France's lower house votes 38 to 37 to tax crypto-to-stablecoin swaps from 2027, and the budget vote it rides on slips

France's lower house has voted, by the narrowest of margins, to tax the moment a crypto investor moves into a regulated stablecoin. The National Assembly adopted amendment I-3898 to the 2027 finance bill on Friday, October 16, by 38 votes to 37 with 25 abstentions, according to CoinDesk, Forbes and Bitcoin.com News. Only 100 of the chamber's 577 deputies took part, per Forbes and Bitcoin.com News. The amendment was tabled by Nicolas Sansu and deputies of the Democratic and Republican Left group, per Forbes.

Since 2019, French residents have been able to swap one crypto asset for another without triggering tax, per Forbes. From January 1, 2027 the amendment would remove that deferral for swaps into e-money tokens as defined by the EU's MiCA regulation, so a gain would be taxed at the swap even if no euros reach a bank account, per CoinDesk. The amendment names no token; Circle's USDC and EURC are the examples cited in coverage, per Forbes. Gains fall under France's 31.4% flat levy. The text also replaces the portfolio-wide average cost method with the cost of the specific assets sold, using a weighted average for units bought at different prices.

The government is against it. Public accounts minister David Amiel asked for the amendment to be withdrawn, saying stablecoins must first be defined so shifts within a portfolio can be traced, and rapporteur general Philippe Juvin favoured keeping the deferral, per CoinDesk. Chainalysis's François Volpoet said the levy could push traders to DeFi and offshore platforms, per CoinDesk.

The Assembly's solemn vote on the budget's revenue section, scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed with 2,828 of 3,396 amendments still unexamined, per LCP. The Senate can rewrite or delete the measure, and the government can adopt the budget without a vote, as it did for 2025 and 2026, per Forbes.