France targets large self-custody wallets with reporting

TLDR

France has advanced a proposal that would force residents with large self-custodied crypto holdings to report them to tax authorities or face fines.

1. Frances finance committee backed a rule that self-custodied crypto worth at least 100,000 euros must be declared annually, with penalties up to 10,000 euros.
2. The measure targets tax evasion and complements wider EU and French moves to capture crypto activity that sits outside regulated service providers.
3. The rule is not law yet and must survive upcoming budget debates, so timelines, thresholds and enforcement details could still change.

Deep Dive

1. What France Proposed

Frances National Assembly Finance Committee adopted amendment I-CF821, which would add a rule to the tax code requiring holders to declare self-custodied crypto worth at least 100,000 euros (about 112,000 dollars) each year. The rule specifically covers assets not held by a regulated crypto asset service provider, including coins stored in personal hardware or software wallets.

Under the proposal, taxpayers would report the value of these holdings as of 31 December, and failing to declare qualifying assets could bring fines of up to 10,000 euros, according to reporting from Cointelegraph and others on the I-CF821 proposal. This effectively targets large self-custody portfolios rather than everyday users with smaller balances.

Confidence: high, based on multiple independent reports of the same amendment and thresholds.

2. Why Self-Custody Is Targeted

Sponsors of the measure cited a parliamentary inquiry that found crypto capital gains of about 3.5 billion euros in 2021, versus only 400 million euros of crypto holdings reported to the tax authorities that year. That gap suggests substantial undeclared wealth in wallets outside regulated platforms.

At the EU level, the DAC8 framework already forces crypto service providers to report client data across member states from 2026. Frances proposal would go further by pulling large unhosted or self-custody wallets into the disclosure net, as described in coverage of Frances tax package and DAC8 interplay on crypto.news. The focus is less on banning self-custody and more on making high value self-custody transparent to the tax office.

3. What To Watch Next

Critically, the reporting rule is not yet law. The finance committee adopted several crypto tax amendments, then voted down the revenue section of the broader 2027 budget, which means the crypto provisions must be resubmitted and approved in full parliamentary debate before they can take effect. That debate is scheduled to restart from the governments original draft, so any crypto clauses, including self-custody reporting, will have to be re-fought.

If the measure passes, key details for users will include whether the 100,000 euros threshold is per wallet or per person, how aggregation across chains and coins is handled, and how enforcement works for assets held on privacy focused networks. Until then, it signals Frances direction of travel rather than an active filing obligation.

Conclusion

France is moving toward treating large self-custody crypto portfolios like other significant financial assets, with explicit reporting and penalties for non-disclosure. For now this is a proposed rule that still has to clear budget debates, but it fits a broader pattern in Europe of closing gaps between on platform activity and wealth held in private wallets. Crypto users with substantial holdings should watch the French legislative process and similar moves elsewhere, since self-custody increasingly intersects with formal tax reporting rather than sitting outside it.