France Grants Crypto Companies Additional Time To Comply

A new amendment means that France won’t rush to put in place a strict licensing system. Instead, it will wait for an EU-wide ruling to come out.

French lawmakers have changed how they handle crypto licenses, giving operators more time to meet new standards for all of Europe.

Last night, members of the National Assembly voted in favor of a change proposed by Daniel Labaronne, a politician from the center. This change will let crypto companies that are already operating keep doing so without a full license until the EU’s landmark crypto regulations go into effect.

There are two types of rules for crypto firms in France right now. All operators have to sign up as crypto asset providers, but they don’t have to get a full license. Which requires more information to be shared. Even though about 60 providers have signed up with the regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), none of them have chosen to become fully authorized.

The change does, however, say that any new companies that join the market in 2024 or later must get a full license.

By voting for the change, lawmakers turned down a change that Senate member Hervé Maurey had proposed in December. Under Maurey’s plan, these players would have had to start the process of getting full permission this year.

The move would have made it faster for France to adopt the new, higher standards that the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) is planning to put in place, likely by 2026.

“This is a pragmatic decision aimed at striking the right balance between the flourishing of innovation in France and the safe environment for users in which it must necessarily take place,” Faustine Fleuret, President and CEO of French crypto industry association Adan, told Decrypt via email. “It is also a message to the sector about the exemplary nature and professionalism expected of the players on this path towards harmonization of European regulations.”

Labaronne, who proposed the most recent change, said that the failure of FTX had shown importance of investors’ protection. But that stricter rules would take more time to put in place.

Cryptography in France

Labaronne’s proposal ended weeks of intensive negotiations between politicians and France’s crypto business, a refuge for cryptopreneurs.

Binance CEO Chanpeng “CZ” Zhao, whose crypto exchange was greenlit in France in May 2022, said that the country “is very uniquely positioned to be the leader of this industry in Europe.”

Now, crypto companies like Binance and Crypto.com will have a little more time until MiCA is put into place.

This year, vote is likely to happen on set of rules from EU that are meant to standardize 27 countries with crypto.

If the rules are passed, it will be another 18 months before they are put into place.