France Adopts New Crypto Regulation

The government of France has adopted a new financial sector bill. This new bill will establish a legal framework for the crypto service providers as well the ICOs. The bill will include both the mandatory and optional licensing, as well as specifying on the kind of funds that can be invested in the crypto assets.

The Adoption of the Pacte Bill

The Financial Markets Authority of France has published details of a recently adopted bill. This bill will be used in regulating the entire crypto market.

April 11th was the day the final text of the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation law was adopted. That was also the day of its final reading by the government of France. It tends to establish a legal framework for all the digital asset service providers and the ICOs. In addition to that, it also strengthens the powers of the AMF as the main regulator of the crypto market.

The Optional Licensing For The Crypto Service Providers

The Pacte bill offers an option for the digital asset service providers to be licensed and be monitored by the AMF. Included in the list is custodial services, dealers and brokers offering the sale and purchase of the digital assets against the legal tender or other digital assets.

On top of that, other crypto services such as asset management, remittance, underwriting as well as advisory are also included. Whereas it is very important to obtain the license, the AMF insists that service providers in the market have to register with them.

The Legal Framework For The Initial Coin Offerings

The bill also provides for an option for the Initial Coin Offering users to get an approval from the AMF. However, this will only happen if they meet certain requirements. For instance, the issuer must legally have been incorporated in France. They also need to offer sufficient information in regards to the token, the project, as well as the company.

In addition to that, there must be a system that will monitor and protect the assets collected during the sale as well as the CFT and AML measures in place. The AMF has stated that fundraising via the issuance of unclassified tokens as financial assets aren’t subjected to any kind of law.

Funds Allowed To Invest In Cryptocurrency

The new bill also specifies the two kinds of funds that are allowed to invest in the online asset. They are basically the professional specialized investment funds as long as they comply with the validation and the liquidity rules that apply to them.

The professional private equity investment funds are subject to a 20% limit of their total assets. They are also not subject to the AMF, but should be declared to the regulator within a period of one month of their formation.

The Growing AMF Oversight

The regulatory powers of AMF have also been strengthened by the Pacte bill. This powers includes monitoring the approved ICOs as well as overseeing the operations of the approved cryptocurrency service providers.