic you buy real crypto-assets, not a certificate and not a debt security. The customer agreement expressly assigns the trading to the European crypto regulation MiCAR, specifically to the term “crypto-asset” under Article 3(1)(5).

The qualification follows two paragraphs later. Trade Republic holds all customers’ balances “in one digital omnibus account per supported crypto-asset”, and the crypto-assets of different customers are “not segregated from one another”. The company’s own holdings sit separately, but your balance sits with everyone else’s at the same address.

From that follows the point that matters most to many people: you get no keys. The crypto custody policy puts it verbatim: “Customers do not receive their own public or private keys.” An individual wallet address exists only on request and only for transfers. Self-custody is not provided for at Trade Republic.

Who holds the assets, and why the name is missing from the contract

Trade Republic’s crypto page states that the bulk of holdings sits in cold wallets with the partner BitGo Europe GmbH, a custodian licensed under MiCAR. The same statement appears in the press release of November 14, 2025.

In the 108-page customer agreement, by contrast, the name BitGo does not appear. What it refers to there, in general terms, is “MiCAR-regulated sub-custodians” to which Trade Republic may delegate custody. That is not a contradiction, but it is a distinction worth knowing: the custody partner is a marketing statement and a press statement, not a contractual commitment. It can change without anything in the contract changing.

BitGo Europe GmbH, based in Frankfurt, is indeed regulated. BaFin’s company database lists eleven permission entries for the company, among them the custody and administration of crypto-assets for customers since May 9, 2025 and qualified crypto custody business under the German Banking Act since December 30, 2024.

The authorisation: a banking licence instead of its own CASP licence

Here lies a subtlety that comparison tables almost always miss. Trade Republic Bank GmbH holds four MiCAR permissions in the BaFin database, all since April 24, 2025: custody, execution of orders, reception and transmission of orders, and transfer services.

Those permissions rest on Article 59(1)(b) of the regulation. Point (b) is the route for credit institutions, which may provide crypto services after a notification. Trade Republic therefore holds no standalone authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider; it uses the banking licence it already has. BitGo Europe, by contrast, sits under point (a), which is the standalone authorisation.

For you as an investor that changes little about supervision, since both are supervised by BaFin. For placing them in a provider comparison it is still relevant, because “MiCA-licensed” applies to both and means two different things.

What trading costs, and what Trade Republic does not disclose

The official price overview names the same six items for every asset class:

This overview is as of September 5, 2026, retrieved from the company’s support page.

An important note on how to read this table: it applies generally and names cryptocurrencies expressly only in the savings-plan line. Whether the 1.00 euro settlement fee also applies to individual crypto orders is nowhere confirmed by Trade Republic in crypto-specific terms. Several trade publications report it consistently, and it fits the logic of the table, but it is not a statement by the provider. The only thing established is that the execution of crypto savings plans is free, because that line names crypto by name.

A dedicated crypto line is missing, and no spread is quantified anywhere. That is not a research failure but demonstrably deliberate: in the full text of the customer agreement, running to 395,744 characters, the word “spread” appears zero times. Trade Republic itself writes in several places that “apart from the spread, no further costs are incurred”, yet names no figure and refers to the price overview and the app.

That is why this article carries no spread figure. Values between 0.5 and 3 percent circulate in the trade press, they contradict each other, and none of them is a published condition. The robust statement is this: the spread is the main cost block in crypto trading, and you see it only in the app before the order. Anyone who wants to compare before opening an account cannot do so for crypto.

What is established: custody itself is free. The customer agreement says Trade Republic charges “no fees for the provision of crypto custody services”. Staking likewise incurs no additional fees.

Transfers to your own wallet: free today, chargeable under the contract

Since November 14, 2025 you can send crypto-assets to external wallets and receive them from there. The website advertises that Trade Republic charges no transaction fees for this. You bear the network fee of the respective blockchain yourself, as you do with every provider.

The customer agreement, however, adds a second sentence: “Trade Republic is entitled to charge a fee for the execution of crypto transfers. The fees stated in the price list and/or in the application at the time the service is provided shall apply.”

Free today, chargeable at any time. This is not hidden small print but a standard clause. It still belongs in your calculation if you are planning on Trade Republic as a permanent route to self-custody.

Three further points from the transfer chapter that matter day to day: transfers are irreversible and, once accepted, can neither be amended nor revoked. Incoming amounts are rounded down from the sixth decimal place. And commercial use of the transfer function is expressly prohibited.

Deposit protection does not apply, yet you are not unprotected

This is often presented in shortened form, so here is the precise position. The depositor information sheet names the compensation scheme of German banks with 100,000 euros per depositor and a repayment period of seven working days. It expressly covers deposits. Crypto-assets do not appear in it, and they are not a deposit within the meaning of the German Deposit Guarantee Act.

Trade Republic draws this line one step earlier and writes of securities that the instruments in the custody account do not fall under deposit protection but are owned by the customer. For crypto-assets that applies all the more.

The protection is instead a matter of insolvency law. The customer agreement says: “In the event of insolvency, customers’ crypto-assets do not form part of Trade Republic’s insolvency estate. They will be transferred to a licensed crypto custodian in accordance with applicable law.” Customers may object and then bear, where applicable, the costs of separation and transfer. Added to that is liability for loss under Article 75(8) MiCAR, capped at the market value at the time of the liability event.

The right way to put it is therefore not “unprotected” but protected differently: no 100,000 euro deposit guarantee, but separation from the insolvency estate and a statutory liability.

Taxes on Trade Republic crypto: the broker expressly does nothing

This is the point that calls for the most action, and the evidence is unambiguous. The customer agreement contains a tax clause of its own in three different places.

On trading, Annex 7 Section A reads: “Trade Republic is not responsible for remitting taxes on the customer’s sale proceeds. The customer must obtain tax advice independently. Trade Republic will, however, provide the customer with overviews of trading in crypto-assets.”

On transfers, Section D: “Trade Republic is not responsible for remitting taxes in connection with the execution of crypto transfers.”

On staking, Section E: “Trade Republic is not responsible for remitting taxes in connection with crypto staking.”

Three things follow from that, with no room for interpretation. First, Trade Republic withholds no capital gains tax on crypto, unlike with shares and ETFs. Second, you receive no tax certificate covering crypto, but expressly only “overviews”. Third, the filing obligation lies entirely with you.

Anyone holding shares and crypto in the same account thus has two completely different tax worlds in one app: with the shares, everything is settled once you sell; with crypto, that is where the work begins.

The case almost nobody has on their radar: paying with crypto

Trade Republic offers the option of paying by card and covering the amount from your crypto holdings. The company writes about this itself: “The use of crypto constitutes a sale of the respective crypto amount and may have tax implications.”

Translated, that means: every coffee you pay for with crypto is a sale. And because Trade Republic remits nothing and issues no tax certificate, you have to document each one of these events yourself, with the acquisition date, the acquisition price and the sale price. With a handful of orders a year that is manageable. With a card used daily it quickly turns into a three-figure number of events.

If you want to use this feature, you need a transaction export and a tool that builds a statement from it, from day one. Which programs do that and what they cost is set out in the comparison of crypto tax tools.

Five clauses you should have read before your first order

These points all appear in the customer agreement. They are not unusual for the industry, but they are rarely quoted.

Dealing on own account. Trade Republic acts as a commission agent and may declare that it is dealing on its own account, becoming your counterparty itself, even where no official exchange or market price has been established. You also agree to execution outside trading platforms for crypto-assets.

No customer instructions. The crypto execution policy states that Trade Republic does not execute crypto orders according to specific instructions from its customers. So you cannot demand a particular execution venue.

Delisting at short notice. If a coin is delisted, you have to sell within a set period, and the contract expressly says this period may be “very short”. After that, Trade Republic may sell on your behalf and is not liable for losses arising from it.

Airdrops and forks without entitlement. If an allocation is “not reasonably possible” in Trade Republic’s discretion, you waive the claim. There is no duty to inform you about blockchain events.

Transfers can be suspended. Trade Republic may refuse or suspend a transfer if the origin of the funds, the identity, or the power of disposal over the target wallet is not evidenced.

Who Trade Republic crypto suits, and who it does not

It suits you if you want to hold shares, ETFs and crypto in one app, save small amounts and use savings-plan execution without execution costs. Entry is possible from 1 euro, and crypto savings plans are free to execute.

It suits you less if you want to know the price in advance, because the spread is not published. It also suits you less if self-custody is your goal: you have been able to send to a wallet of your own since November 2025, but inside Trade Republic you never hold your own keys at any point. And it suits you only with preparation if you trade a lot or pay with crypto, because all of the tax work sits with you.

How Trade Republic stands against other German providers is set out in the comparison of crypto brokers. If you place value on a standalone authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider, you will find those firms in the comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Trade Republic crypto: what you take away from this

Three concrete steps:

1. Look at the spread in the app before you place your first order, and scale it up to the amount you plan to invest. It is the main cost block, and it appears in no public document. Compare the result with a provider that publishes its terms.
2. Set up your tax documentation before you buy, not the following year. Trade Republic remits nothing on crypto and issues no tax certificate, only overviews. Export your transactions regularly.
3. Make a deliberate decision about paying by card with crypto. Every single payment is a sale for tax purposes. If you use the feature, you need a tool that records the events automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Do the cryptocurrencies at Trade Republic really belong to me? Yes, these are real crypto-assets under MiCAR and not a derivative. They sit in an omnibus account together with other customers’ holdings, though, and you receive no keys of your own.

Can I withdraw crypto from Trade Republic to my own wallet? Yes, since November 14, 2025. Trade Republic currently charges no fee of its own for this; you bear the network fee. The contract reserves the right to charge a fee in future.

How high is the spread at Trade Republic for crypto? Trade Republic does not publish it. Neither the price overview nor the customer agreement nor the execution policy names a figure. It only becomes visible in the app before the order.

Does Trade Republic remit tax on crypto? No. The customer agreement states expressly in three places that Trade Republic is not responsible for remitting taxes. You receive overviews of your trading, but no tax certificate, and you have to file yourself.

Does deposit protection apply to my crypto-assets? No. The depositor information sheet covers deposits, and crypto-assets are not a deposit. The protection instead consists in crypto-assets not forming part of the insolvency estate, plus liability under Article 75(8) MiCAR.

Is Trade Republic regulated for crypto? Yes. BaFin lists four MiCAR permissions for Trade Republic Bank GmbH since April 24, 2025. They rest on Article 59(1)(b), which is the route via the existing banking licence, not a standalone authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider.

The rules around MiCAR, custody and the taxation of crypto-assets continue to change, and Trade Republic adjusts its terms with every new version of the customer agreement. We follow these changes and summarise them, in German and in English. The current state of play is on the front page of cryptoticker.io.

Sources

• Trade Republic, customer agreement version 07.08 DE-de, as of 7/2026, Annex 7 “Special conditions for the provision of crypto-asset services”: https://assets.traderepublic.com/assets/files/CA_DE-de.pdf
• Trade Republic, crypto execution policy, as of 7/2026: https://assets.traderepublic.com/assets/files/DE_ExecutionPolicy.pdf
• Trade Republic, depositor information sheet: https://assets.traderepublic.com/assets/files/TradeRepublic_InformationsbogenfuerdenEinleger.pdf
• Trade Republic, press release of November 14, 2025 on the crypto wallet: https://assets.traderepublic.com/assets/files/251114_TradeRepublic_Crypto_PressRelease_DE_DE.pdf
• Trade Republic, crypto page with FAQ: https://traderepublic.com/de-de/crypto
• Trade Republic, support page with the official price overview: https://traderepublic.com/de-de/support
• BaFin, company database, query on Trade Republic Bank GmbH and BitGo Europe GmbH: https://portal.mvp.bafin.de/database/InstInfo/
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCAR), Articles 3, 59 and 75: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1114/oj