France's National Assembly has approved, by a single vote, a measure that would apply capital gains tax when investors swap cryptocurrency into stablecoins. Deputies voted 38 to 37 to adopt an amendment introduced by communist deputy Nicolas Sansu that would close what he called a gap in the law, making such swaps taxable from January 1, 2027. Only 100 of the chamber's 577 deputies cast ballots, and one deputy who voted in favor later said she had meant to vote no.

That deputy, Olivia Grégoire, corrected her vote after the count, according to the Assembly's official record, but a correction does not change the result. The question now is whether the provision survives the rest of the budget process.

JUST IN: France's parliament advances legislation to impose 31.4% capital gains tax on crypto-to-stablecoin transactions.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru), October 20, 2026 (X post)

What the Amendment Changes

Amendment I-3898 makes a swap into an e-money token — a stablecoin pegged to a single currency under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules — taxable at France's 31.4% flat rate. The move ends the deferral French investors currently enjoy: today, selling bitcoin for USDC, a dollar-denominated stablecoin, triggers no tax, with the bill arriving only when the holder cashes out into euros or spends the coins.

The effect can be substantial. A bitcoin bought at €30,000 and swapped into USDC at €100,000 would generate €21,980 in tax, with no euros ever reaching the bank.

The text also scraps France's portfolio-wide cost method. Each gain would instead be calculated from the cost of the coins actually sold, using a weighted average for coins bought at different prices.

Who Wanted the Tax

The amendment was filed by the small Democratic and Republican Left group, but the idea originated with the crypto industry itself. In a May op-ed in Le Monde, three French founders — from Deblock, Waltio and Lyzi — called for exactly this tax, estimating that gains parked in stablecoins run to €1 billion to €3 billion a year.

On the floor, the left carried the vote: France Insoumise, the Socialists, the Greens and Sansu's group, plus four centrists. Macron's camp and the right voted against. The far-right National Rally effectively decided the outcome by abstaining: 25 of its deputies sat out and only 10 voted no.

How Traders Are Reacting

Badly. Stablecoins are where French traders park gains between trades, and Adan, the French crypto industry body, opposed the tax, warning it would push users toward dollar-denominated coins and away from regulated euro tokens.

Francois Volpoet, Chainalysis' sales director for France, said the rule could push investors toward DeFi, peer-to-peer and offshore exchanges. Notably, the tax would land on the stablecoins Europe has licensed — the ones easiest to trace.

A Precarious Path Through the 2027 Budget

The vote lands in a broader fight over the 2027 budget, in which no party holds a majority. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is seeking €54 billion in savings to cut the deficit from 5.4% to 5% of GDP, and Public Accounts Minister David Amiel had asked Sansu to withdraw the amendment, saying France must “first define stablecoins.”

No party has held a majority in the chamber since the 2024 snap election. Lecornu forced the 2026 budget through using Article 49.3, the constitutional tool that bypasses a vote, and has promised not to use it this time. With 2,828 amendments still pending, the vote on tax half of the budget has slipped to November 3.

The bill then goes to the Senate, where the right-leaning majority could strip the provision out. Next spring's presidential race hangs over every vote.

Source: 99Bitcoins