On Wednesday evening, the National Assembly approved the text voted in the Joint Committee on the “Influencers Act”. After initial concerns about the cryptocurrency ecosystem, this new legal framework is nonetheless taking a reassuring turn. We take stock.
The National Assembly adopts the final version of the “Influencers Law “
It’s been the hot topic of the last few months: the “Influencers Act”. While a legal framework is necessary in the field of influence in general, the prospects that the original text raised for the cryptocurrency ecosystem were enough to worry the industry, theoretically dealing a fatal blow to many French players.
However, after considerable work with political figures, notably led by ADAN and its president Faustine Fleuret, Owen Simonin (Hasheur), CEO of Meria, and Valentin Demé, CEO of cube3 and content director of TCN, more acceptable conditions began to emerge.
On Wednesday evening, the National Assembly voted in favour of the final text proposed by the Joint Committee, sealing this legal framework with 194 votes in favour:
The law was voted in session at the assembly nationale https://t.co/NA1XnVNvpx
– Hasheur (@PowerHasheur) May 31, 2023
Valentin Demé took the opportunity of the vote to reflect on the positive outcome of this regulation:
After the astonishment of the first vote in the National Assembly a few months ago, all the political leaders listened carefully to fine-tune the Web3 part of this law and combine protection of the citizen with innovation. A fair outcome that is consistent with the existing regimes that provide a framework for this rapidly expanding sector “
Key points to remember
In order to be able to promote players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem on social networks, several rules must be followed. For example, companies registered as digital asset service providers (DASPs) may be promoted.
Originally, registration was compulsory, which meant that no company met the criteria for the time being.
A number of businesses are entitled to an exception, and are therefore not affected by this Influencers Act, namely non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralised finance (DeFi), which will be regulated at European level in a second phase. In addition, companies outside the scope of the PSAN, such as Sorare, Waltio and Ledger, have also been approved, which was not the case initially.
However, one point of regret remains concerning Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). While it is possible for projects to advertise without canvassing, like posters in the metro, the new regulations prohibit promotion through influence without the approval of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Faustine Fleuret pointed out this particular feature:
“While it seems legitimate to want to better control the communication of offers of tokens to the public, it would have seemed more appropriate to us to impose information obligations, in accordance with what we proposed, than to create distortions in positive law. “
Despite this minor drawback, this framework remains a suitable solution for the Web3 ecosystem in France, and will not curb the ambitions of the country, which occupies an increasingly privileged position in the industry.
