GNU Taler forms a new company to bring its privacy-first payments to Germany
Getting ready to operate GNU Taler in Germany
Taler Operations AG is being founded in Bochum as a subsidiary of Taler Systems SA to operate a GNU Taler exchange for the Euro, pending an e-money licence from BaFin. The move replaces the original plan for GLS Bank to issue e-money, after GLS withdrew in January 2026. The company is now raising capital from investors willing to put in at least €50,000, while GNU Taler itself remains free software.
We regret that the original plan did not work out. Integrating a new kind of payment system into an existing bank’s processes, compliance framework and IT is hard, and banks have to set priorities.