Regulatory overview · Not legal advice

Publishing Verified Trader Performance — Germany Regulatory Overview

How NakedPnL is positioned under German financial-services law: BaFin supervision, the WpHG, the KAGB, the KWG, GDPR/BDSG, and the DSK cookie regime.

By NakedPnL Research·May 7, 2026·12 min read

TL;DR

NakedPnL is not authorised by BaFin and does not provide Anlageberatung (investment advice) within the meaning of §1 Abs. 1a Nr. 1a KWG / §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 10 WpHG.
The platform does not provide Anlagevermittlung (investment broking) — it does not transmit orders or arrange transactions in financial instruments.
Crypto-asset activity, if any, would fall under MiCA at EU level rather than the now-superseded Kryptoverwahrgeschäft regime under §1 Abs. 1a KWG.
GDPR is implemented in Germany through the BDSG; the DSK (Datenschutzkonferenz) provides guidance on cookies and tracking.
This page is editorial content, not legal advice. Consult a Rechtsanwalt admitted in Germany for specific questions.

NakedPnL operates a public registry of verified investment performance produced by individual traders who voluntarily connect read-only exchange API keys or sign on-chain wallet attestations. Daily NAV snapshots feed a time-weighted return (TWR) calculation; results are recorded in an append-only, SHA-256 chained ledger and Merkle-anchored to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps so any third party can independently re-verify them.

This page describes how that activity is positioned under German financial-services law — the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin), the Wertpapierhandelsgesetz (WpHG), the Kreditwesengesetz (KWG), the Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch (KAGB), and overlay EU regulations such as MiFID II, MiCA, and GDPR.

How NakedPnL is classified in Germany

NakedPnL's activity is the production and distribution of factual performance data. The platform does not hold a BaFin authorisation under the WpHG, the KWG, or the KAGB; does not appear on any BaFin-administered register of authorised firms; and does not provide a Wertpapierdienstleistung within the meaning of §2 Abs. 8 WpHG.

Anlageberatung: §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 10 WpHG

Anlageberatung — investment advice — is defined in §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 10 WpHG as the giving of personal recommendations to a client, either at the client's request or on the firm's initiative, in respect of one or more transactions in financial instruments. The German wording mirrors MiFID II Article 4(1)(4); the operative element is that the recommendation must be presented as suitable for a specific client or based on consideration of the client's circumstances.

NakedPnL does not produce client-specific outputs. The registry shows the same information to every reader of a given page; the platform does not collect Geeignetheitsdaten (suitability data) and does not run a Geeignetheitsprüfung (suitability assessment) under §64 WpHG. On those facts, the platform's position is that the published content is general information and outside the scope of Anlageberatung.

Anlagevermittlung: §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 4 WpHG

Anlagevermittlung — investment broking — is defined in §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 4 WpHG as the brokerage of transactions in financial instruments, that is, the transmission of orders or the bringing together of buyers and sellers in respect of financial instruments.

NakedPnL does not transmit any orders. It does not match a client with a trade counterparty. It does not provide an order-routing channel. The activity stays at the level of factual reporting of past trades carried out elsewhere.

KWG, WpIG, and the broader licensing perimeter

The Kreditwesengesetz (KWG) and the Wertpapierinstitutsgesetz (WpIG, in force since 26 June 2021) define the licensing perimeter for banks and investment firms in Germany. NakedPnL does not carry on any Bankgeschäft within the meaning of §1 Abs. 1 KWG and does not provide any Wertpapierdienstleistung within the meaning of §2 Abs. 2 WpIG.

The platform does not provide custody (no Depotgeschäft under §1 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 KWG, no Kryptoverwahrgeschäft historically under §1 Abs. 1a Nr. 6 KWG before its 2024 transition to MiCA-based supervision), does not operate any deposit-taking activity, and does not conduct any other regulated activity listed in §1 KWG or §2 WpIG.

KAGB and collective investment

The Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch (KAGB) regulates collective investment undertakings — both UCITS and AIFs — and the entities that manage and market them. NakedPnL does not operate any Investmentvermögen within the meaning of §1 KAGB. The platform does not pool capital from multiple investors; each trader's reported performance is the result of trading on the trader's own exchange or wallet account, with no commingled vehicle and no professional manager acting for the public.

What NakedPnL does not do

No copy trading. The platform cannot replicate a trader's positions into another user's account. Copy-trading services are typically Anlagevermittlung or Finanzportfolioverwaltung under WpHG/WpIG.
No personal recommendations (keine Anlageberatung). The platform produces general information, not Geeignetheitsempfehlungen.
No transmission of orders (keine Anlagevermittlung).
No portfolio management (keine Finanzportfolioverwaltung).
No custody of crypto-assets, fiat, or financial instruments.
No execution. The platform never sends orders to any venue.

These design choices are encoded as feature flags in the codebase and protected by a continuous-integration test that fails the build if any flag is changed.

What German users should know

German users should treat the registry as factual performance data. Past performance does not allow reliable inferences about future performance — frühere Wertentwicklungen sind kein verlässlicher Indikator für künftige Ergebnisse — a phrase BaFin and ESMA require regulated firms to display alongside past-performance information. NakedPnL applies an equivalent statement on every trader profile.

If a third party offers to manage your money based on a NakedPnL track record, that party is responsible for its own BaFin authorisation and compliance. Check the BaFin company database (Unternehmensdatenbank) before transacting with any firm that holds itself out as authorised. NakedPnL does not vouch for any third-party manager.

Datenschutz: GDPR, BDSG, and the DSK cookie regime

GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) applies directly. The Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG) supplements it nationally, and the Telekommunikation-Telemedien-Datenschutz-Gesetz (TTDSG) of December 2021 governs cookies and similar technologies — implementing the ePrivacy Directive. The Datenschutzkonferenz (DSK) issues coordinated guidance from the Länder data-protection authorities.

Lawful bases used by the platform include performance of a contract for users with an account, legitimate interests for minimal aggregated analytics, and explicit consent for the public listing of a trader's handle and TWR series in the registry. Users can exercise rights under Articles 15–22 GDPR through the privacy contact. Withdrawing public-listing consent removes the registry entry from public endpoints.

Complaints may be raised with the supervisory authority of the user's Bundesland (for example the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, or the Hamburgische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit) or with the Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI) where federal jurisdiction applies.

Tax considerations

NakedPnL is not a German Finanzintermediär and does not produce Steuerbescheinigungen for users. Trading gains are taxed under the Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG) — capital-gains rules, including the 25% Abgeltungsteuer where applicable, and the §23 EStG private-sale framework for crypto held under one year. A Steuerberater zugelassen in Deutschland is the right resource for specific questions.

EU disclaimer variant (German implementation)

The platform applies the EU disclaimer variant to users in Germany — the disclaimer variant key is eu, configured in lib/jurisdictions.ts — supplemented by a TTDSG-compliant cookie consent banner. The user-visible additional notice reads: This service does not constitute investment advice under MiFID II Article 4(1)(4). Performance data is published for informational purposes only.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Is NakedPnL authorised by BaFin?

No. NakedPnL does not hold any Erlaubnis under §32 KWG or §15 WpIG and does not appear in BaFin's company database (Unternehmensdatenbank). The platform's posture is that its activity falls outside the licensing perimeter set out in the KWG, the WpIG, the WpHG, and the KAGB.

Does the platform provide Anlageberatung within the meaning of §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 10 WpHG?

No. The platform does not collect suitability information and does not provide client-specific recommendations. The same registry data is shown to every reader of a given page. On that basis, the platform's analysis is that the activity is general information rather than Anlageberatung.

Does the platform provide Anlagevermittlung within the meaning of §2 Abs. 8 Nr. 4 WpHG?

No. The platform does not transmit orders, does not bring buyers and sellers together, and does not act as an intermediary for any financial-instrument transaction. It only publishes past performance data of consenting traders.

Does Kryptoverwahrgeschäft (§1 Abs. 1a Nr. 6 KWG) apply because traders include crypto-assets?

No. The platform does not custody crypto-assets. Read-only API keys and on-chain wallet attestations do not provide custody authority. From 30 December 2024, MiCA's CASP regime took over much of the relevant supervisory territory at EU level; in either framework, NakedPnL does not provide a regulated crypto service.

How do I exercise my GDPR / BDSG rights?

Traders can withdraw their public-listing consent from account settings, which removes the registry entry from public endpoints. For broader rights under Articles 15–22 GDPR, contact the privacy team via the channel listed in the privacy notice. Complaints may be raised with the supervisory authority of your Bundesland.

If a Wertpapierinstitut wants to advertise NakedPnL track records, can they?

That is for the Wertpapierinstitut and its compliance function to assess against §§63 ff. WpHG, the BaFin Mitarbeiteranzeigeverordnung where applicable, and any past-performance presentation rules under the Wertpapieraufsicht. NakedPnL does not approve those communications.

References