France bill eases tax rules for crypto

TLDR

France is considering a pro-crypto tax reform that would make everyday use and some token distributions easier to handle for taxpayers.

1. The bill would tax airdrops and governance tokens only when sold, allow crypto losses to be carried forward 10 years, and exempt small annual crypto payments from tax.
2. It keeps Frances relatively high flat tax on crypto gains but aligns some rules with traditional securities, reducing uncertainty for users and companies.
3. The proposal is not law yet, so the impact depends on parliamentary votes and how it interacts with other, more punitive crypto tax ideas in France.

Deep Dive

1. Key Tax Changes

French MP Paul Midy has submitted bill 3090 with 91 co-signers to clarify and soften several crypto tax rules in France. The bill, described in a community analysis, proposes three main reforms.

First, airdropped and governance tokens would be taxed only when sold, not when received, similar to how many traditional securities are treated. Second, capital losses on digital assets could be carried forward for 10 years, matching stock market rules and making it easier to offset future gains. Third, crypto payments up to 1,000 per year would be exempt from taxation, reducing reporting burdens for small day to day use.

2. Fit With Frances Current Regime

The bill does not change Frances flat tax on crypto gains, which rose to about 31.4% in 2026, but it rewrites how and when those gains and losses are assessed and declared. That can matter as much as the rate, especially for active users dealing with airdrops, governance rewards, and volatile portfolios.

Separate from this investor-friendly bill, the National Assembly previously passed an amendment to tax digital asset holdings over 2 million as unproductive wealth at 1% annually, pending Senate approval. So France is moving on two tracks at once: clearer, more conventional treatment for everyday crypto activity, alongside potential wealth-style taxation for very large holdings.

3. Implications And Next Steps

Beyond tax rules, the bill also proposes executive safety measures, such as masking home addresses of blockchain company leaders in public registries and requiring firms to fund security when credible threats arise. It would also open the EUs DLT pilot regime to French SAS entities, broadening access to regulated blockchain market infrastructure tests.

As of late July, the reforms are still working through the legislative process and have not yet become law. Their eventual impact will depend on how Parliament and the Senate reconcile this investor-friendly package with earlier wealth tax proposals and broader EU rules like MiCA.

Conclusion

France is moving toward more mature, conventional treatment of crypto by aligning taxation of airdrops, governance tokens, and losses with securities rules while keeping a relatively high tax rate and exploring wealth-style levies. If bill 3090 or similar reforms pass, France could remain a major European crypto hub, but large holders will still need to watch both tax rate debates and wealth tax proposals closely.