France's Finance Committee Backs 31.4% Tax on Stablecoin Swaps From 2027

Inside the 2027 Budget Bill

France's National Assembly finance committee adopted an amendment on Oct. 7 that would make the exchange of cryptocurrencies into regulated stablecoins a taxable disposal, applying the country's 31.4% flat capital gains rate to those trades from Jan. 1, 2027. The measure is one of several crypto provisions written into the 2027 budget filed with the assembly, which lawmakers began debating last week and must adopt by Dec. 10. The taxable category is narrow by design. The swap-tax text, tabled during the finance committee's review, was adopted alongside other amendments to the revenue article. It covers stablecoins carrying the MiCA classification of electronic money tokens, the class issued as e-money and redeemable at par, a framework the EU brought into full force on July 1. In practice that means euro- and dollar-pegged coins rather than the stablecoin market as a whole. French law today treats a swap of one cryptocurrency for another as a non-event, so an investor can move between tokens without realizing a gain. The 31.4% flat rate, which stacks income tax and social contributions, applies only when investors cash out into euros on a crypto exchange or spend their holdings. If the text survives, converting bitcoin into a MiCA-regulated stablecoin would itself crystallize a gain and trigger the levy, with effect from the start of 2027. Drafters set the Jan. 1, 2027 start date so the change follows the budget's enactment. The committee's endorsement is not the final word, and the arithmetic shows it. It rejected the revenue section of the government's draft by 31 votes to 3, returning the crypto amendments to the full National Assembly for a fresh debate. A vote on the revenue section is set for Oct. 20. Until the budget's final passage, none of the measures has the force of law.

Wallet Disclosures and an Exit Tax

The stablecoin levy is only one strand of the committee's crypto work. A separate amendment, backed on Oct. 9, would obligate French taxpayers to declare self-hosted wallets whose year-end balance reaches at least €100,000, roughly $116,000, with fines of up to $11,600 for non-compliance. The wallet measure and the swap tax advance on their own tracks within the same budget, and neither binds anyone today. Francois Volpoet, who leads Chainalysis' France business, raised two objections: the disclosure itself and the incentive it creates. He pointed to a rise in physical attacks on crypto holders, noting that as of July Europe had recorded 39 of the 52 such incidents worldwide and that France alone accounted for 33 of them, 63.5% of the global count. “Do we want more taxpayers to declare their assets, or a higher tax rate applied to a base that is increasingly evaded?” he asked in written remarks. He argued that supervisors can monitor regulated stablecoin transactions far more easily than trades routed through decentralized finance platforms or self-hosted wallets, channels beyond the reporting reach of traditional finance, and warned that penalizing the compliant route risks pushing activity to less transparent alternatives. The committee also voted to extend France's exit tax, a levy now aimed at wealthy shareholders who move their residence abroad, to unrealized gains on crypto holdings worth roughly $900,000. A further amendment adopted on Oct. 7 would let investors carry crypto losses forward for up to 10 years, aligning their treatment with that of equities. The regional backdrop sharpens the stakes. Greece published a draft bill last week for public consultation proposing a 10% capital gains tax on crypto, among the lowest rates in the bloc, while Germany, Italy and France itself set or plan rates above 25%.

Our reading of the package is that Paris would tax the compliant path while leaving unregulated stablecoins untouched, which could shrink rather than widen the declared base, the outcome the Chainalysis warning describes. The loss carry-forward and the exit tax pull in opposite directions, easing the recognition of losses while capturing gains that have never been sold. The regional spread now matters for behavior as well: a French investor facing 31.4% on a stablecoin swap can weigh a 10% regime a short flight away, and our overview of crypto tax free countries tracks where those lines sit. The decisive date is the Oct. 20 vote on the revenue section. Until the full National Assembly acts, every measure in the package remains a proposal.