The National Assembly adopted amendment I-3898 in a 38-37 vote, proposing a tax on gains from crypto-to-stablecoin swaps. Its 31.4% rate would apply from January 1, 2027, if the budget measure becomes law.
Only 100 of the Assembly’s 577 deputies took part. The tally included 25 abstentions and 477 absences. Thirty-eight votes were just enough among the 75 ballots cast.
This was an amendment vote, not enactment of the tax or approval of the budget’s revenue section. The provision appears as Article 4 octies in the chamber’s provisional text.
One yes vote came with a correction. Deputy Olivia Grégoire said afterward that she had intended to vote no, then corrected her vote after the count. The Assembly’s official record said, “but a correction doesn't change the result.”
The levy would fall on gains, not the full swap
French rules have generally deferred tax on crypto-to-crypto exchanges without a cash adjustment. The treatment, set out in Article 150 VH bis of the General Tax Code since 2019, lets investors exchange one cryptoasset for another without immediately triggering tax, until funds reach a bank account.
The amendment would end that deferral when the investor receives an e-money token, or EMT, as defined by Article 3 of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA. The category covers tokens pegged to one official currency, such as euro- or dollar-backed stablecoins.
The proposed tax applies to the gain, not the entire swap value. It would use France’s flat tax, the Prélèvement Forfaitaire Unique, with an option to use the progressive income-tax scale. The flat rate combines 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social contributions. Social charges on capital income rose from 17.2% under France’s 2026 social security financing law, lifting the combined rate from 30%.
A swap can create a bill without putting euros in an investor’s bank account. If bitcoin bought for €30,000 is exchanged for USDC worth €100,000, the gain is €70,000. At the proposed rate, the tax would be €21,980.
The amendment would also change how investors calculate acquisition costs. Instead of France’s current portfolio-wide capital-gains calculation, it would use the purchase cost of the particular assets sold, applying a weighted average when units of the same coin were bought at different prices.
Holdings acquired before 2027 would get a one-time choice. Investors could document each asset’s actual cost or allocate total portfolio cost proportionally among holdings on December 31, 2026. The choice would be irrevocable.
The text draws a line around single-currency tokens
The wording focuses on a token’s peg to one official currency and does not expressly make an issuer’s EU authorization a condition. That distinction could put regulated euro-backed EURC and Circle’s USDC within the tax trigger, while swaps into Tether’s USDT or decentralized DAI could remain deferred if those tokens do not qualify as MiCA EMTs.
The change would begin in the same month that licensed EU firms must finish winding down non-MiCA stablecoins under an October opinion from the European Securities and Markets Authority. The timing puts the French proposal alongside an EU-wide transition in the stablecoin market.
Supporters call the deferral a gap; the government wants more tracing
Nicolas Sansu, a deputy in the Democratic and Republican Left group, filed the amendment on October 10. The finance committee had backed the same text on October 7, before rejecting the budget’s revenue section as a whole by 31 votes to 3. That returned floor debate to the government’s original text and required the proposal to be tabled again.
Sansu argued that investors owe the flat tax when they convert crypto into euros, but not when they move into stablecoins. He called the difference “a gap in the law.” The amendment’s backers say stablecoins can serve as “entirely conventional investment vehicles,” including for paying crypto service providers or buying other tokens, and point to similar legislation in the United Kingdom and Italy.
David Amiel, the minister for public action and accounts, asked Sansu to withdraw the measure and opposed it after he refused.
“We first need to define stablecoins, then ensure our ability to monitor and trace reallocations within a portfolio of assets”
Finance committee rapporteur general Philippe Juvin supported the committee’s decision but said he personally favored retaining the deferral because crypto prices are volatile.
Deputy Charles de Courson cited a parliamentary inquiry he co-wrote: 20,000 taxpayers declared €400 million in taxable crypto gains for 2021, while the inquiry estimated that realized gains reached €3.5 billion.
The proposal also has support from parts of the crypto industry. In a May opinion piece in Le Monde, founders from Deblock, Waltio and Lyzi called for the tax and estimated that gains parked in stablecoins total €1 billion to €3 billion a year.
Industry voices have also warned of unintended effects. François Volpoët, Chainalysis’ regional sales director and CEO for France, said the measure could push investors toward decentralized finance platforms, peer-to-peer transactions and offshore exchanges outside international tax-reporting arrangements. Léa Mastrolillo, a tax partner at Paris law firm ORWL Avocats, said the change would require token-by-token cost calculations in place of the global portfolio valuation method. Adan, the French crypto industry body, warned that the tax could drive users toward dollar-pegged tokens and away from regulated euro tokens.
Other crypto measures and a loss proposal split the same sitting
The budget queue includes amendment I-2701, which would require French tax residents to declare self-custodial wallet balances if their combined value exceeds €100,000 ($112,000) during the tax year. The proposal sets fines of up to €10,000 ($11,000) for noncompliance. Another measure would extend the exit tax to crypto held by households worth more than €800,000.
Crypto figures have objected to collecting self-custody wallet data centrally, citing risks to holders amid kidnappings and home invasions targeting crypto owners. The concerns include the 2025 abduction and mutilation of Ledger co-founder David Balland.
Deputies also rejected a proposal for a 10-year carryforward of realized crypto losses, voting 75 to 18. That vote leaves the proposed gain tax moving forward without the multi-year loss relief sought in the companion measure.
The budget still faces debate, a chamber vote and Senate scrutiny
The provisional text dated October 20 retains the stablecoin provision. Debate is scheduled to resume October 27 through November 2, and the vote on the budget’s revenue section has been moved to November 3, 2026. At that point, 2,828 of 3,396 amendments remained unexamined.
The Assembly calendar sets November 17 for a full-budget vote. The bill would then go to the Senate, where the right-leaning majority could remove the provision. Further parliamentary steps and presidential promulgation remain before it could become law.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is seeking €54 billion in savings to reduce the deficit from 5.4% to 5% of GDP. No party has held a majority since the 2024 snap election. Lecornu used Article 49.3 to push through the 2026 budget, but has promised not to use it this time.
