France approves first tranche of cryptocurrency companies

In a recent article in Reuters, France’s financial watchdog is poised to approve a first tranche of cryptocurrency-related companies under new rules on digital coins, some of the first such regulations to be launched by a major economy.

Under the rules, set to come into force late this month, crypto-related firms will voluntarily abide by standards on capital requirements and consumer protection and pay tax in France, in exchange for approval from the regulator. “France is a precursor. We will have a legal, tax and regulatory framework,” said Anne Marechal, executive director for legal affairs at the Financial Markets Authority.

“We are in talks with three or four candidates for initial coin offerings (ICOs),” she said, referring to companies that raise funds by issuing digital tokens. The watchdog is also in talks with several other cryptocurrency exchange platforms, custodians and fund managers, she added.

Cryptocurrencies are subject to patchy rules across the world, with the technology remaining mostly unregulated. While some smaller countries from Belarus to Malta have brought in specific laws, major economies have tended to applying existing financial rules.

“When you are an entrepreneur, the worst that can happen to you is to set up your business where there is no regulation, to see an adverse regulatory framework later imposed that jeopardizes your whole business,” said Frederic Montagnon, the co-founder of LGO, a New York-based cryptocurrency platform that chose to launch an ICO in France.

France is using its presidency of the Group of 7 economic powers to launch a task force to look at how central banks can ensure digital currencies like Libra are regulated. European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure is due to deliver a preliminary report on the matter this week at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Chantilly, north of Paris.