France’s National Assembly has narrowly voted in favor of a proposal to tax profits from cryptocurrency-to-stablecoin conversions, potentially subjecting these transactions to the country’s 31.4% capital gains tax rate.
Lawmakers approved amendment I-3898 to the 2027 budget on October 16, with 38 votes supporting the measure, 37 against, and 25 abstentions. The decision advances a proposal that had already received backing from the assembly’s finance committee.
If adopted into law, the changes would apply to transactions starting January 1, 2027. However, the amendment must still pass through the remaining stages of the parliamentary budget process and could be revised or removed before final approval.
Under France’s current tax rules, exchanges between cryptocurrencies generally benefit from tax deferral when no additional cash payment is made. Private investment gains are typically taxed at 31.4%, although taxpayers can choose the progressive income-tax system instead.
The amendment would end this deferral for electronic money tokens covered by the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, including qualifying stablecoins.
Consequently, investors could face capital gains tax when exchanging cryptocurrency for eligible stablecoins, even if they do not convert their holdings into traditional currency or transfer the funds to a bank account.
The proposal has prompted concerns about its impact on trading behavior. Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis’ regional sales director for France, told CoinDesk last week that the tax change could push investors toward decentralized finance platforms, peer-to-peer trading, and offshore exchanges that fall outside international tax-reporting systems.
Public Accounts Minister David Amiel questioned how the proposed rules would work in practice and called for the amendment to be withdrawn. He said he would otherwise oppose the measure.
“We first need to define stablecoins, then ensure our ability to monitor and trace reallocations within a portfolio of assets,” Amiel told lawmakers during the debate.
Philippe Juvin, the finance committee’s rapporteur general, also supported maintaining the existing tax deferral, citing the significant volatility of crypto assets.
The proposal would additionally change how France calculates capital gains. Instead of measuring gains across an investor’s entire portfolio, the revised method would calculate taxable profits using the acquisition cost of the assets sold. When the same cryptocurrency has been purchased at different prices, a weighted-average acquisition cost would determine the taxable gain.
