Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the local press this Monday (17) that the country will review its tax rules for digital assets in 2023. This is because the French nation aims to become the main blockchain hub. of the world. Therefore, according to Le Maire, the country will not only replicate the existing rules for actions for digital assets: “We want to make the European Union the main economic zone in the world to structure and organize the cryptocurrency market,” said Le Maire. “We want France to be the European hub of the cryptocurrency sector.” Le Maire also said that the ministry wants to take advantage of the year 2023 to deepen the reflection with the interested parties, in order to identify “if further adaptations to the tax legislation are necessary”: “A direct alignment with the taxation of shares is not necessarily a desirable goal,” he said.
Cryptocurrencies in France
As CoinDesk reported, Le Maire told TV BFM that he is also concerned about the high energy consumption of digital currencies. Therefore, the French Ministry of Finance is working on a report on the environmental impact of these assets. Still on this subject, the minister praised the Ethereum network, which changed its consensus mechanism from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), which greatly reduces energy consumption. As for cryptocurrencies in general, Le Maire said he is concerned that they could usurp the role of France’s fiat currency, the euro. Because of this, the country should not allow people to pay taxes, for example, with cryptocurrencies. This was proposed in Colorado and will be put into practice in the city of Rio de Janeiro from 2023 “The idolatry of a world without a State, without a central bank, without borders and without money… Paying taxes is a condition of our unity.”
France to review crypto taxation
In line with this goal of becoming a crypto hub in the world, France has granted operating licenses to two major cryptocurrency exchanges. As reported by CriptoFácil, in May of this year the authorities of the country granted an operating license to Binance. The authorization came from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). The body, which regulates the French financial market, granted the license to Binance France SAS, the French division of the exchange. Then, in the month of September, it was Crypto.com’s turn to obtain an approval from the regulatory authorities in France to register as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP). Despite these initiatives, the country’s lawmakers claim that the government is not doing enough to encourage Web 3.0.
Portugal also reviews crypto taxation
Who is also reviewing taxes on digital assets is Portugal. As reported by CriptoFácil, the country is studying the taxation of gains from digital assets. The initiative is from the Ministry of Finance. If approved, the measure would represent a major shift for one of Europe’s most digital asset-friendly countries. According to Bloomberg, Medina’s idea is to apply a 28% tax on capital gains through investments in cryptocurrencies held for less than a year.
