French government introducing regulation for ICOs
The French government is expected to introduce a licence covering initial coin offerings…
With some countries looking to discourage initial coin offerings altogether, the French government seems to be taking a more positive approach.
A public consultation was launched by the country’s Autorite des Merches Financiers (AMF) last autumn into how to approach ICOs, and a trio of options have been put forward in the AMF’s consequent paper.
Each of the approaches offers a cautious welcome to ICOs.
The first would see the production of best practice guidelines for those in the market to comply with. The second would be to extend existing regulations already on the statute book to thus treat an ICO as a public offering of security. The third would be to develop a very specific new set of regulations, along with an accompanying licence, for proposed ICOs.
The AMF has handed its findings – based on 82 responses – over to the French treasury department, which now must decide the best course of action.
That said, a source as the treasury was quoted by Banking Tech as saying “we must also admit that ICOs are a major source of fundraising for start-ups and SMEs. A lack of regulation could be detrimental for both the issuers who would have no other option but to launch their project in a country that already has a regulation in place and for the investors who could be subject to fraud”.
The French treasury is expected to press ahead with a licencing option.
More as we hear it…
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