French Lawmakers Back Stablecoin Swap Tax by Just One Vote

In brief

• France's National Assembly adopted a budget amendment by one vote that would treat swaps from crypto into MiCA-regulated stablecoins as taxable sales from 2027.
• Only 100 deputies took part, with 38 voting for, 37 against and 25 abstaining, reviving a measure that fell with the finance committee's rejected budget text.
• The amendment still faces the rest of the budget process, as a separate proposal to make holders report wallets over €100,000 faces a backlash from the crypto industry.

French lawmakers voted by a single-vote margin on Friday to make swapping cryptocurrency for stablecoins a taxable event, according to the National Assembly's record of the vote.

Of the 100 deputies who took part, 38 backed amendment I-3898 to the 2027 budget, 37 opposed it and 25 abstained. That left 75 votes cast, putting the measure exactly at the 38 needed for a majority.

French holders can currently move between cryptocurrencies without owing tax, as long as no euros change hands, with the bill only coming due when they cash out or spend. The amendment carves out swaps that end in an electronic money token under MiCA, the EU's crypto rulebook, which covers stablecoins pegged to a single official currency.