The French Senate adopted a bill on Tuesday to allow tax authorities to automatically exchange cryptocurrency transaction data with their foreign counterparts. The legislation passed its first reading and was transmitted to the National Assembly as Bill no. 3421 for further consideration.
The bill addresses two key areas: an agreement on exchanging crypto tax information and an update to an existing agreement on financial account information. The crypto provisions are based on the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a common standard developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that enables participating jurisdictions to collect and automatically share information on crypto transactions.
France has already implemented crypto reporting requirements through the 2025 Finance Act, which enacted the crypto reporting amendment to the European Union's Directive on Administrative Cooperation, known as DAC8. These rules require crypto service providers to report customer identities and transaction data to national tax authorities, which then share the information with authorities in users' EU countries of residence.
Security and Privacy Concerns
The automatic sharing of tax data raises concerns about data security and privacy. Tax reporting under DAC8 involves exchanging personal information including names, addresses, tax identification numbers, and transaction volumes between EU tax authorities.
The European Commission plans to establish a central repository for crypto reports by the end of 2026, where each member state's tax authorities could access information about their tax residents. Security experts have warned that centralizing sensitive crypto transaction data could create a single point of failure for this information.
These concerns are compounded by a rise in physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency investors. During the first half of 2026, France accounted for 33 of 52 verified physical attacks on crypto holders worldwide, according to blockchain security company CertiK.
Stablecoin Taxation Debate
French lawmakers are also debating additional crypto tax measures in the 2027 budget. The National Assembly adopted an amendment on October 16 that would make gains from conversions into certain fiat-pegged stablecoins taxable beginning January 1, 2027. The measure remains subject to further legislative action, with a vote on the budget's revenue section scheduled for November 3.
