France's National Assembly is considering taxing swaps from cryptocurrencies into stablecoins regulated under the European Union's MiCA framework at the country's 31.4% capital gains rate beginning January 1, 2027.
The proposed amendment, adopted by the finance committee on October 7, would treat exchanges of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin for stablecoins classified as electronic money tokens under MiCA—which came into full force on July 1—as taxable events. Currently, swapping one cryptocurrency for another does not trigger capital gains tax in France.
Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis CEO for France, warned that the measure could incentivize traders to use stablecoins outside the EU's regulatory framework. "Do we want more taxpayers to declare their assets, or a higher tax rate applied to a base that is increasingly evaded?" Volpoet said in an email. He noted that authorities can more easily monitor regulated stablecoin transactions than trades made through decentralized finance platforms or self-hosted wallets.
Additional Proposals
The 2027 budget amendments also include other crypto-related measures. An amendment backed on October 9 would require French taxpayers to declare self-hosted crypto wallets holding at least €100,000 in assets, with fines of up to $11,600 for noncompliance.
Volpoet raised security concerns about such disclosures, citing a rise in physical attacks targeting crypto holders in France. As of July, Europe recorded 39 of the 52 global incidents of such attacks, with France accounting for 33, or 63.5% of the worldwide total.
Lawmakers also backed a proposal to extend France's exit tax to crypto holdings worth roughly $900,000, bringing unrealized gains under tax rules already applied to wealthy shareholders who move abroad. A separate amendment adopted on October 7 would allow investors to carry forward crypto losses for up to 10 years.
Legislative Status
The finance committee rejected the revenue section of the government's 2027 budget by 31 votes to 3, meaning the crypto amendments must be resubmitted to the full National Assembly for debate. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the revenue section on October 20. The proposals have not yet become law and must pass the full National Assembly by December 10.
