France is already one of the 10 most attractive countries for blockchain investors. With the adoption of a new legal ICO framework (September 2018), the fraud-free crypto-environment will safeguard purchasers.
France aims at regulating blockchain and eliminating risks such as laundering or fraud. The government has the willingness to make France a blockchain friendly destination. Thanks to the ICO, initial coin offering, a cryptocurrency fundraiser, blockchain start-ups can raise millions in just a few days or even minutes.
The problem is that ICO (Initial Coin Offerings) does not just have advantages. There is no guarantee for investors. It is indeed difficult for them to verify the relevance and quality of a project that does not exist yet. Unlike a stock exchange, no controlling body regulates the market. Another disadvantage is the price volatility of crypto-currencies linked to a strong speculation that can quickly raise or lower their prices. The new legal framework is willing to address these problems in-depth.
France belongs to the Top 10 ICO Countries
| 1 | UNITED STATES | 16.2% |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | UNITED KINGDOM | 9.66% |
| 3 | SINGAPORE | 7.88% |
| 4 | RUSSIA | 7.13% |
| 5 | SWITZERLAND | 6.69 |
| 6 | ESTONIA | 4.01% |
| 7 | AUSTRALIA | 3.27% |
| 8 | HONG KONG | 2.82% |
| 9 | CAYMAN ISLANDS | 2.38% |
| 10 | FRANCE | 2.08% |
France has shown a growing interest in tokens and ICOs. Now the country is among the top 10 ICO countries. France wants to weigh in the definition of the standards of this new mode of financing and to favor the innovation to reinforce the attractiveness of the place of Paris.
“The legal ICO framework has just been accepted and the framework will provide safeguards and guarantees to worldwide investors”, says Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance of France.
The Pact Act (Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation) will include a range of provisions, some of which are long awaited by the financial community and the crypto-active enthusiast community, the term that is now becoming a consensus to talk about Bitcoin and all the “virtual currencies” and other “tokens” (digital tokens).
“We will be the first in the world to have an ad hoc regulation on ICO,” said Anne Maréchal, the director of Legal Affairs of the AMF (Financial Market Authority, the French regulator). “We must attract to France the most beautiful projects,” she insisted.
Project holders can go to the AMF to obtain a visa
It will bring them “credibility”. The Wall Street Journal investigated 1,450 ICO and found that nearly 20% were scams, with fake teams, identity theft, copy-pasted documents, and so on.
This is the right moment to legislate, for the attractiveness of the Paris market and to be able to weigh tomorrow in the international context.
Investor protection must first go through the right information
The AMF will, therefore, guarantee the quality of the “white paper”, a kind of prospectus, the existence of a “mechanism for safeguarding funds raised”, the equivalent of a escrow account – which could use the Blockchain (the underlying technology of Bitcoin) via “smart contracts” (intelligent contracts, which run automatically) – as well as that of mechanisms for verifying the origin of money and the fight against money laundering. The only way to be a player very involved in the definition of standards.
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To read: Six ESILV Student Projects on Blockchain
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