France’s four financial authorities have set out how they want the EU’s crypto rulebook changed, and their first answer for tokenisation is that a security should stay a security, whatever technology records it. The Treasury, the markets regulator (AMF), the Banque de France and the prudential supervisor (ACPR) published a joint response to the European Commission’s consultation on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) this week.
“A financial instrument must remain fully subject to the financial instruments’ legal framework, regardless of the technology used for its issuance or trading. The same principle should apply to payment instruments,” the Banque de France’s summary says.
These are proposals. The Commission’s consultation ran from 20 May to 30 September, according to the Treasury’s announcement. The Commission decides what goes into any amending law, which the European Parliament and member states would then have to agree. Nothing changes for firms yet.
One bond, one level of protection
MiCA, which came into force in stages from 2024, covers crypto-assets that are not already regulated as financial instruments. Its rules are lighter than the EU’s securities laws, such as MiFID II. In their full 73-page response, the French authorities argue that extending MiCA to tokenised financial instruments “would open the door to regulatory arbitrage and would give the same bond two levels of investor protection depending on whether or not it is recorded on DLT”, the distributed ledgers that blockchains run on.
Where securities rules are ill-suited to blockchain-based assets, they say, “it is MiFID or the DLT Pilot Regime that should be adjusted”, not MiCA stretched to fit. They want the two regimes to converge over time, but in one direction: “MiCA moving towards MiFID standards, not the reverse.” They also oppose a “reverse” route that would let a crypto firm provide investment services without meeting the full MiFID requirements.
For tokenised stocks, the response is blunt. “A wrapped share remains a financial instrument, whether or not the issuer holds the share,” it says. That matters for products sold as tokens tracking listed shares. Under France’s reading, such a token would fall under securities law rather than MiCA wherever it gives the holder a right over the share.
The authorities also flag tokens where member states disagree. Tokens backed by gold or other commodities “may be qualified as ARTs in one Member State and as derivatives in another”, the response says. It asks for binding classification criteria from ESMA, the EU’s securities regulator, starting with yield-bearing products and commodity-backed tokens, and a public register of how national regulators have classified tokens.
Stablecoins issued in two places at once
The second big theme is “multi-issuance”: the same stablecoin issued both inside the EU and outside it, with tokens that are interchangeable. The French authorities are not asking for a ban. If such schemes are confirmed as compatible with MiCA, they want a dedicated regime, “based on equivalence assessments, cooperation between supervisors and additional guarantees on reserves and redemption rights”, according to the Banque de France.
The full response goes further. EU issuers would only be able to join multi-issuance schemes with issuers in countries whose rules the Commission has recognised as equivalent. A token issued this way would automatically be treated as significant, putting the EU issuer under the direct supervision of the European Banking Authority. The issuer’s duty to redeem tokens would be limited to holders in the EU.
That would matter for the largest dollar stablecoins. Last week the EBA classified USDC as the first significant e-money token in the EU, and Circle, its issuer, set out its own wishes for the review in a separate response. France also wants EU-authorised crypto firms “explicitly” barred from providing services on stablecoins that fall short of MiCA.
On yield, France would keep MiCA’s ban on issuers paying interest on e-money tokens, warning that paid stablecoins could pull deposits out of banks. But it would regulate, rather than ban, “indirect remuneration”, such as rewards paid by crypto platforms for holding the tokens, noting that the US GENIUS Act “prohibits issuer interest but not third-party rewards”. Conditions would include “no promise of a guaranteed return” and “no marketing as a savings product”.
The authorities back euro stablecoins and tokenised bank deposits for cross-border payments and tokenised finance, but say central bank money remains “the safest settlement asset” for financial transactions.
DeFi through certified gateways
On decentralised finance, France wants regulated firms to act as access points rather than licensing protocols that nobody controls. The response describes “three pillars: CASP due diligence and ongoing monitoring; prior certification of protocols and smart contracts; and CASP liability”. It adds: “CASPs should in principle facilitate access only to appropriately certified protocols.” Firms would be liable in some cases where they offered access without proper checks.
How it compares with ESMA
Several of France’s asks overlap with ESMA’s own response on 30 September: stronger action against non-compliant stablecoin services, binding powers over token classification, and clearer rules for genuinely decentralised activity. France also wants ESMA to supervise significant crypto service providers and “crypto-conglomerates” directly. The difference is emphasis. ESMA floated an optional EU-wide regime for tokenised securities in the long run; France’s first concern is that tokenised securities never escape the securities rulebook in the meantime.
Sources
- Banque de France, “MiCA regulation revision: the French authorities publish their joint proposals”, 21 October 2026
- Direction générale du Trésor, “Révision du règlement européen sur les marchés de crypto-actifs (MiCA) : les autorités françaises publient leurs propositions conjointes”, 20 October 2026 (French)
- Autorité des marchés financiers, “Révision du règlement MiCA : les autorités françaises publient leurs propositions conjointes”, 21 October 2026 (French)
- French authorities, “Response of the French authorities – Targeted consultation on the review of MiCA” (PDF, 73 pages)
Related stories
- Circle’s MiCA response: preserve multi-issuance, rethink reserve rules
- EU Banking Regulator Names USDC the First Significant E-Money Token Under MiCA
- Regulators and Tokenisation: What Changed Between 8 September and 8 October
Follow @tsnmediahub on X for breaking AI news as it happens.
Follow on X
