French deputies adopted an amendment to tax stablecoin swaps in a 38-37 vote, eliminating tax deferral on conversions into single-currency e-money tokens. The measure advances to an Oct. 20 budget vote, where its revenue section will be decided. If enacted, the new regime takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Under current French law, capital gains or losses from converting one cryptocurrency to another, including stablecoins, defer taxation until assets convert back to fiat currency. The amendment would create a taxable event each time users swap into a single-currency stablecoin—pegged to the euro, U.S. dollar, or other fiat—or swap between two single-currency stablecoins. This compounds tax reporting obligations for DeFi participants managing liquidity positions and hedges across decentralized exchanges.
The razor-thin margin signals sharp internal disagreement among deputies. For on-chain liquidity providers, the change could impose material friction on capital-efficient strategies that rely on frequent stablecoin swaps to rebalance pools and manage impermanent loss.
The amendment aligns with Europe's broader regulatory posture, including MiCA's classification of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. Approval on Oct. 20 would make France one of the first EU jurisdictions to tax stablecoin conversions as taxable events rather than deferred transactions.
