France's National Assembly Passes Crypto-to-Stablecoin Swap Tax 38–37

France’s National Assembly has voted, by a margin of a single vote, to make swapping cryptocurrency into a stablecoin a taxable event from January 1, 2027. The official record of public vote no. 8836 shows that Amendment no. 3898 to the 2027 finance bill, tabled by MP Nicolas Sansu, was adopted during the second sitting on Friday, October 16, 2026, in a 38–37 vote, with 25 abstentions. Only 100 deputies took part. The vote is a step in the budget’s first reading, not a new law: the measure only takes effect if it survives the rest of the parliamentary process and the finance bill is finally adopted.

What the Amendment Would Change

Under current French rules, as Boursorama summarised them, individual crypto gains are generally taxed only when crypto is converted into euros or other legal tender, or used to pay for goods and services; a swap from one crypto-asset into another is not a taxable disposal. The amendment removes that deferral for one category of swap. According to The Defiant and Journal du Coin, which both reviewed the text, it targets exchanges in which the seller receives an “electronic money token” as defined in Article 3 of the EU’s MiCA regulation — in practice, a stablecoin pegged to a single currency such as the euro or the US dollar. Such a swap would be taxed even if the proceeds never leave the blockchain, while swaps into other crypto-assets would keep the existing deferral.

The gain would be calculated as the proceeds minus the acquisition cost, using a weighted-average cost where the same token was bought at different prices. It would fall under the default flat tax of 31.4% (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies), the same rate that applies to a sale into euros; taxpayers can opt for the progressive income-tax scale instead, and the existing €305 annual exemption remains. Journal du Coin gives a worked example: converting €10,000 of bitcoin that includes a €4,000 gain would trigger about €1,256 of tax.

Who Is Affected — and What Has Not Passed

The measure would matter most to anyone who is tax-resident in France and uses stablecoins as a parking place between trades or as a payment rail, because each conversion would become a point at which gains are crystallised. The government opposed it: Public Accounts Minister David Amiel gave an unfavourable opinion and asked lawmakers to withdraw the text, saying, as quoted by The Defiant, that “implementation would be too complex in its current form.” The Assembly adopted it anyway, with the left-wing groups voting in favour, the governing camp and the right largely against, and most National Rally deputies abstaining.

This is the floor-stage sequel to the finance-committee votes Zagdim covered on October 12, when the committee also backed a crypto exit tax before rejecting the budget’s entire revenue section. That exit tax — on households with more than €800,000 in crypto-assets that move their tax residence out of France — has not been reported as voted in plenary: as of the morning of October 16, Journal du Coin listed the floor versions of the exit-tax amendments as still awaiting examination. Readers should therefore not treat the exit tax as having passed the Assembly.

What Happens Next

The Assembly’s calendar sets a solemn vote on the first part of the finance bill, which covers revenue, for Tuesday, October 20, and a vote on the whole bill for November 17. The text then goes to the Senate, which can delete the amendment; if the two chambers disagree, a joint committee of seven deputies and seven senators would try to agree a common text, and Journal du Coin notes that the government could also use Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass the budget without a vote. Until the finance bill is finally adopted and promulgated, no crypto-to-stablecoin swap is taxed under this amendment, and its January 1, 2027 start date remains conditional.