The French government is on the verge of releasing new crypto regulations. The new framework enables crypto companies to apply for approval on several aspects - taxation, customer protection, and capital requirement standards. For those who complete the filing procedure, the government regulatory bodies will issue a "pass", enabling the companies to operate in France.
The executive director of legal affairs in France's Financial Markets Authority (AMF) Anne Marechal, stated that France needs to be a pioneer in this field in Europe. France is holding the Presidency of the G7, which (presidency) comes with certain leadership and first-mover duties.
"We are currently in negotiations with three or four ICO candidates for regulatory compliance. France will have a working regulatory framework", Marechal added.
The AMF is going to apply the new regulatory rules to other crypto-related companies, apart from the ICOs. Crypto exchanges, fund managers, and custodians are also in the list of possibly getting certified by the AMF companies.
The increased need and efforts done by numerous government to create a standardized set of rules for regulating the crypto market, is being somehow ceased by Facebook`s plans of launching their stablecoin Libra. Both the France and the USA's finance ministers, who normally have different points of views, agreed that Facebook`s cryptocurrency might create a trading tension between the US and Europe.
Crypto-related business owners, on the other hand, look at crypto regulations as a risk to their business operations. Frederic Montagnon, the co-founder of the crypto platform LGO stated that developing a business in a non-regulated market, and later regulated by an adverse framework, could mean the end for their business.
France's new regulations come amid market volatility and skepticism from the President of the United States, Donald Trump. In a series of tweets, Trump described cryptocurrencies as "not money, highly volatile and created from nothing." He further focused his attention on Libra, advising Facebook to register a bank if they want to act like one. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin supported Trump's position on this topic. Mnuchin links cryptocurrencies with illicit acts such as tax evasion, cybercrime, and even drug and human trafficking.