France is not usually under the “cryptocurrency” radar when it comes to hot news about regulation and “innovation”. However, the country may soon be imposing serious bans on several digital coins.
According to press, under the French Law, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Private, Monero and Dash could soon be forbidden as a new law is expected to be passed by the Finance Committee of France’s National Assembly.
What these coins have in common is their privacy element. The thing is that cryptos are currently embraced by governments around the world, but privacy coins still represent the power that masses can have when it comes to moving digital assets and preserving their identity.
The French Minister of Budget and Labour commented on the possible French crypto ban:
We must be aware of the problems that cryptocurrencies can pose in terms of fraud, tax evasion, money laundering or fraud, or energy consumption. It would also have been appropriate to propose a ban on the dissemination and trade in cryptocurrencies built to ensure complete anonymity by preventing any identification procedure by design…This is the case for a certain number of (Monero, PIVX, DeepOnion, Zcash…) whose purpose is to bypass any possibility of identifying the holders. To date, regulation has not gone that far.
There is no clarity as to when and how the eventual crypto “restriction” will take place in France, but the task of forcing out private digital coins will not be easy for the country because of the coins’ widespread adoption and advantages.