Opinion. For years, Brussels told Europeans the same thing: use the regulated stablecoins. The licensed ones, the supervised ones, the ones that report to the tax man. Now a group of French lawmakers wants to charge you 31.4% for doing exactly that.
First, what’s real
On Oct. 7, the National Assembly’s finance committee adopted an amendment from Nicolas Sansu of the left-wing GDR group. It would end the tax pause on swapping crypto into e-money tokens, MiCA’s name for stablecoins pegged to one currency, like USDC. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, that swap would trigger France’s 31.4% flat tax on gains. Today, crypto-to-crypto swaps in France aren’t taxed until you cash out to euros or spend.
Two days later, the committee rejected the whole revenue half of the budget, 31 to 3. Under French budget rules, the floor debate restarts from the government’s text, which doesn’t include the amendment. It is not law.
But it isn’t dead either. On Oct. 10, Sansu refiled the same text for the full Assembly as amendment I-3898. It’s on the list to be debated. The vote on the revenue half of the budget is set for Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Taxing the lane they built
Do the simple math. Lock in a €40,000 gain by moving into a regulated stablecoin, and at 31.4% you’d owe €12,560, even though not a single euro reached your bank account.
The amendment’s own explanation calls the current rule a “hole in the legislation” and says taxing the swap is just “a simple application of tax law that already exists” (our translation). Maybe. But look at the timing. On Oct. 8, the EU’s markets regulator, ESMA, told licensed crypto firms to stop offering services in stablecoins that don’t comply with MiCA, and gave supervisors three months to clean up what’s left. And on Wednesday, the European Banking Authority named USDC the EU’s first “significant” e-money token, putting its reserves under EU-level watch.
So Europe is herding people into the regulated stablecoins, and Paris is drafting a toll at the door. Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis’s regional sales director for France, told CoinDesk the measure could push people toward DeFi, peer-to-peer trades and exchanges outside international tax reporting. He also noted it targets MiCA-compliant stablecoins and may leave other tokens outside its scope. Tax the compliant lane, and you shouldn’t be surprised when traffic moves to the dirt road.
Speculation, labeled
Speculation, labeled: this looks less like stablecoin policy and more like a treasury hunting for any gain it can call “realized.” The same committee also backed a rule making people declare self-custody wallets holding €100,000 or more, and an exit tax on large crypto holdings when people move abroad. Put it together and the message to French holders reads like this: stay, report everything, pay early, or pay on the way out.
And here’s my guess about who actually pays. The whales, the funds and the big desks have lawyers, offshore entities and the option to move. The regular saver on a French app doesn’t. A tax like this doesn’t stop big money from moving. It just makes sure the little guy is the one who sends the check. That’s my read, not a fact. But it’s worth watching who lines up behind this on Oct. 20.
One more thing nobody should wave away: Chainalysis counted 30 violent attacks on crypto holders in France in the first half of this year, according to CoinDesk. A government list of everyone with €100,000 in a wallet is a list somebody will want to steal.
To be fair
There’s pushback on the record. Deputy Daniel Grenon filed the opposite amendment for the floor, I-3738, which would keep swaps into e-money tokens tax-free. His stated reason: taxing them would hit French holders directly and make platforms based in France less attractive. The committee also voted to let investors carry crypto losses forward for 10 years. And French budgets don’t always survive the floor. Last year, the Assembly voted down the revenue half of the budget outright.
So watch Oct. 20. If the swap tax gets back in and survives, Europe will have built a regulated stablecoin market and then charged people for using it. If it dies, credit the deputies who noticed that you don’t bring money onshore by taxing it at the door.
This is opinion, not investment or tax advice.
Sources: Assemblée nationale (amendment I-3898); Assemblée nationale (amendment I-CF1826); Assemblée nationale (amendment I-3738); CoinDesk; ESMA; European Banking Authority; NosParlementaires; Cryptoast