French lawmakers have moved to bring privately held digital assets into the tax net, adopting a measure that would oblige taxpayers to report self-custodied cryptocurrency once its value reaches €100,000 (approximately $110,000). The National Assembly approved Amendment I-2701 on Tuesday by a vote of 150 to 44, with eight abstentions, according to the chamber's official voting record.
Under the proposal, the reporting threshold would be measured against a taxpayer's holdings as of December 31 of the relevant tax year. The provision is attached to the 2027 Finance Bill, which remains under debate, and would only take legal effect if it survives into the final legislation.
Note: Vote tallies as recorded by the National Assembly; the stablecoin and exit-tax items were decided in separate votes.
The Assembly faces a November 17 deadline to finish its first reading of the bill, with the Senate scheduled to open deliberations on November 20.
In the same session, lawmakers turned back a proposal that would have exempted gains on cryptocurrency used to pay for goods and services from taxation, provided such payments stayed at or below €1,000 (approximately $1,100) in a tax year. That amendment failed 69 to 14, according to the Assembly transcript.
The chamber also rejected two proposals last week that would have imposed exit taxes on unrealized crypto gains when taxpayers move their tax residence abroad. Earlier, on October 16, it approved a separate amendment to tax gains realized when cryptocurrencies are converted into stablecoins classified as electronic money tokens under European Union rules.
Budget uncertainty clouds the crypto provisions
The fate of all these measures hinges on the broader budget process. The Assembly postponed a scheduled vote on the revenue section of the budget for a second time on Tuesday, pushing back a decision originally set for October 20 as lawmakers continued to work through amendments.
Faustine Fleuret, global head of public affairs at the lending protocol Morpho, said a likely rejection of the revenue section could bring down the entire finance bill in the National Assembly, wiping out the provisions adopted through amendments. The postponement on its own does not represent a major shift, she told Cointelegraph, but the risk to the wider legislation is real.
What it means for holders and the market
The votes sketch out a French approach that leans toward tighter reporting for large private holdings while declining to soften the tax treatment of small crypto payments. For investors who keep digital assets outside centralized exchanges, the measure would create a new year-end valuation exercise and a disclosure obligation once holdings cross the six-figure euro line.
If the provision is retained, France would join a broader European push to align digital-asset tax rules with EU standards and to curb evasion. The rejected payment exemption and the scrutiny of stablecoin conversions suggest lawmakers are aiming for broad coverage of the sector rather than targeted relief.
Whether any of it becomes binding depends on the Assembly completing its first reading by mid-November and on the Senate, which begins its work days later. The repeated delays on the revenue section leave open the possibility that the finance bill fails altogether, a scenario that would nullify the crypto amendments adopted so far.
