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The Future of Finance: Navigating Digital Assets and Compliance with Dr. Max Bernt, Taxbit Europe’s Visionary Leader
Bridging innovation and regulation, Dr. Max Bernt reveals how digital assets and blockchain are transforming global finance into a transparent, compliant, and inclusive ecosystem.
How regulatory innovation and blockchain technology are reshaping global financial infrastructure for a transparent and inclusive digital economy
As digital assets continue to transform the financial landscape, compliance and regulation emerge as critical pillars ensuring their sustainable growth. We had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Max Bernt, Managing Director at Taxbit Europe and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, to explore the evolving intersection of blockchain, regulation, and the future of money.
From Criminal Defense to Crypto Compliance Pioneer
Dr. Bernt’s journey to Taxbit is anything but typical. Beginning his career as a criminal defense attorney, he cultivated a nuanced understanding of regulatory complexity and risk management. His Ph.D. research spanned continents—Austria and Australia—focusing on transnational efforts to combat organized crime and corruption. It was during this period, around 2015-16, that Bernt first encountered crypto-assets, intrigued by their dual potential for legitimate use and illicit exploitation in global trafficking networks.
This unique background propelled him into the crypto space as Chief Legal Officer at a start-up, where he navigated rapid growth while deepening his expertise in compliance. His work with the European Commission on DAC8 regulations and the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) further cemented his role as a leader in regulatory transformation. Joining Taxbit in 2024 as its first international hire, Bernt has since driven the company’s global expansion, helping governments and institutions navigate the complex compliance terrain.
What is Taxbit?
Taxbit stands at the forefront of financial compliance for digital assets. Unlike traditional tax platforms, Taxbit focuses on comprehensive information and financial reporting. Its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform integrates accounting, regulatory, and technical expertise—built by a team of CPAs, lawyers, and engineers—to address the gaps in legacy financial systems.
The company supports a spectrum of global clients, including banks, exchanges, and regulators, providing plug-and-play APIs designed to reconcile ledgers, facilitate regulatory disclosures, and report on crypto-assets and stablecoins. Since Bernt’s arrival, Taxbit has scaled rapidly, with a diverse team of over 135 professionals spanning Europe, LATAM, and APAC, all working toward one ambitious goal: building the compliance infrastructure that powers the digital economy.
The Real Promise of Crypto: Beyond the Hype
According to Bernt, the crypto landscape is undergoing a natural evolution. Speculative tokens driven by hype may falter under increasing regulatory scrutiny, but fundamental crypto-assets retain value, especially as diversification tools for institutional portfolios. More importantly, Bernt highlights tokenized financial instruments and real-world assets as the true game-changers.
“Blockchain enables fractional ownership and lowers barriers to markets historically reserved for the wealthy due to inefficiencies and high entry costs,” he explains. Regulatory frameworks like Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) are steering the market towards credible, utility-focused products, such as stablecoins and tokenized funds, that enhance financial infrastructure by making it faster, safer, and more inclusive.
Toward Mainstream Adoption: A Compliance-Driven Clean-Up
The journey toward mainstream adoption hinges on regulatory clarity. Starting January 1, 2026, under DAC8 and CARF, digital asset platform users across more than 65 jurisdictions—including Europe, the UAE, US, Singapore, and Hong Kong—will be required to identify themselves with a Tax ID or equivalent. Both on-chain and off-chain transactions will be subject to stringent reporting, raising the standards for transparency and accountability.
“This regulatory evolution will help weed out bad actors exploiting grey areas,” Bernt asserts, but emphasizes that change goes beyond regulations. Traditional financial systems must shed legacy inefficiencies and embrace cultural and technological shifts toward agility and automation. Blockchain’s near-instant, low-cost, cross-border transaction capability stands in stark contrast to the slow, expensive transfers of today, offering a path to democratize capital access and unlock real-time liquidity.
Will Finance Run on the Blockchain?
Bernt cautions against seeing blockchain as a panacea. “Blockchain isn’t going to run the world, and that’s a good thing.” Instead, it will be a powerful tool where transparency, speed, and cost efficiency matter most. Financial institutions will evolve into leaner, more automated entities that leverage blockchain technology behind the scenes, while the essential human elements—trust, accountability, and relationships—remain central.
Regulatory frameworks such as CARF and DAC8 will underpin this transformation, enforcing compliance and security at new heights. Taxbit is positioning itself at the core of this convergence, providing institutions with the infrastructure to track and report digital and tokenized assets across all environments.
Enabling Responsible Growth at Scale
Ultimately, Taxbit’s mission transcends easing compliance burdens. The company aims to enable the responsible, global growth of digital assets by creating robust, scalable infrastructure. Dr. Max Bernt’s leadership at this critical junction of public policy, legal expertise, and product innovation is shaping a future where digital finance is transparent, inclusive, and trusted.
As the financial world braces for this paradigm shift, the collaboration between technology and regulation will be vital—ensuring that the promise of blockchain and digital assets translates into real-world benefits for institutions and individuals alike. The future of money, as Bernt envisions it, is not just digital; it is responsible, accessible, and ready for the global stage.