The recently appointed head of France’s markets regulator said she supports a swift transition to a more stringent oversight of the crypto industry, after the FTX scandal raised concerns that France’s current framework might be too loose.
(Bloomberg) — The recently appointed head of France’s markets regulator said she supports a swift transition to a more stringent oversight of the crypto industry, after the FTX scandal raised concerns that France’s current framework might be too loose.
The Autorite des Marches Financiers wants to make obtaining of a license mandatory for crypto service-providers before related European regulations comes into effect, AMF president Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani said at a conference on Monday.
A licensing system was created in 2019, but it remains optional, and no providers have signed up for it yet. More than 50 — including Binance Holdings Ltd. — have obtained a less stringent “registration” from the AMF.
The licensing “is inspired by what is usually done in the more traditional financial sector, and, as it happens, offers several more significant and detailed elements for the protection of investors,” Barbat-Layani said. “It is the best guarantee that we can bring to the protection of crypto investors.”
The AMF’s comments echoed those of Bank of France’s Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who said last week that France should not wait for European rules to come into effect before making it obligatory for Digital Asset Service Providers to obtain licensing from authorities. The regulation is not expected to come into effect before 2024.
Parliamentary Bill
A bill that includes a provision to make licensing compulsory by October will be discussed in the lower chamber of Parliament this month.
Barbat-Layani, who was appointed to lead the AMF late last year said the regulatory body will remain open to financial innovation, pointing out that the FTX scandal is, above all, about fraud.
“One should not conclude that technological innovation in the financial sector is bad in itself,” Barbat Layani said. “Madoff has not doomed traditional finance, FTX should not doom digital finance.”
According to the AMF’s data, 8% of the French population own crypto assets.
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