France

France occupies a singular place in the history of RWA. It abolished paper securities as early as 1984, created minibons that could be recorded on a distributed ledger in 2016, allowed unlisted securities to be recorded on blockchain from 2017, regulated digital asset service providers with the PACTE law in 2019, and adapted its securities law to the European pilot regime in 2023. It saw the birth of Spiko and Société Générale-Forge, two players of the first rank worldwide. For an entrepreneur, it offers a long-established, precise and proven legal framework, along with a few constraints that must be known before setting out.

The authorities and institutions

The Autorité des marchés financiers, the AMF, safeguards savings invested in financial products, investor information and the proper functioning of markets. It approves prospectuses, licenses portfolio management companies, crowdfunding service providers and crypto-asset service providers, and supervises the marketing of financial products.

The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the ACPR, attached to the Banque de France, licenses and supervises banks, investment firms, payment institutions and electronic money institutions, including issuers of euro stablecoins. It also ensures compliance with anti-money laundering obligations.