French MPs voted to adopt a bill on taxing cryptocurrencies as “unproductive assets”. According to experts, this punishes investors for investing in BTC.
Are cryptocurrencies “unproductive assets”?
MPs in France have voted in favor of an amendment to the tax law that imposes a tax on “unproductive assets”, including certain types of real estate and cryptocurrencies.
The amendment is supported by centrist MP Jean-Paul Matteï. It was supported by 163 parliamentarians, while 150 were against it (mainly socialist and far-right MPs).
Lawmakers are now seeking to adopt a budget for 2026. The amendment still needs to be approved by the Senate.
In a summary of the amendment, Matteï said the current property tax law was “economically incoherent” because it “excludes non-productive goods” such as “gold, coins, classic cars, yachts, works of art.” He said the new tax would “encourage productive investments.” He stressed that the current system does not take into account assets that could “contribute to the dynamics of the French economy.”
It goes on to say that “non-productive goods” will no longer be exempt from tax, and the list of taxable assets will be expanded to include “non-productive” real estate, property such as “precious items” and aircraft, as well as “digital assets”.
However, it is worth adding that only people with “unproductive assets” exceeding 2 million euros ($2.3 million) will be taxed.
Penalty imposed on BTC savers
The tax rate has also been changed, which will amount to 1% on taxable assets above EUR 2 million.
Currently, real estate wealth tax is progressive, ranging from no tax on assets under €800,000 ($922,660) to 1.5% on assets over €10 million ($11.5 million).
Éric Larchevêque, co-founder of Ledger, a company that creates hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies, commented on everything on Saturday, saying that the amendment “punishes all savers who want to make their future dependent on gold and bitcoin.”
There is certainly still a legislative process underway to include this in the 2026 budget, but the likelihood of it coming into force on January 1 remains high
– he warned.
