The bill was passed with a vote of 109 in favor and 71 against and will now rely on the approval of president Emmanuel Macron to be signed into law.
The French National Assembly has voted in favor of legislating stricter licensing rules for new cryptocurrency companies in order to harmonize local laws with proposed European Union (EU) norms.
The vote was passed with 109 votes (60.5%) in favor to 71 (39.5%) against. The French Senate has already passed the bill, which now goes to President Emmanuel Macron, who has 15 days to either approve it or send it back to the legislature.
Still, the new law would oblige France- based cryptocurrency service providers to comply with stricter anti-money laundering rules, showing that client funds are segregated If passed.
The contents of the bill would not, however, apply to the 60 crypto firms registered with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the nation’s financial regulator. These firms will continue to comply with the AMF’s rules until the likely passing of the EU’s own crypto regulations with the Markets in Crypto- Assets (MiCA) bill.
The stricter rules would therefore only apply to crypto firms that register from July onwards.
The legislative push for stricter licensing rules was initiated by Hervé Maurey, a member of the French Senate’s finance commission, who in December proposed an amendment to eliminate a clause enabling crypto companies to operate without a full license until 2026.
Bank of France governor, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, also pushed the agenda in a Jan. 5 speech to members of the finance sector in Paris.
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Like numerous regulators around the world, Villeroy de Galhau cited the need to respond to the recent turmoil in the cryptocurrency market as the motive behind the bill, which he wants to come into effect “ as soon as possible. ”
While MiCA will likely serve as the blueprint for cryptocurrency market regulation in the EU, he added that France simply couldn’t wait around for further comprehensive laws enacting the licensing regime on digital asset service providers.
The EU is set to finally vote on MiCA regulation in April after two postponements. A successful outcome would likely see the largely anticipated crypto laws come into force sometime during 2024.
(BRAYDEN LINDREA, Cointelegraph, 2023)