Blockchain Revolution in France

The technological, innovative and investment ambition of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency keeps evolving in the country. From the very beginning of his inauguration, the leader clearly stated his initiative to attract contemporary developments in the country and to make it a global technological pioneer. France’s political road is not about to miss the ‘blockchain revolution’, the financial minister Bruno Le Maire blasted some time ago and added that:

France has every interest in becoming the first major financial center to propose an ad hoc legislative framework that will allow companies initiating an ICO to demonstrate their seriousness to potential investors.

Today a new step in the crypto-friendly French environment was taken with the acceptance of the so called ‘Article 26’. The document draft was published on the French Market Regulator’s (Autorité des marchés financiers) website on 22 of February 2018. After big public discussions on how to regulate and reduce all possible threats in this uncertain area, today the Commission announced that new ICO regulation is accepted. It concerns the newly launched ICO’s and strives to make their birth easier and less bureaucratic. At the same time, a committee of financial experts is acquired to analyze and review new applications. The step is predicted to help small and medium businesses and to pump country’s economy.

The ICO legal framework is accompanied by additional documents, advised by the AMF, such as a guide of good practices, commandment for the ICO’s to be considered legally as financial equities, and an adequate legislation. There is a place specifically for the rights of tokens’ inciters, rules of their declaration and approval, the identity and competences of ICO’s founders. The aim is for transparency and safety in the coin offerings’ launches. These are two important issues regarding the market’s specifics.

We are trying without a doubt to prefigure the future, but today we do not offer any real warranty to the stakeholders,

Said the ex-vice president of Bank of France, Jean-Pierre Landau in his report on the cryptocurrencies from 4th of July this year. The danger comes from the high volatility rate of the cryptocurrencies and especially to the new-born tokens. But it is important for the industry to keep the dynamics alive, underlined François-Xavier Thoorens, president of the Ark System, founder of Ark, the most important French cryptocurrency at the moment. For the protection of investors, the framework introduces an “ICO visa system”. The businesses that wish to launch an ICO would have to apply for a visa, submitting their white paper to the committee which conducts a detailed review of their company identity. Eligible applicants are only French companies. That is a part of the persistent French policy to keep investments in the country and basically to control the blockchain flow with national offerings.

There are still more regulations and annexes to be added to the Article, but the crypto-friendly atmosphere is on in the French financial world and the ICO’s are totally given a green light.