According to plans released on Friday by a committee of parliamentarians from both chambers of parliament, registration requirements for French cryptocurrency enterprises would tighten as of January 2024, though not to the extent that the Senate, the nation's upper house, had originally wanted.
According to the Joint Committee document, newly applying corporations will be subject to stricter requirements regarding internal controls, cybersecurity, and conflicts of interest. That's less burdensome than a prior Senate policy that mandated businesses apply for licenses.
The Senate is expected to vote on the special legislative committee's draft on February 16 and the National Assembly on February 28.
Companies can register with the Financial Markets Authority in accordance with French crypto rules to demonstrate compliance with fundamental anti-money laundering and governance standards. No operator has yet obtained a license, a more onerous process that also calls for investigations into one's financial standing and ethical behavior.
The extended registration process was a "far more reasonable approach" than the Senate's, according to Faustine Fleuret, head of the crypto lobbying organization ADAN. But she said, a new requirement to maintain resilient and secure IT systems could prove challenging for small companies to satisfy and for regulators to oversee.
In the wake of the FTX crash and to make sure French legislation doesn't provide a loophole from complying with new European Union standards known as the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation, Senator Hervé Maurey advocated tightening the requirements last year.
According to industry advocates, Maurey's plans, which would have required any unregistered crypto provider to apply for a license by October, may not be feasible.
