France's finance committee approved amendment I-CF821 this week, a measure that would require individuals to report self-custody cryptocurrency holdings valued at €100,000 or more. Under the proposal, fines of up to €10,000 could be imposed on those who fail to disclose qualifying wallets. The amendment still needs to pass through the full legislative process before it becomes law.
What the amendment actually says
The text targets a specific slice of crypto owners: people who hold their own keys and whose wallets cross the €100,000 threshold. It doesn't ban self-custody. It doesn't force anyone to move assets to a bank or an exchange. What it does is create a reporting obligation, backed by a financial penalty for non-compliance.
The €10,000 fine is the enforcement mechanism. That's the number that will get attention, and it's the part that turns a quiet reporting rule into something with teeth.
For now, the amendment is just that — an amendment, approved by the finance committee. It's not law yet.
Why the committee went after self-custody
France has been tightening its grip on crypto for a while now. Registration requirements for exchanges, travel-rule enforcement, tax reporting — the direction has been consistent. Amendment I-CF821 extends that same logic to the one part of the market that has remained largely outside the reporting perimeter.
The €100,000 floor is not arbitrary. It's high enough to avoid sweeping in small retail holders, but low enough to capture serious portfolios. The committee is effectively saying: if you're holding six figures in crypto on your own hardware or in your own wallet, the state wants to know about it.
Whether that's proportionate is a debate for the full parliament. The committee's vote only moves the proposal to the next stage.
The practical problem with reporting self-custody
Self-custody is, by definition, harder to verify than an exchange account. There's no central ledger of who holds what in their own wallet. A reporting requirement places the burden on the individual to come forward, which means compliance will depend heavily on voluntary disclosure and the threat of the fine.
That's not unique to France. Other jurisdictions have tried similar approaches with mixed results. The difference here is the specific pairing of a €100,000 threshold with a €10,000 penalty — a combination that could push some holders to either restructure how they store assets or simply not report and hope the wallet stays private.
Either way, the amendment creates a new compliance question that didn't exist before this week.
What happens next
The amendment now heads to the broader legislative process, where it can be amended, expanded, or dropped. The finance committee approval is a step, not a finish line. If the text survives intact, the reporting requirement would apply to qualifying self-custody holdings at whatever date the final law sets.
For French crypto holders with large self-custody positions, the clock is now ticking on a question that has no easy answer: declare and accept the scrutiny, or stay quiet and risk the fine.
