France plans to create legal framework for cryptocurrency offerings
Finance minister Bruno Le Maire writes in an opinion piece that the country ‘should not miss out on the blockchain revolution’
France plans to create a legal framework for raising funds via cryptocurrencies and aims to become a leading centre for offerings in bitcoin-style digital currencies, its finance minister wrote on a news website.
In an opinion piece on French website Numerama, Bruno Le Maire wrote that he had asked former central bank official Jean-Pierre Landau to draft a proposal for a legislative framework for digital currencies.
“France has every interest in becoming the first major financial centre to propose an ad hoc legislative framework for companies making an initial coin offering,” Le Maire wrote.
An ICO involves a company raising funds by offering investors tokens in return for their cash or cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, as opposed to obtaining shares in the company from a traditional offering.
Le Maire said that an action plan to be presented to the French government in a few weeks would propose giving French market regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) the option to authorise companies to issue “tokens” to raise funds, as long as they respected certain criteria to protect investors.
“This ‘white list’ will provide a precious reference for investors who want to finance serious projects,” he wrote.