Descent into hell of Bitcoin and legal void of cryptocurrency
This virtual currency, or cryptocurrency, has been available since 2009 as an alternative to the state currencies in circulation in countries around the world. Originally circumscribed by limited circles of investors, it has gradually spread to interest the largest number today and serve both as a means of parallel payment and financial investment.
If Bitcoin is the most prominent example of this phenomenon, there is a large number of competing currencies of the same type.
As regards its supervision, it should be noted that French law does not provide for a legal status governing cryptocurrency, and that the law does not recognize it as a means of payment. Not falling into any pre-existing legal category, virtual currencies are not considered as electronic currencies, nor as means of payment, but alternatively as a financial measure, or sometimes, simply as a recoverable intangible good that can be the subject of transactions.
The capital gains on Bitcoins are thus taxable in France since July 11, 2014 in the category of non-commercial profits (BNC) and must be declared under the solidarity tax (ISF) according to Article 885 E of the Code General Tax Office (CGI).
On the other hand, the Court of Justice of the European Union considers, since a decision of October 22, 2015, that Bitcoin is truly a means of payment and that as such it can benefit from the VAT exemptions provided for financial transactions, thus rendering obsolete the position of France concerning its nature.
But the impetus of the Luxembourg court has no immediate effect on French legislation, and faced with the dangers of an erratic currency, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers had rectified its strategy by publishing a statement on 4 December the most risk-averse, highlighting the risks associated with investing in these speculative assets, recalling in particular that a downward correction was accompanied by a lack of collateral and capital protection.
If this press release is likely to be too late, we can say that the legislator will, in the months to come, think about the development of a legal framework offering security to users and responses to this phenomenon. extent.
This platform is brought to you by Antoine Chéron (ACBM Avocats), lawyer at the Paris Bar