Crypto marketing rules in France

A crypto-asset service provider established outside France may not advertise to the French public on the same terms whatever its status. Authorised in another Member State, it may communicate, but under French rules. Established outside the Union, it may not solicit the French public at all. ORWL Avocats secures the campaigns of the former and organises the presence of the latter.

Since 1 July 2026, a single regime has applied to crypto-asset services in France: that of the MiCA Regulation. The question is no longer whether the provider is registered with the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers, the French financial markets regulator), but whether it is authorised under MiCA for the services it promotes. That condition governs access to most promotional tools: influencer marketing, sponsorship, démarchage (unsolicited financial solicitation under French law), lead-capture forms. The materials themselves then follow French law, whether the provider is authorised in Paris, Malta or Frankfurt.

Can a foreign provider advertise in France?

Everything depends on its status under MiCA.

• A CASP authorised in another Member State may provide its services in France after the cross-border notification provided for by the Regulation, and may therefore promote them. Its MiCA passport (page in French) covers only the services for which it is authorised and which it has notified for France: a campaign putting forward another service falls outside that scope.
• A third-country provider, without an authorisation in the Union, may serve French clients only at their own exclusive initiative. Any promotional step towards France deprives it of that exception. For such a provider, the question is not how to advertise properly, but how not to advertise at all.

The first reflex of a passported advertiser is to check what it may promote: appearing on the ESMA register, checking the list of services notified for France, making sure the offer promoted is among them. The French Monetary and Financial Code (CMF) also prohibits any unauthorised person from using a name or an advertisement suggesting that it is authorised.

What the passport does not settle: the French advertising rules

The passport opens the market; it does not carry the law of the home State with it. A campaign addressed to the French public must comply, in addition to MiCA, with four sets of French rules.

• Language. The French language act of 4 August 1994 (loi Toubon) requires the use of French in any written, spoken or audiovisual advertising. An English version may accompany the French one; it may not replace it.
• Consumer law. The rules on misleading commercial practices apply to any communication addressed to consumers, alongside the requirements of MiCA. Some practices are deemed misleading in all circumstances: claiming an authorisation that does not cover the service promoted, publishing an undisclosed advertorial, or advertising a service as “free of charge” when the client pays a spread.
• The rules specific to the promotion of crypto-assets. The French Consumer Code reserves lead-capture forms, sponsorship and patronage with an advertising effect to providers authorised under MiCA for the services concerned. The act of 9 June 2023 on influencer marketing sets the same condition for commercial influencer activity.
• Démarchage. Démarchage is reserved for persons entitled to carry it out, including authorised CASPs. Since 11 August 2026, calling a consumer also requires their prior consent, which the professional must be able to prove; a contract concluded following an unlawful call is void.

MiCA, for its part, requires communications to be fair, clear and not misleading, clearly identifiable as marketing communications and accompanied by a risk warning. The authorisation may be mentioned to identify the advertiser, not used as a selling point: straplines such as “approved by the AMF” are to be avoided, and a product outside the scope of MiCA must not benefit from the provider’s regulated status.

Two authorities enforce these rules, each in its own way. The AMF, as host authority, may take precautionary measures against a passported provider that infringes MiCA, after referring the matter to the authority that authorised it and to ESMA. It may also issue a formal notice to any operator that disseminates inaccurate or misleading information. The DGCCRF (Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes, the French consumer protection and anti-fraud authority) applies the Consumer Code and the act of 9 June 2023 with no regard to the passport: administrative fines, injunctions, settlements and publication of the measures taken.

Influencers, affiliates, agencies: the advertiser answers for its whole chain

A foreign provider rarely advertises on its own. Local agencies, influencers, affiliates, client referral programmes and sponsorships multiply its presence; they also multiply its risks. French law targets first and foremost the person on whose behalf the practice is carried out, and the act of 9 June 2023 makes the advertiser jointly and severally liable with the influencer for damage caused to third parties.

The provider must therefore keep control of its promotional chain:

• a written contract with each influencer, imposing the “publicité” or “collaboration commerciale” label and prohibiting any personalised advice, which would amount to providing advice on crypto-assets, a service subject to authorisation;
• approval of content before publication, and spot checks afterwards;
• affiliate and referral programmes that prohibit individual approaches by private message, which amount to démarchage, and treat any paid referrer with an audience as an influencer;
• agency contracts that allocate responsibility for the materials and organise the archiving of campaigns.

The firm also advises influencers, media and affiliates (page in French), who have obligations and risks of their own.

Third-country providers: when a campaign leads to the blacklist

MiCA allows a third-country firm to serve a client in the Union who approaches it at their own initiative. The exception is narrow. The ESMA guidelines on reverse solicitation, which the AMF applies, take a broad view of solicitation: any promotion, by any means, from the firm or from a person acting on its behalf or connected to it, influencers and affiliates included. Even where the exception applies, it does not allow the firm to offer that client new types of crypto-assets or services.

A single promotional step aimed at France is therefore enough to place the provider in the position of operating without authorisation. The consequences follow quickly.

The AMF publishes the list of websites offering crypto-asset services without authorisation. Its chair gives the operator formal notice to stop and allows it five days to submit observations. A copy of the formal notice is sent to hosting providers; the chair may apply to the president of the Paris judicial court to have access to the website blocked and may request the removal of the domain name. Persons promoting the offer online, influencers and affiliates included, also receive a formal notice. Operating without authorisation is, in addition, a criminal offence.

Being listed has effects beyond France: banks, payment service providers and partner platforms consult the list, and it weighs on any later application for authorisation in the Union. ORWL Avocats also assists listed providers with removal from the AMF blacklist, from the dialogue with the Authority to the orderly closing of French accounts.

It is better to organise one’s presence beforehand. The firm helps third-country providers design a presence that does not target the French public: no campaign and no partner aimed at France, sign-up journeys that do not address French residents, control of incoming registrations and evidence of the client’s initiative where such registrations are accepted. For those that want to develop the market, the firm prepares the route to authorisation, through an authorised subsidiary in France (page in French) or a passport from another Member State.

How ORWL Avocats supports a foreign advertiser

The engagement begins before the first campaign, or as soon as the provider realises that a campaign already running raises a question. It then continues through the review of new materials.

The firm embeds the marketing communications policy in the governance and internal control framework that MiCA requires of the provider, and aligns it with its ongoing MiCA compliance. Where a piece of material or a campaign raises a question of interpretation, an exchange with the AMF can resolve the doubt before publication; the firm prepares that exchange and conducts it on behalf of the provider.

Why work with ORWL Avocats?

Since 2018, the firm has advised French and foreign crypto-asset service providers before the AMF and the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority): European platforms passporting their services into France, groups established outside the Union, token issuers and payment institutions. It has been drafting marketing recommendations for these players since 2020 and knows what the French authorities expect of their campaigns. It is ranked in Chambers FinTech and recognised by Leaders League.

For a foreign provider, the firm brings a close knowledge of the French market and of its intermediaries. It works in English, as the AMF does, in writing and in meetings. Belonging to no network, it works alongside the client’s existing counsel and with local partners.

A lawyer brings what a consultant or an agency cannot: the legal qualification of each promotional practice, professional secrecy covering the client’s information, and liability for the advice given. The firm drafts partner contracts and speaks to the authorities on behalf of its client. A partner leads every matter.