Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis’ regional sales director for France, warned that the measure could undermine efforts to bring more crypto transactions into the regulated financial system.
Volpoet said in an email that the proposed tax could push investors toward DeFi platforms, peer-to-peer trading and exchanges outside international tax-reporting arrangements. He said the amendment targets MiCA-compliant stablecoins but may leave other tokens outside its scope.
Chainalysis estimates that France reported $9.4 billion in taxable onchain crypto activity in 2025, including $2.5 billion in gains. Volpoet said those numbers do not measure the extent to which trading would be affected by the proposed tax. He also pointed to a 2,727% increase in European trading volumes for EURC between July 2024 and June 2025, compared with 86% for USDC, as an example of how trading activity can shift following regulatory changes.
Another amendment backed by the finance committee on Oct. 9 would require French taxpayers to declare self-hosted crypto wallets holding at least €100,000 ($116,000 approximately) in assets, with fines of up to $11,600 for failing to comply.
Volpoet raised concerns about the security of such disclosures, pointing to a rise in physical attacks targeting crypto holders in France. As of July, Europe recorded 39 of the 52 global incidents, with France alone responsible for 33, or 63.5% of the worldwide total.
