Serving the French crypto market from abroad

You are authorised in another Member State, or established outside the European Union, and you serve French clients or intend to. Three routes lead to the French market: the MiCA passport if you hold a CASP authorisation elsewhere in the EU; an authorised subsidiary in France or in another Member State if you come from a third country; and, within narrow limits, reverse solicitation.

Since 1 July 2026 the French transitional period has ended: without a MiCA authorisation, a provider can no longer offer its services in France and risks being added to the AMF blacklist. ORWL Avocats advises foreign trading platforms, market makers, custodians and payment institutions on each of these routes, in English as in French.

Who is concerned?

Three situations come up most often.

• The CASP authorised in another Member State that wants to open the French market: it relies on the passport under Article 65 of MiCA, but must identify the French rules that still apply to it.
• The third-country provider, established in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Dubai or Singapore, that already has French clients or wants to win some: it must choose between an authorised EU entity and reverse solicitation alone.
• The provider targeted by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, the French financial markets regulator), listed on its blacklist or named in a public warning, that must regularise its position without losing its clients or its reputation.

Two neighbouring situations have their own page. A foreign group taking control of a French CASP or payment institution falls under Shareholders and directors of a CASP. An issuer established outside the EU that wants to offer a token to the French public falls under Lawyers for crypto-asset issuers.

The applicable rules are assessed service by service, not company by company. One group may hold an authorisation for exchange services, rely on the passport for custody and have to stop offering advice in France.

How we run the engagement

Our method follows five steps. The first task is to measure what the provider already does in France, often without having decided to.

Mapping starts from the facts: number and profile of clients resident in France, language of the interfaces and of customer support, campaigns and partnerships visible from France, euro payment methods, local agents or introducers. It measures actual exposure, which determines everything that follows.

Qualification matches each service to one of the MiCA categories, or finds that it falls outside them: custody, trading platform, exchange, execution of orders, advice, portfolio management, transfers. Payment services and derivatives fall under other texts and another authority.

The choice of route depends on two variables: the provider’s current status and its European ambitions. An authorised CASP uses the passport. A third-country provider that wants to build a French client base sets up an authorised entity. One that does not want to invest in the EU confines itself to reverse solicitation, within its limits.

Implementation covers the notification or the authorisation file, the review of terms and conditions, communications and distribution agreements for France, and the dialogue with the regulator. Operating over time covers the French rules that still apply and the requests of the AMF as host authority.

Four routes to the French market

The table sums up the four routes, their limits and the deliverables the regulator expects. The legal basis of each is set out in the sections that follow.

The MiCA passport

Article 59 of MiCA reserves the provision of crypto-asset services in the EU to legal persons authorised by the authority of a Member State. The authorisation is valid across the EU: under Article 65, a CASP may serve other Member States after notifying its home authority of the Member States concerned, the services covered and the intended start date.

• The home authority forwards the notification to the AMF, ESMA and the EBA within ten working days.
• The provider may start as soon as it receives that transmission, and at the latest fifteen calendar days after filing.
• Services may be provided cross-border or through a branch; a branch triggers additional French obligations, in particular on anti-money laundering.

The AMF becomes the host authority. It does not review the authorisation, but it monitors the French activity, may question the provider and may take precautionary measures if the home authority fails to act (Article 102 of MiCA). The page Providing services in France under a MiCA passport details the procedure and the French rules to follow.

France as a gateway to the EU

A third-country provider cannot be authorised from a distance. Article 59 of MiCA requires a legal person with its registered office in a Member State where it carries out at least part of its services, its place of effective management in the EU and at least one director resident in the EU. A subsidiary authorised in France then gives access to the whole EU market by outbound passport.

The AMF has dealt with crypto-assets since the French PSAN regime (digital asset service providers) of 2019 and processes applications in English as in French. In return it expects real substance: directors and control functions based in France, resources proportionate to the services, a programme of operations that is actually followed. The page Obtaining CASP authorisation from the AMF describes the file, the review process and the timeline.

Reverse solicitation

Article 61 of MiCA allows a third-country provider to serve a client established in the EU who approached it on the client’s own exclusive initiative, without any step by the provider. The exemption covers only the service requested: the provider cannot use the relationship to offer other services or other crypto-assets.

ESMA set out its reading in guidelines of 17 December 2024: solicitation is understood broadly, whatever the medium, and whether it comes from the provider or from a third party acting on its behalf. A brand campaign, a sponsorship, a website translated into French or an app offered on the French app stores is enough to lose the exemption. A contractual clause or a tick box does not restore it. The page Reverse solicitation under MiCA covers the evidence to build and the fate of existing accounts.

The AMF blacklist and regularisation

The AMF publishes the list of websites that offer crypto-assets or crypto-asset services in France without authorisation, its blacklist, and adds several dozen names to it each year. Listing comes with a public warning and may be followed by a blocking request: the chair of the AMF applies to the president of the Paris judicial court so that internet service providers block access to the website from France (Article L. 621-13-5 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, CMF).

Removal requires verifiable regularisation: an orderly end to the activity targeting France, with a plan for French clients, or lawful access to the market through one of the routes above. The provider shows the AMF what it has done and how it now prevents access by French residents. The page Getting off the AMF blacklist describes that dialogue.

What the passport does not exempt you from

MiCA harmonises authorisation and the conduct of services. It leaves in place national rules that apply to any provider addressing French clients, passported or not.

• Consumer law. French rules on distance contracts, unfair terms and pre-contractual information apply to non-professional clients resident in France. The French language act of 4 August 1994 (loi Toubon) requires the use of French in documents intended for consumers.
• Marketing. Advertising, sponsorship and patronage for crypto-asset services are prohibited where the provider is not authorised under MiCA (Articles L. 222-16-1 and L. 222-16-2 of the French Consumer Code). Démarchage (unsolicited financial solicitation under French law) for these services is regulated by the CMF (Article L. 341-10), and promotion by influencers by the act of 9 June 2023. The page Marketing rules for foreign providers in France covers all of this.
• Tax reporting. Providers within the scope of the DAC8 directive have collected client data since 1 January 2026 for the first exchanges of information in 2027; the reporting State depends on the group’s organisation. The firm’s Tax law practice (in French) handles these obligations.
• Anti-money laundering. A passported CASP remains supervised by its home authority, but a branch or establishment in France brings it within the French framework and under Tracfin (the French financial intelligence unit). Travel-rule obligations apply to its transfers whatever the home State.

The firm advises on each of these matters, alongside the provider’s usual counsel in its home country.

Why work with ORWL Avocats?

The firm has advised foreign players since the French PSAN regime of 2019: global platforms and market makers that set up an entity in France, European payment institutions and CASPs that passported their services, providers on the AMF blacklist that regularised their position. Its Regulatory practice is ranked in Chambers FinTech and recognised by Leaders League in blockchain law.

Foreign providers often underestimate one thing when approaching France: how hard it is to find local contacts who open the right doors and save time. That is what the firm brings, through its focus on a single market, that of its clients, and its knowledge of how the AMF and the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority) work in practice. The firm works in English, including with the regulator, in writing and in meetings.

ORWL Avocats belongs to no network. It works with its foreign clients’ existing counsel and with independent partners, in France and in the home countries, on terms adapted to each engagement. A lawyer brings what a consultant cannot: the legal qualification of the services, professional secrecy protecting the review of the existing situation, and liability for the advice given. A partner leads every matter.