A report on blockchain technology and crypto assets from the Finance Committee of the French National Assembly have indicated that anonymous cryptocurrencies or rather the privacy coins should be banned.
Banning anonymity altcoins in France
The committee’s president, Eric Woerth, indicated that it was time to ban all cryptocurrency activity of sites that are built with the aim of anonymity to prevent any form of identification. He added that cryptocurrencies could pose problems in terms of money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, and energy consumption.
Woerth indicated that specific cryptocurrencies such as DeepOnion, PIVX, Monero, and Zcash among others had been built to bypass the possibility of identifying the account holders. He asserted that up to date no regulation has gone to that extent. However, Woerth added that the distinction between users should continue for purposes of establishing a precise and more exceptional regulation protector for crypto users and also for the private interests of the businesspeople in the crypto industry.
It is not yet certain as to what extent does the national assembly want the anonymity altcoins to get banned. The potentially this might refer to imposing a complete ban on the use of the cryptocurrencies or disallowing trade exchanges from listing them.
The growing trend of suggestions to disallow anonymity altcoins from exchanges
France is not the first country to suggest such measures with Japanese regulators proposing the same measures in April last year to prevent crypto exchanges from listing anonymity altcoins Monero and DASH. A member of the Japanese Financial Services authority indicated that there is a need for discussions on whether these anonymity altcoins should be used in any registered crypto exchange.
In December 2018, the French parliament overruled amendments of the finance bill of 2019 that could have eased crypto taxation. In total four proposals got rejected including one that suggested an increase in annual volumes exempted from tax from around 305 euros to close to 5,000 euros.
France’s stand on cryptocurrency continues to be vague, and last year the central bank rejected a plan to allow tobacco kiosks to trade Bitcoins.
