We are delighted to present the March 2025 edition of our monthly newsletter, produced by the Adan team. Discover a digest of news and important events not to be missed.

Lucas is joining our association as Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs. With a wealth of experience in parliamentary affairs at Orange, the French National Assembly and ministerial cabinets, he will bring valuable expertise to our projects.

Welcome Lucas! We look forward to working with you to further our mission.

The French National Assembly is preparing to review a proposed law aimed at strengthening the fight against drug trafficking, but which risks unfairly weakening the cryptocurrency sector in France.

This law equates crypto-assets with money-laundering tools, despite the fact that blockchain technology offers greater traceability than cash. The proposed restrictions could create a hostile environment for French players, threatening the country’s digital sovereignty and attractiveness.

Industry stakeholders are calling for regulation based on facts rather than prejudice to support the growth of this key sector for France’s digital future. The proposal also raises fundamental liberty issues, challenging principles such as the presumption of innocence and the right to privacy.

Budget 2025: Let’s Not Hinder French Innovation

On February 17, 2025, Adan, France Digitale, and 14 other associations from the innovation ecosystem sent an open letter to Prime Minister François Bayrou, expressing their concerns about the 2025 budget decisions and their potential impact on innovation in France.

The signatories warned that these budgetary choices jeopardize the future of French research and development, weakening the ability of innovative companies to compete with major international players. They highlighted the risk of falling behind countries like the United States and China, which are heavily investing in strategic industries.

Webinar: “Beyond Crypto-Assets: Innovations and Applications of Web3”

The Web3 is emerging as a driver of innovation far beyond crypto-assets and finance. This webinar, organized by Adan on April 2, 2025, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM, will highlight concrete use cases transforming various sectors through decentralization and interoperability.

The discussion will focus on solutions applied to digital identity, age verification, personal data protection, and other emerging use cases. The goal is to demonstrate how these technologies are gradually integrating into different environments and addressing new needs.

This webinar is intended for professionals seeking to understand the implications of Web3 for their industry as well as curious individuals interested in the latest blockchain applications.

We are thrilled to partner with the #50Day2025 event, the annual conference organized by 50 Partners.

This conference will showcase 25 of the best startups supported by 50 Partners, spanning sectors such as technology, social impact, health, and Web3. Each startup will have 4 minutes to present its innovations.

The event will also feature 10 speakers from diverse backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, researchers, athletes, and philosophers, who will share their perspectives on innovation and personal growth.

To attend the conference, you can register for free to follow the live online broadcast or use the discount code 50DAYADAN to participate in person.

The second edition of the conference ‘Blockchain & Finance: Evolution or Revolution?’, co-organized by our association, Société Générale-FORGE, BPI France, Caisse des Dépôts, Cube3, OCBF, and Paris Europlace, will take place on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It promises to be a key moment to understand the joint evolution of traditional finance and blockchain in 2025.

This year, we are pleased to welcome Mr. François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, for the opening speech.

We will host the event to present the 2025 edition of our study ‘Web3 and Crypto in France and Europe’ on April 10, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Bercy.

This study, conducted in partnership with Deloitte and IPSOS, provides a comprehensive overview of the adoption of crypto-assets and the development of Web3 in France and Europe. It highlights the industry’s progress, persistent challenges, and future opportunities for businesses and individuals.

On February 13, Adan presented its memorandum on tokenisation during an event at the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, bringing together experts and market players to discuss the challenges and opportunities of this transformation. Published on our website, we are sharing it again here to make it accessible to all.

• A detailed overview of use cases and the types of assets involved.
• Concrete benefits for issuers, investors, and financial infrastructure.
• Key distinctions between tokenisation and other financial mechanisms.
• Challenges to address, particularly legal frameworks, suitable infrastructures, and interoperability.
• Strategic recommendations to structure its development and accelerate adoption.

In February, the Council resumed negotiations on the Payment Services Package, which includes the Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR).

Adan has seen the non-public note prepared by the Polish Presidency (PCY) of the Council to guide the discussions regarding electronic money tokens (EMTs) provisions with Member States. These discussions occurred on Friday, February 21st, and the note was shared with Adan by Polish negotiators in anticipation of our analysis.

Unfortunately, the PCY is proposing NOT to adopt exemptions previously suggested by the Hungarian PCY, including exempting activities related to crypto-assets servicing– similar to those outlined for MiFID activities, known as transfers conducted as a “regular occupation or business activity” (ROBA). While the PCY argues that custody alone shall not be deemed a payment, it might qualify when CASPs are offering custodial wallets which allow payment transfers.  Similarly, the exchange of EMTs for funds/crypto (when linked to a purchase) would not be exempted from the scope.

The PCY is also suggesting the accumulation of prudential requirements of both MiCA and PSD, complicating the authorization for CASPs, despite concurrently proposing a streamlined authorization process, consisting in a simplified process for the notification of information.

This appears to contradict the EU’s agenda for simplification and could significantly affect the industry if the scope of payment regulations remains broad, failing to address the overlapping issues between payment rules and MiCA.

Looking at the suggestions, the PCY is primarily focused on clarifying the scope through recitals and exemptions, rather than defining what constitutes a payment using EMTs.

The ongoing developments regarding the update of payment rules are not only crucial for revising the current Payment Services Directive (PSD2) but also shed light on the proposed solutions for applying PSD2 to EMTs.

As a reminder, the EBA is organizing a workshop on 12 March to engage with industry stakeholders on the issues concerning the intersection between MiCAR and the Payment Services Directive (PSD2). Discussion topics will include authorization, initial capital and own funds, safeguarding, and strong customer authentication. The ESMA will also participate in the workshop.

While both the EBA and the Polish Presidency aim to clarify the application of payment rules by April this year, it remains to be seen how policymakers will ensure consistency in the solutions developed for PSD2, PSD3, and the PSR

• Comptacrypto : Comptacrypto was a guest on the BFM Crypto set to talk about crypto accounting and taxation.
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• Fipto : Scale Your Brokerage Operations with Fipto’s API.
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• Fraktion (Functori) : Fraktion raises €1.1 million to transform investment in real-world assets.
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• iExec : iExec is set for big growth in 2025! The focus is on expanding the ecosystem, building new partnerships, and increasing RLC’s utility. Key areas include AI, confidential computing, tech improvements, and more visibility.
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• K2LIS : Thanks to the efforts of K2LIS, in partnership with ALECSO (Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization), the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education has decided to adopt blockchain technology to combat diploma forgery. This project is, to date, the first blockchain initiative officially approved by the Tunisian government.
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• SCORECHAIN : The Scorechain SafeTransfer Snap for MetaMask is an advanced tool designed to enhance the security of your crypto transactions. By integrating directly with your MetaMask wallet, the Snap evaluates the risk level of transaction addresses in real-time using Scorechain’s trusted registry of known fraudulent entities and anti-poisoning checks.
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• Société Générale-FORGE  :  The 6 winners of the ‘Women in Crypto, Blockchain & Web 3’ competition announced.
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Support in implementing innovation projects with specific expertise in blockchain protocols. Team coaching.

Keyrock is a Belgian company specialising in liquidity solutions for digital assets, founded in 2017.

The firm covers all the needs of businesses, and in particular has a Banking-Finance-Insurance department with expertise in crypto-asset and web3 law.

Founded in 2017, Woorton operates as an algorithmic trading desk. It provides liquidity on a global scale to the digital asset market.