France crypto business is as soon as once more within the highlight, as Reuters revealed that France is once more positioning itself on the middle of Europe’s crypto debate, signalling it might transfer to dam firms licensed in different EU jurisdictions from working domestically.
The regulatory warning, delivered Monday by Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) chair Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, underscores the deep fractures already rising below the European Union’s landmark Markets in Crypto-Belongings Regulation (MiCA).
MiCA, which formally took impact for service suppliers in December 2024, was billed because the world’s first complete digital asset rulebook.
The framework permits crypto companies to acquire authorisation in a single member state and “passport” their license throughout all 27 international locations.
246 days since MiCA got here into impact, the map is obvious.
🇮🇪 Eire leads with 123 MiCA white papers.
🇩🇪 Germany: 59
🇱🇮 Liechtenstein: 36
🇲🇹 Malta: 26
🇳🇱 Netherlands: 21
🇫🇷 France: 7
🇪🇸 Spain: 3246 days since MiCA went stay and our map reveals the place crypto launches are taking… pic.twitter.com/1D7y8Wf30P
— STORM Companions (@STORM_Partners) September 2, 2025
Nevertheless, because the roll out of the scheme, progress has been uneven throughout regulator jurisdictions, for instance Eire has thus far obtained 17.5x the variety of crypto passports as France.
For firms, the passporting mechanism was the prize, an environment friendly gateway into the bloc’s single market. For regulators just like the AMF, nonetheless, the previous 9 months have uncovered its fault strains.
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Barbat-Layani warned that firms are already “buying round” for the weakest jurisdictions, securing lighter-touch licenses earlier than increasing into bigger markets comparable to France. “We don’t exclude the potential for refusing the EU passport,” she advised Reuters, likening the choice to an “atomic weapon” that may very well be deployed if supervisory gaps persist.
The feedback come as France, Italy, and Austria collectively name for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to imagine direct oversight of main crypto companies.
In a joint paper, the three regulators argued that early MiCA implementation has revealed “main variations” in how nationwide supervisors interpret and implement the foundations. Direct ESMA supervision, they contend, is important to safeguard traders and guarantee a degree enjoying area.
That push follows stinging criticism of Malta’s licensing regime. In July, an ESMA peer evaluate discovered that the Malta Monetary Companies Authority solely “partially met expectations” when authorising a crypto supplier, highlighting poor danger evaluation and gradual supervisory follow-up.
Moreover, the report fuelled issues that smaller jurisdictions may turn into regulatory gateways for companies searching for speedy EU entry.
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Are There Different Causes Crypto Corporations Are Avoiding France?
The high-stakes regulatory debate unfolds towards a tense backdrop in France’s personal crypto ecosystem. In current months, a string of violent kidnappings focusing on crypto entrepreneurs and their households has rattled the business. French police have linked at the very least half a dozen tried abductions to ransom calls for in digital belongings, together with incidents wherein victims have been mutilated to strain family into paying hundreds of thousands.
Safety specialists warn that a number of the new EU reporting necessities could inadvertently be making it simpler for criminals to establish rich targets.
This twin strain, regulatory fragmentation on the EU degree, and mounting home safety issues, places Paris in a troublesome place because the summer time season approaches.
The AMF has spent years courting blockchain startups, branding France as a jurisdiction with readability and credibility, significantly after granting Binance’s French entity a license in 2022. However the warning shot over MiCA passports alerts a shift from promotion to safety.
The stakes are excessive for traders and corporations. If France unilaterally refuses to recognise licenses from different EU states, the one market promise underpinning MiCA may fracture earlier than it totally takes maintain.
However it’s vital to grasp the danger is just not solely reputational however structural: a divergence in EU supervision would undermine confidence at a second when world capital is weighing whether or not Europe can present a reputable various to Trump’s America.
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