How to Buy Bitcoin in France in 2026: Who Can Legally Sell It, How to Check, and How It Is Taxed

Since 1 July 2026, only crypto-asset service providers authorized under the EU's MiCA regulation can offer crypto services to people in France. That one date changed the answer to "where can I buy bitcoin in France" from a market-by-market comparison to a legal check you can run yourself in two official registers. This guide explains the rule from the French financial regulator's own statements, shows how to verify a provider, walks through the steps of a first purchase, and sets out how French tax treats gains, using the tax administration's own page. It recommends no platform and carries no affiliate links.

The short version

• The rule: from 1 July 2026, "only crypto-asset service providers (PSCA) authorized in accordance with the MiCA requirements" may provide crypto services in France, according to the AMF. Providers that were registered under France's earlier PSAN regime had until that date to obtain a MiCA authorization.
• The penalty for unauthorized firms: the AMF says they risk two years' imprisonment and a EUR 30,000 fine under articles L. 54-10-4 and L. 572-23 of the Monetary and Financial Code, and that it may publish a list of unauthorized providers and ask courts to block their websites.
• How to check: the AMF publishes a white list of authorized providers, and ESMA publishes an interim register of all MiCA-authorized providers in the EU. Check the exact legal entity, because MiCA protections apply "only to the legal entity authorized in the European Union", as ESMA warned.
• The scale of the market we found: in the ESMA register file we downloaded, 211 providers are either based in France or list France among the countries where they offer services, 146 of them with the service "exchange of crypto-assets for funds", the one you need to buy bitcoin with euros. Thirty-six are based in France.
• Tax for private individuals: the tax administration says gains are taxed at the flat rate (PFU) of 31.4%, made of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social contributions, with an exemption if total sale prices in the year do not exceed EUR 305. You can opt for the progressive income tax scale instead (box 3CN, a final choice).

What changed on 1 July 2026

France had a national regime for "prestataires de services sur actifs numériques" (PSAN), under which providers registered with or approved by the AMF. The EU's MiCA regulation replaced national regimes with a single authorization. The AMF's statement of 5 February 2026 explains the schedule: PSANs registered or approved in France could keep providing services "until 1 July 2026". From that date, "only crypto-asset service providers (PSCA) authorized in accordance with the requirements of the MiCA regulation can provide services on crypto-assets in France".

According to the AMF, a provider can get there in one of two ways: by obtaining an authorization from its national authority (the AMF for those established in France), or by notifying the authority, if it is an eligible financial entity, under article 60 of MiCA. Authorized providers "can benefit from the European passport and provide their services in other countries of the European Union". The same statement warns that review of an authorization can take up to four months once the file is complete, and that files filed at the AMF "are rarely complete in their initial version".

In April 2026, as the deadline approached, the AMF relayed an ESMA statement. It said that, from 1 July 2026, "any entity providing services on crypto-assets to clients in the European Union without authorization under the MiCA regulation must cease these activities", and that "entities established outside the European Union cannot provide services on crypto-assets to clients in the Union", with only a limited exception for reverse solicitation, meaning a client approaching the provider on their own initiative. ESMA also told investors that not all current providers would be authorized after 1 July.

What this means for a buyer

• A platform that does not appear in the registers should be treated as unauthorized for French customers, whatever its marketing says.
• A provider may be authorized in another EU country and still serve France through the passport. That is normal and legal.
• The AMF and ESMA stress that protections apply only to the authorized legal entity. Large groups often have several entities. Read the terms of service to find which company you are contracting with, and check that company.
• For Binance, which suspended trading, lending and rewards for European users from 1 July 2026 after failing to obtain a MiCA licence, see our coverage of that decision. We found no Binance entry in the register file we read.

How to check a provider in two official registers

1. The AMF white list

The AMF maintains a "liste blanche" of authorized crypto-asset service providers on its website, in the savers' section on protecting your savings. It is the French national channel and the first thing to check. We did not review its full content, as it is a dynamic page, so check it directly.

2. The ESMA interim MiCA register

ESMA publishes a downloadable register of authorized providers across the EU, listing for each the competent authority, home country, legal name, commercial name, website, authorization date and the services authorized (custody, operating a trading platform, exchange for funds, exchange for other crypto-assets, execution of orders, advice, portfolio management, transfers and others), plus the countries where services can be offered. The file we downloaded contains 392 entries, with entries updated as recently as 29 October 2026. You can read it as a spreadsheet and search for a provider's name and legal entity.

What we found in it, as of 1 November 2026:

• Thirty-six providers have France as home country. Of those, 22 are listed with the service "exchange of crypto-assets for funds", which means converting euros to crypto. Examples of French-based entities that appear with that service are Coinhouse, Paymium, Bitstack, Deblock, Meria and Relai EU, and an entity named Leonod (website app.bullbitcoin.com). This is a factual list from the register, not a recommendation.
• Many providers based in other countries list France among their passport countries, for example, in the register: Bitpanda and Bybit and KuCoin EU (Austria), Kraken (Ireland), Coinbase and Bitstamp (Luxembourg), and OKX, Crypto.com, Gemini and Gate (Malta). Where a provider is authorized by another country, the register shows that country as the home state.
• The register shows what a provider is authorized to do, not how well it does it. It says nothing about fees, spreads, support or security.

How to use the register: search for the company name shown in the provider's legal notice or terms (not just the brand), confirm the home authority and the date of authorization, confirm that "exchange of crypto-assets for funds" is among the services if you want to buy with euros, and confirm that France is among the countries where it may offer services (or that France is its home state).

Reading the service list in the register

The register uses lettered service codes taken from MiCA. The ones you will meet most often: a, custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients; b, operating a trading platform; c, exchange of crypto-assets for funds; d, exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets; e, execution of orders on behalf of clients; g, reception and transmission of orders; h, advice; i, portfolio management; and j, transfer services. A provider may be authorized for only some of them. A company authorized for custody alone, for example, is not necessarily allowed to sell you bitcoin for euros, and a company authorized only for advice or portfolio management is not a place to open a trading account. If your plan is "send euros, receive bitcoin", look for service c (or, for a trading platform, service b together with a way to fund in euros).

How a first purchase works, step by step

1. Decide how much and what you want. Decide an amount you can afford to lose and whether you want to buy and hold or trade. This guide is about buying and holding.
2. Choose a provider that passes both registry checks. Compare prices on the same order, not the headline fee: the total you pay includes the fee and any spread between the price shown and the market price.
3. Create an account and verify your identity. Authorized providers are bound by anti-money-laundering rules, so expect identity and address checks. A provider that does not verify your identity at all is a warning sign, not a convenience.
4. Fund the account in euros. Payment methods and fees differ by provider, and we did not verify any. Compare the fee table for bank transfer and card before you pay.
5. Buy a small amount first. Run a test purchase and a test withdrawal before moving a larger sum.
6. Consider moving the coins to your own wallet. Keeping bitcoin on an exchange exposes you to that exchange's risk, as the recent Binance incident shows (our investigation). Buy the wallet directly from its manufacturer (see our hardware wallet guide). Withdrawals to your own wallet may trigger ownership checks under the EU Travel Rule, which we explain in this guide.
7. Keep records from the first purchase. Date, amount in euros, quantity, fees and platform. You will need them to declare gains, as explained below.
8. Protect yourself against scams. Impersonation of exchanges is a leading fraud pattern. Our crypto scams guide lists the warning signs. Nobody legitimate asks for your recovery phrase.

Questions to ask any provider before depositing

1. Which legal entity am I contracting with, and where is it authorized? The answer should match an entry in the register.
2. Does it hold my bitcoin in custody, and if so, what happens if the company fails? Ask where the terms of service deal with client assets and insolvency, and read that section.
3. What exactly do I pay on a purchase, as a fee and as a spread, and what do I pay on a withdrawal to my own wallet, including any network fee?
4. Which verification will it ask for, and what does it do with the information? The Travel Rule means it will also hold information about the wallets you send to.
5. How do I contact support, and what is its process for a disputed or failed payment?
6. Has the company published any incident reports? Our recent investigations of the Binance theft and of third-quarter hacks show that custody concentrates risk.

Mistakes beginners make

• Trusting a brand instead of a legal entity. Several groups run different entities for different regions. The authorization belongs to the entity.
• Following a link from a message or an advertisement. Type the address yourself or use the official app. Look-alike sites are a standard tool of impersonation scams.
• Leaving everything on the platform. It is convenient, and it is also the position that carries the platform's risk.
• Not keeping records. If you sell later, you must work out the gain. The French tax page asks for the total gain or loss of the year and annex 2086 with the detail, so you need the dates, prices and fees.
• Forgetting that the threshold counts sales, not profits. The EUR 305 exemption compares total disposal prices, not gains, so a small seller with a large profit can still be exempt, while someone who sells EUR 400 at a loss is not within the exemption.
• Paying a "release fee" or "tax" to withdraw. That is the last step of an investment scam, according to the FBI's description summarized in our scams guide.

French tax on bitcoin: what the tax administration says

This section summarizes the French tax administration's page "How to declare capital gains or losses on disposals of digital assets", published on 16 June 2023 and last modified on 17 July 2026. It explains that, since 1 January 2023, the tax treatment depends on whether you sell as a private individual or as a professional.

If you sell as a private individual

• The rate. Gains made in managing your private assets are taxed at the flat tax, the "prélèvement forfaitaire unique" (PFU), of 31.4%, which the page breaks down as 12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social contributions, "regardless of the number of transactions".
• The option. You can renounce the PFU and choose the progressive income tax scale if it benefits you, by ticking box 3CN on your income tax return. The page says this option is final and separate from the equivalent option for investment income.
• Crypto-to-crypto swaps. "Exchange transactions without cash balance" of digital assets benefit from a tax deferral. In other words, swapping one crypto for another without receiving euros does not by itself trigger the tax; the tax is calculated on disposals for euros, goods or services.
• The EUR 305 exemption. You are exempt when the sum of disposal prices in the tax year, "the gross annual amount of disposals and not the capital gains", excluding deferred swaps, does not exceed EUR 305. Note that it is the total sale price, not the profit, that is compared with the threshold.
• Reporting. Declare the total gain or loss for the year in annex form no. 2086 of your online return; it fills boxes 3AN (gain) or 3BN (loss) of the main return. On paper, use form 2042 C and attach form 2086 with the detail of operations.
• Losses. The page says a loss can be set only against gains of the same kind in the same year; it cannot be set against gains on other assets and is not carried forward.
• Foreign platforms. "Any natural person holding a digital asset account on a platform located abroad must declare it." Online, such accounts are declared at the end of the process; on paper, using form 3916 or 3916 bis. Which platforms count as "located abroad" for providers authorized in another EU country is a question to check with the tax administration or an adviser.

If you mine, stake or trade professionally

The same page says that profits from mining or staking are taxed in the category of non-commercial profits (BNC). If you buy and sell on a commercial basis, the profits are industrial and commercial profits (BIC). If you carry out purchases, sales or exchanges "under conditions similar to those that characterize a professional activity", without it being your profession, the profits are taxed as BNC under the progressive scale and social contributions, with either a 34% allowance (micro-BNC regime) or deduction of actual expenses. We cover how Germany and the UK treat staking in our staking, airdrop and DeFi tax guide, and the mechanics of mining in our mining guide.

A worked example (illustrative figures)

Suppose a private individual in France buys bitcoin for EUR 4,000 and, in the same year, sells part of it for EUR 3,000, realizing a gain of EUR 600 on those sales. The sum of disposal prices (EUR 3,000) exceeds EUR 305, so the exemption does not apply. At the 31.4% flat rate, the tax on a gain of EUR 600 is about EUR 188 (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social contributions). If instead the person sold only EUR 300 worth in the year, the total disposal price would be under the EUR 305 limit and, per the page, the gain would be exempt whatever its size. The numbers are made up to show how the threshold works, not to compute anyone's tax. The tax computation of a gain on a partial sale involves the overall acquisition cost and the portfolio value at the time of sale, which the page does not detail and which we did not review.

Reporting that already exists

Providers now collect data on you, and the EU is extending tax reporting. Our DAC8 guide explains the reporting regime, and our crypto tax return guide covers filing across countries. What you declare should be consistent with what platforms report.

How France compares with the other country guides on this site

The regulatory side of this guide, MiCA authorization and the ESMA register, is the same in every EU country: a provider authorized in one member state can offer services in other member states through the European passport. What differs by country is the supervisor you contact if something goes wrong, the tax treatment of your gains, and the declarations you must file. If you also hold assets or live elsewhere, our guides for Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom cover those points for each market. The UK is outside the EU and has its own regime, so the MiCA register does not apply there.

What we could not verify

• The content of the AMF white list, which is a dynamic page we did not read in full. Use it directly.
• Fees, spreads, payment methods and support quality of individual providers. We deliberately name no best platform and give no fee comparison.
• The tax computation for partial sales (acquisition cost and portfolio value), the treatment of specific products and any rules after the 17 July 2026 page update.
• Whether providers authorized in other EU countries count as "located abroad" for the declaration of accounts on forms 3916 and 3916 bis.
• Whether the ESMA register file, which we downloaded on 1 November 2026, reflects every authorization at the date you read this.

Frequently asked questions