Promoting crypto services in France: influencers, media and affiliates

Since 1 July 2026, an influencer, a media outlet or an affiliate may promote crypto-asset services in France only for a provider authorised under the MiCA Regulation. The content itself is also governed by the French Act of 9 June 2023 on commercial influence, by consumer law and by the market abuse rules. ORWL Avocats advises influencers, agencies, media outlets and training providers on promoting within that framework.

Who can you promote since 1 July 2026?

The Act of 9 June 2023 (Law No 2023-451) covers any person who, for consideration, uses their public standing to promote goods or services online. The consideration may be a sum of money, a benefit in kind or tokens. A content creator, an agency, a media outlet or a comparison website may fall within that definition.

The date of 1 July 2026 marks the end of the French transitional period: the national PSAN regime (prestataires de services sur actifs numériques, the registration regime for digital asset service providers that preceded MiCA) ceased to apply on that day. Since then, the Act prohibits influencers from any promotion, whether direct or indirect:

• of crypto-asset services, unless the advertiser is authorised under the MiCA Regulation for the service promoted;
• of crypto-assets, unless they are linked to the services of an authorised provider or issued by an authorised issuer of stablecoins (e-money tokens or asset-referenced tokens);
• of leveraged financial contracts, such as contracts for difference (CFDs), with no exception.

Registration as a PSAN is therefore no longer enough. A former PSAN that has not obtained authorisation can no longer use influencer marketing, and partnerships entered into with it can no longer be performed.

Two checks are required before any campaign: whether the advertiser appears on the list of authorised providers kept by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, the French financial markets regulator), or on the ESMA register for a provider authorised in another Member State; and whether the service promoted is covered by that authorisation. ORWL Avocats also advises the platforms that use these channels, French and foreign alike (advertising by a foreign provider in France, in French).

Influencers and agencies: from the contract to the content

The commercial influence rules apply on top of the requirement that the advertiser be authorised. They bind the influencer, the influencer’s agent and the advertiser.

The contract

• Since 1 January 2026, the contract must be in writing once the remuneration and benefits paid by the same advertiser reach €1,000 excluding VAT over one year, for the same promotional purpose.
• On pain of nullity, it must set out the identity and tax residence of the parties, the assignments, the remuneration, and submission to French law where the campaign targets the French public.
• The advertiser, its agent, the influencer and the influencer’s agent are jointly and severally liable for damage caused to third parties. A written agreement therefore remains useful below the threshold, to organise content approval and rights of recourse.

The content

• Every piece of content carries a clear, legible and understandable label: advertising (« publicité »), paid partnership (« collaboration commerciale ») or equivalent wording, in French where the content targets the French public. A label hidden among hashtags is not enough, and its absence amounts to a misleading commercial practice.
• The content presents the risks without playing them down: possible loss of capital, volatility, failure of the provider.
• It rules out returns presented as guaranteed, false urgency, “no fees” claims that are untrue, and the use of regulated status as a selling point (“approved by the AMF”).

Influencers established outside the European Union

An influencer established outside the European Union, Switzerland or the European Economic Area who targets an audience in France must appoint a representative in the Union in writing. The influencer must also take out professional liability insurance with an insurer established in the Union.

The AMF encourages advertisers to check that their influencers hold the Responsible Influence Certificate issued by the ARPP (Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité, the French advertising self-regulatory body). The firm also handles the tax treatment of income an influencer receives in crypto-assets (reporting crypto income as an influencer, in French).

Media outlets and affiliate websites: keeping editorial separate from advertising

An article written independently by an editorial team is not advertising. Everything changes as soon as an advertiser funds the content, supplies a paid link or buys a placement.

Media outlets

• Editorial content funded by an advertiser without a clear label is among the commercial practices deemed misleading in all circumstances.
• Online advertising that invites the reader, through a form, to make contact with a provider that has no authorisation is prohibited. The administrative fine, of up to €100,000, targets the advertiser, but also the intermediary, the advertising sales house, the seller of the space and anyone who distributes the advertisement.
• Sponsorship of a programme or an event by a provider without authorisation is likewise prohibited where it has an advertising effect.
• A media outlet that monetises its own standing through sponsored content may itself fall within the Act of 9 June 2023.

Affiliate websites

A sign-up link paid per customer brought in is still promotion. The affiliate checks each advertiser’s authorisation, labels paid rankings and comparisons, and removes links to any platform on the AMF blacklist. The firm also advises platforms seeking to be removed from the AMF blacklist.

Two practices change how an affiliate is classified:

• a private message sent to an identified follower offering a service may amount to démarchage (unsolicited financial solicitation under French law), which is reserved to persons authorised by law;
• an affiliate who receives funds or transmits orders for followers, or who is paid by an issuer to place its tokens, is itself providing a crypto-asset service (reception and transmission of orders, placing) that requires authorisation.

For an advertiser established outside the European Union, an affiliate campaign targeting France amounts to solicitation. It can no longer rely on the client’s own initiative, and ORWL Avocats advises on this point (reverse solicitation under MiCA, in French).

Trading courses: where does teaching stop?

Teaching how markets work, technical analysis or risk management remains unregulated. The seller of a course is a trader in the consumer law sense: promises of profit, testimonials and the presentation of the seller’s own results fall under the rules on misleading commercial practices.

A course becomes a regulated activity in four situations:

• buy or sell signals take account of each student’s situation: this is advice;
• the student automatically copies the trainer’s positions: the service verges on portfolio management or transmission of orders;
• the course serves as a gateway to a broker or platform without authorisation, with a paid link: this is prohibited promotion;
• it deals with leveraged financial contracts, which an influencer may not promote at all.

A course funded by public vocational training money is also subject to specific disclosures when an influencer promotes it. Under the decree of 30 March 2026, these disclosures must appear for at least 90% of the running time of a video.

Advice and market abuse: the line not to cross

These rules apply whether or not the content is paid for. They target what the influencer says, not only who pays for it.

Advice

• Providing advice on crypto-assets is a service requiring authorisation under the MiCA Regulation. It begins as soon as a recommendation takes account of a particular person’s situation.
• The disclaimer “this is not investment advice” offers no protection. The factsheet published by ESMA and the AMF in January 2026 states that only the true nature of the content counts.
• For financial instruments, advice falls under the status of financial investment adviser or investment firm. Any investment recommendation, even a general one, must then be presented objectively and disclose conflicts of interest.

Market abuse

The MiCA Regulation prohibits market manipulation in crypto-assets admitted, or sought to be admitted, to trading on a trading platform in the Union. Two forms concern influencers directly:

• disseminating false or misleading information about the supply of, demand for or price of a crypto-asset, including rumours;
• giving an opinion on a crypto-asset after taking a position in it, then profiting from the effect of that opinion on the price without having disclosed the conflict of interest.

The AMF supervises these breaches and may impose sanctions.

Promoting a token: offers, memecoins and pump-and-dump

Promoting a token concentrates the risks. The issuer often pays in tokens, the influencer holds some, and the campaign can push the price up.

• The Act of 9 June 2023 allows an influencer to promote a crypto-asset in two cases only: it is linked to the services of an authorised provider, or it is issued by an authorised issuer of stablecoins. Notifying a white paper is not an authorisation: a campaign paid for by the issuer of a utility token or a memecoin will usually fall under the prohibition.
• Online advertising with a contact form with a view to an offer to the public or an admission to trading is prohibited, unless the advertiser is authorised.
• Tokens received in consideration are remuneration: they count towards the written-contract threshold and create a position that must be disclosed.
• The pump-and-dump pattern (quiet accumulation, coordinated promotion, selling into the rise) amounts to market manipulation. It may also be a misleading commercial practice.
• Where the token is a financial instrument, the market abuse rules applicable to financial markets apply instead.

On the issuer’s side, marketing communications for an offer must be identifiable as such and consistent with the white paper. ORWL Avocats also advises issuers on the qualification of their token (in French) and on the preparation of their white paper and their launch (in French).

What are the penalties?

• Promoting a provider or a token without authorisation: administrative fines imposed by the DGCCRF (the French consumer protection authority) of up to €100,000, and an order to cease.
• Misleading commercial practice: two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000, raised to five years and €750,000 where the offence is committed online. The fine may reach 10% of average annual turnover or 50% of advertising spend.
• Advice, transmission of orders or placing without authorisation: criminal penalties for providing a crypto-asset service unlawfully.
• Market manipulation: sanctions imposed by the AMF Enforcement Committee.
• No written contract above the threshold: nullity. Damage caused to third parties: joint and several liability across the whole chain.

How ORWL Avocats works with you

The firm acts before a campaign, to build a framework that lasts, or afterwards, when an authority comes knocking. The engagement follows six stages.

In the event of an investigation, the firm prepares the response to a DGCCRF order, an AMF request or an advertiser’s formal notice. It then handles the matter through to its conclusion.

Why work with ORWL Avocats?

Since 2018, ORWL Avocats has advised crypto businesses before the AMF, the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the French prudential supervisor) and other authorities. The firm acts for crypto media outlets, influencer agencies, content creators and training platforms. It has published a white paper on the legal and tax framework for influencers paid in crypto-currencies (in French). The practice is ranked in Chambers FinTech and recognised by Leaders League.

A lawyer gives each piece of content and each partnership a legal qualification: promotion, advice, démarchage or regulated service. Exchanges with the firm are covered by professional secrecy, the lawyer is professionally liable for the analysis, and the lawyer can defend you before the authority or the courts.

A partner leads every matter.