Illinois Levies 0.2% Crypto Tax, France Sets 2027 Quantum Deadline as Bitcoin Holds $64K

Crypto News

France’s national cybersecurity agency ANSSI confirmed it will stop certifying security products that lack quantum-resistant encryption starting in 2027, with officials urging businesses to buy only quantum-safe systems by 2030. The agency’s certification is a prerequisite for use across French government bodies and critical infrastructure, meaning vendors must prove post-quantum capability or lose access to public contracts. The cutoff mirrors the US National Security Agency’s CNSA 2.0 mandate, which also targets 2027. The threat resonates in crypto: analytics estimates suggest nearly 10% of total Bitcoin supply, roughly 1.92 million BTC, would be structurally exposed in the event of a quantum computing breakthrough.

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan argued the next crypto upcycle will be slower and less volatile, as Wall Street capital rotates toward tokenization and artificial intelligence rather than pure digital assets. Bitcoin is down about 26% this year and remains close to 50% below its October record, deepening the prevailing bear market sentiment. Even so, registered investment advisers remain heavily engaged. Hougan reiterated a long-term call for Bitcoin to exceed $1 million within a decade. Interest in stablecoins is also climbing, with the combined market value of dollar-pegged tokens recently hitting a record $322 billion.

The United Arab Emirates continued to draw regulated financial infrastructure. Exchange CoinMENA entered a banking agreement with Standard Chartered to support fiat on- and off-ramps, client money accounts and virtual account-based transaction management for UAE customers, aiming to improve settlement transparency and liquidity. Separately, the Central Bank of the UAE approved Revolut’s applications for Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services licenses, clearing the fintech for a local launch offering multi-currency accounts, physical and virtual cards, and cross-border transfers. Revolut has not confirmed whether its UAE rollout will include digital asset trading or staking, as the approved licenses cover payment services rather than virtual asset activity.

Courtrooms stayed busy. Federal prosecutors proposed a late-2026 retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, who was convicted on one money-transmitting charge in 2025 while a jury deadlocked on two others, with a final pretrial conference floated for October 20. A judge granted prosecutors until mid-August to respond to former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky’s motion to vacate his 12-year sentence; Mashinsky was previously ordered to pay $48 million in forfeiture. A US soldier charged in a Polymarket insider-trading case tied to roughly $400,000 in event-contract profits is set for a December 2026 trial.

Illinois became the first US state to impose a transaction-based crypto levy after Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 3019 into law. The Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act applies a 0.2% charge on the value of any digital asset involved in an exchange, transfer, custody or wallet service for an Illinois customer, taking effect January 1, 2027, and projected to raise about $60 million annually. Unlike capital gains taxes, the levy fires on the act of transacting regardless of profit. Industry groups branded it the most punitive digital asset tax in the country, warning of a chilling effect; out-of-state brokers are pulled in once Illinois receipts reach $100,000.

Prediction markets surged on the 2026 World Cup. One Polymarket bettor banked $9.24 million in a single day, going four-for-four on match calls, including a $7.03 million wager on Iran not beating New Zealand that returned $7.34 million after a 2-2 draw. Another account turned roughly $427,000 into $4.7 million when Spain drew 0-0 with Cape Verde at 9% odds. Losses were equally visible, with one trader dropping a $1.2 million position after Argentina won 3-0 on a Lionel Messi hat-trick. Polymarket’s outright-winner market alone has drawn more than $2.5 billion in volume.

Taken together, these threads point to an industry maturing under regulatory and institutional pressure rather than speculative momentum, from quantum mandates and state taxation to bank-grade settlement rails and high-volume prediction markets. COINOTAG’s aggregate market data underscores the caution: the Fear & Greed Index sits at 15, deep in Extreme Fear, while Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 69.8% and total crypto market capitalization stands near $1.83 trillion. With spot Bitcoin holding around $64,000 and capital concentrating in the majors, the data suggests investors are prioritizing infrastructure, compliance and tangible use cases over the broader altcoin risk curve as the cycle resets.