The government of France has announced that it is ready to make a serious commitment to the development of blockchain technology. Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister of France, stated this in a recent interview with TrustNodes before taking to the podium for his speech at the Paris Blockchain Conference.

He cited the fact that the French government as intentions to allocate funds in the region of about 4.5 billion euros in the years to come.

According to Le Maire, the French government has “identified more than 200 innovative blockchain projects developed in France.” Investments from the government will be granted in a gradual fashion over the next half decade in an effort to cement the nation as a global leader in the blockchain ecosystem thus competing with the likes of the “the Chinese and American technological giants.”

Le Maire in his interview with Trust Nodes stated:

“The development of the blockchain ecosystem is a priority for the government: it is a technology that can potentially contribute to the modernization of our businesses and our economy.”

He added:

“That’s why the government has an ambitious blockchain strategy. We have all the assets to make France a top country in blockchain, we must value such assets. A sign of the vitality of our ecosystem: we have identified more than 200 innovative blockchain projects developed in France.”

Furthermore, Le Maire also spoke about the creation and development of an increasingly friendly ecosystem for new cryptocurrency projects in terms of regulations. Loi Pacte was responsible for the creation of the legal framework for the issuance of tokens, and France’s 2019 Finance Act saw a new ruling pertaining to capital gains on crypto assets: where the tax rate was reduced from that of 36% to 30%.

Le Maire expects that these steps will make the nation more enticing and attractive to future investors seeking to dip their toes into cryptocurrency projects.