31.4 percent. That is the flat rate French lawmakers could apply from 1 January 2027 to swaps from crypto into stablecoins regulated under the EU’s MiCA framework, CoinDesk reported on 14 October.
Today, swapping one crypto for another generally triggers no capital gains tax in France. The rate bites when investors cash out or spend. An amendment adopted by the National Assembly’s finance committee on 7 October would make exchanging bitcoin for a MiCA electronic money token a taxable event.
It covers only MiCA-compliant stablecoins. USDT, DAI and PAXG are outside it.
Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis’s chief executive for France, warned that this undercuts the aim of bringing crypto into the regulated system, because authorities can monitor regulated stablecoins far more easily than DeFi or self-hosted wallets. He expects traders to drift towards peer-to-peer trading and venues outside international tax-reporting arrangements.
A second amendment, backed on 9 October, would require taxpayers to declare self-hosted wallets holding at least 100,000 euros. Volpoet worried about leaks, pointing to physical attacks on holders. Chainalysis counted 30 violent attacks in France in the first half of 2026.
Lawmakers also backed a 10-year loss carry-forward and an extension of the exit tax to crypto holdings worth roughly $900,000.
None of it is law. The finance committee rejected the revenue section of the 2027 budget by 31 votes to 3, so the crypto amendments must be resubmitted, with a full Assembly vote on that section scheduled for 20 October and a 10 December deadline. What survives that process is still unknown.
