Stablecoin Swaps Face France’s Proposed 31.4% Tax

French lawmakers advanced a proposal to tax gains when investors swap cryptocurrency for stablecoins, bringing the transactions closer to France’s 31.4% capital gains levy. The National Assembly adopted amendment I-3898 on Oct. 16 by 38 votes to 37, with 25 abstentions. The measure would apply from Jan. 1, 2027, but still faces the budget’s remaining parliamentary stages and could be amended or removed.

Under current French rules, crypto-to-crypto exchanges without an additional cash payment generally benefit from tax deferral. The amendment would remove that deferral when investors receive e-money tokens covered by the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. That means a taxpayer could owe capital gains tax when moving into a qualifying stablecoin, even without withdrawing funds to a bank account.

Why it matters

The proposal would change the tax treatment of a common portfolio move: shifting from a volatile cryptoasset into a stablecoin while remaining inside the digital-asset system. Private investment gains are generally subject to a 31.4% rate, although investors can choose the progressive income-tax scale.

Public Accounts Minister David Amiel questioned whether the government can define stablecoins and monitor portfolio reallocations before supporting the amendment. Finance committee rapporteur general Philippe Juvin also favored preserving the deferral because of crypto’s volatility.

Market impact

Critics, including Chainalysis regional sales director Francois Volpoet, warned that the measure could push investors toward decentralized finance platforms, peer-to-peer transactions and offshore exchanges outside international tax-reporting arrangements. That creates a potential trade-off between earlier tax collection and the visibility of investor activity.

The amendment would also replace France’s portfolio-wide capital-gains calculation with an acquisition-cost method based on weighted average prices for units of the same cryptocurrency. Traders and exchanges will be watching the remaining budget votes, the final treatment of MiCA-covered e-money tokens and whether the proposal becomes law before 2027.