ICO legislation passed in French Parliament

Last week an important event for ICOs in Europe took place, specifically in France, when a legislative framework to regulate the ICO market within the territory of France was approved in the French Parliament. These standards are being included in the Business Growth Plan that is being proposed by the French government, the PACTE.

With this legal body France becomes the first European country to have a legal body that so deeply regulates this market.

According to the legal body, the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) will be in charge of evaluating and analyzing the main projects related to Blockchain and it will be stated that these projects are safe and not scams, in case they are approved, they will be accepted in its White List.

The same body of law explains that there will be a national system for the supply of tokens and on this plasma that funds can be raised through a shared registry that issues digital tokens, thus making reference to Blockchain technology.

Disadvantages of the new legislation

Not everything is positive in the proposed legal framework and among the most negative aspects we could see that there are problems in the issue of the distinction between projects that will be considered scams and which will be considered as viable. What is proposed is that the AMF will have the task of examining all the documents and data of the project in order to approve the project within its White List.

The problem exists when it is not determined what criteria the AMF will take into account to consider that the project is approved or not. For many experts, many of the ICOs that exist in today’s market would not pass the filters that the AMF would establish in the future, leaving many of these projects out.

Legislation designed to be “friendly.”

However, although it may seem like a law with many obstacles, the law explains very clearly that its aim is to provide a much more friendly vision for ICOs, provided that certain legal requirements are met that are raised not to complicate projects but to protect investors against fraud, theft of money or abuses that violate the rights established under French law.

To have an example of the advantages that can be seen in the legislation we can see how the ICO will have more facilities within the banking issue. Within the legal body is stated, in a textual manner, that the bank should have non-discriminatory rules that allow ICOs and Blockchain projects to access the services offered by the bank. The services that can be accessed are the opening of accounts, access to credits and opening of Fixed Terms.

This new vision is an important step if we consider all the problems that ICOs have had with banks all over the world. Closing of accounts, denial of credits and even, there have been cases of discrimination even to ICO investors, becoming a really cumbersome situation.

Institutional investments

Previously, French law did not allow institutional funds to put money in the ICOs, severely restricting the market if we consider the weight of these funds within the investment world.

Now, with the amendments made, institutional investors will be able to invest between 10-20% of the total fund in ICOs licensed by the AMF, thus making this new legal framework extremely advantageous for French ICOs and even for all parts of the world.

The experts agree that this new regulation will generate that France will be the new headquarters of the ICO within the European territory and even, I managed to break into the world market, those are at least the objectives of the French legislators and officials with the creation of this legal body.