Following adoption later this month, France is set to approve the first group of firms under its new crypto regulation.
Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s financial watchdog, will approve the first group of cryptocurrency firms under a new set of digital currency regulations to be adopted later in July 2019.
In order to gain approval from the regulator, crypto firms must act in accordance with capital requirements and consumer protection standards, as well as pay taxes in France. The new rules are some of the first of their kind to be instigated by a major economy.
Anne Marechal, executive director for legal affairs at AMF, toldReuters that the regulatory group is currently in talks with three to four companies regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs), as well as crypto exchange platforms, custodians and fund managers.
According to Reuters, France also plans to leverage its position as president of the Group of Seven economic powers to launch a task force charged with ensuring that digital currencies launched by central providers are regulated. This comes after the launch of Facebook’s libra coin, which has financial regulators concerned globally about privacy and consumer protection.