France’s National Assembly adopted an amendment on Friday 16 October 2026 that would end the tax deferral on swapping crypto into euro-regulated stablecoins such as USDC and EURC from 1 January 2027, Cryptoast reports. KuCoin’s 19 October daily report puts the vote at 38 to 37; Cryptoast confirms adoption but gives no count, and we could not check the tally against the Assembly’s own records, so treat the margin as reported rather than verified. The measure is not law. It sits inside the 2027 finance bill (PLF 2027), whose whole revenue section faces a solemn vote on Tuesday 20 October.
What the amendment would change
Today, swapping bitcoin for a stablecoin in France does not trigger tax, because tax falls due only when a holder sells for regular money or spends the crypto, Decrypt explains. Under the adopted text (amendment I-3898, sponsored by Nicolas Sansu of the left-wing GDR group), swaps into e-money tokens as defined under the EU’s MiCA regulation would lose that deferral and count as a taxable sale. Cryptoast notes the test is the legal definition of an e-money token, so USDT could be caught as well as USDC and EURC.
The tax would apply at the flat rate. Selectra gives that rate as 31.4%, made of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social contributions. Gains would be measured against the weighted average acquisition cost of the assets sold. Cryptoast’s example: an investor who buys €10,000 of bitcoin and swaps it into USDC when it is worth €20,000 would owe tax on a €10,000 gain even though no euros were received. At 31.4%, that would be €3,140 by our arithmetic. Transitional rules would cover assets held before 1 January 2027.
| Item | Status as of 19 October 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Stablecoin swap tax (I-3898) | Adopted by the Assembly on 16 Oct; count reported as 38–37 | Cryptoast; KuCoin |
| Approval in finance committee | 7 October | Selectra |
| Whole revenue section | Rejected by the finance committee 31–3 on 9 Oct; solemn Assembly vote on 20 Oct | Decrypt; Journal du Coin |
| 10-year crypto loss carry-forward | Approved in committee; filed again for the floor debate (I-3653) | Selectra; Journal du Coin |
| Exit tax above €800,000 | Approved in committee; floor amendments not reached as of 16 Oct | Decrypt; Journal du Coin |
| Self-custody wallet declaration (from €5,000 proposed) | Pending admissibility as of 16 Oct | Journal du Coin |
Why Tuesday matters more than Friday
Friday’s vote was one amendment among hundreds in a budget debate. The bigger question is whether the revenue section survives. The finance committee rejected it 31 to 3 on 9 October, and Journal du Coin notes that deputies rejected the equivalent section 404 to 1 in last year’s solemn vote. This year the Assembly has so far defeated a Socialist motion to reject the whole budget, 236 to 149, and tax debates were due to end on Monday 19 October, with the solemn vote on Tuesday 20 October. How the amendments fare after a rejection depends on the procedure that follows, such as a Senate reading, a joint committee or the government’s use of Article 49.3, which Cryptoast notes could keep or drop them. None of our sources spells out the exact path, and we found no confirmation of Monday’s debate.
In short, the stablecoin swap tax has cleared a floor vote, but it has not cleared the budget. Our 10 October report on the committee votes described the same fragility, and nothing published since changes it.
What it means for holders, if it survives
If a swap tax passed in this form, converting bitcoin into a euro stablecoin to park gains would stop being a way to defer tax in France. Holders who rely on that step would face tax on the unrealised gain at the moment of the swap, funded from other cash because no euros are received. The 10-year loss carry-forward that also cleared committee would partly offset this for investors with losses, since it matches how losses are treated for shares. These are descriptions of proposals, not tax advice: rules differ by situation, and anyone affected should consult a French tax professional.
Elsewhere in regulation today
KuCoin’s daily report lists several other items worth noting, which we have not independently verified: South Korea will meet its five largest exchanges on 20 October on virtual-asset taxation, Latvia is considering letting residents pay taxes in crypto from as early as 2027, and the EU and eight countries signed a protocol to the Warsaw Convention covering virtual assets and service providers. Bitcoin traded at $82,689 on Coinbase at 06:07 UTC on Monday, little changed from the weekend; see today’s market update.
What to watch next
Watch the Assembly’s solemn vote on Tuesday 20 October, any government decision on Article 49.3, and the Senate’s calendar for the finance bill. We will update this report when the result is published.
Method: bitcoin prices, highs, lows and closes are Coinbase Exchange candles (UTC day or UTC hour) pulled by Bitcoin Mastery at about 06:15 UTC on Monday 19 October 2026; the 19 October candle is still open at that time, so any closing figure quoted is the 18 October close unless stated. Index, stock, VIX, oil and yield figures are Yahoo Finance daily data (US closes of Friday 16 October) or the news sources cited; Asian sessions had not all closed at pull time. Other third-party figures are attributed to their source and date. French vote counts and amendment numbers are as reported by the outlets cited and have not been checked against the Assembly’s records.
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