The Financial Regulators in France have approved their first initial coin offering (ICO). In light of the rapidly growing interest in cryptocurrencies worldwide, France has joined the mass with its newly found interest in Initial Coin Offering (ICO). This comes as a welcome surprise as the France’s financial regulator, “the Autorité des Marchés Financiers” (AMF) gave their approval for an Initial Coin Offering application on December 17th for the first time.



This offering comes from none other than French-ICO: a company that actively dabbles in creating platforms for funding cryptocurrency projects among many other things.



However, France might not be the only ones vying for a piece of the ICO pie as multiple candidates were reported to be in communication with AMF for ICO’s back in July according to the AMF website.



The website also pointed out that although French-ICO might be the first amongst its peers to gain approval in France, this support is not everlasting. In other words, this approval is only valid until 1st June 2020. They also pointed out that, as it stands, ICO’s are still considered legal in France and only public offerings that have gained their approval may be marketed directly to the general population.



What is an ICO According to France?

The AMF defines an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as any transaction of the fundraising nature that’s carried out using the blockchain technology which results in the issuing of a token. These tokens, however, can be used in the purchase of goods and services.



As part of their effort to embrace cryptocurrency and it’s accompanying technologies in France, ICO was introduced in the PACTE law. Which was recently passed to tackle the transformation and growth of businesses in the country. The law hinted at some of the roles that the AMF will be playing to promote the development of ICO’s. More specifically an optional approval would be given by the AMF, however, this is only applicable when issuing Utility Tokens with Security Token Offerings being the exception. As usual, any failure to comply will be met by the full force of the law.