As a prelude to autumn, the crypto sector returned to work, starting with our Association. It was an opportunity for the team and the members to meet for a whole afternoon in order to take stock of the past year – to present our achievements, to determine our areas of improvement, to draw lessons – and to draw the outlines of the one to come. The results were positive and were welcomed by our members, who renewed their confidence in our actions, as shown by their presence and involvement during the new year. Thank you to them, without whose support and participation the task would be very difficult Adan’s roadmap, thus established and validated during this resumption, is based on four major axes.

First, to establish France and its industry as the leading European centre of attractiveness and competitiveness. In recent years, Adan has been able to convey the ambitions and messages of the sector at key moments such as the French presidential and legislative elections, or the European regulatory debates, so that it is no longer ignored by our decision makers. This long-term work is now paving the way for the implementation of a genuine national acceleration strategy dedicated to cryptoassets, the adaptation of our tax regime, the unblocking of relations between new entrants and established players, and a better understanding of the real issues and opportunities of this innovation. But there is still a long way to go, and many pitfalls – such as the risk of inappropriate and disproportionate regulation, or the lack of public support in the face of sometimes unfair competition from foreign players. Yet our digital sovereignty is at stake.

Establish Adan as the representative of the European crypto industry. While we were born as a French association, our ambition has always been to be able to carry the voice of the European industry, as evidenced by Adan’s considerable work on EU matters – from MiCA to the LCB-FT reform, via the digital euro. This vision has been reinforced by the role our country has played in recent years in structuring the European crypto industry. France has many assets that make it a credible base for large international companies wishing to develop their activities in Europe. The dynamism of its industry, its talents, the expertise of its authorities, the clarity of its taxation and its regulations (even if they are not perfect) whose interest is reinforced by the harmonisation of European regulations and the implementation of the European passport. It is not surprising that some of these companies have already turned to Adan to work with us and be represented by the Association. Our role is to capitalise on these strengths and to raise the awareness of our decision-makers on the opportunity not to be missed for France to set itself up as the core of European crypto, the land of emanation and welcome of Web3 champions.

Consolidate Adan’s presence. We remain a young association, and we need to perpetuate our action and extend our representation. This will require strengthening the team through essential recruitment in order to take on the growing workload and missions entrusted to us, and to satisfy our ever-increasing membership. However, it is by federating more and more companies that the voice of the sector that Adan carries will become all the more impactful and listened to by our interlocutors. This is why the Association will also work to diversify its subjects in order to bring on board more and more project leaders and use cases, beyond the cryptoasset markets alone. The creation of our DeFi and NFT Committees this summer is already a testament to this.

Maintain and intensify Adan’s educational efforts. One of the major roles of the Association is to promote and make visible an industry that is still little known in its scope and diversity, and which still suffers from a negative image fuelled by a still limited knowledge of the subject by the general public (which is not incomprehensible), the apparent complexity of the subject which can discourage or frighten, but also a fallacious or biased information which continues to spread. Adan’s educational action – through our many interventions and the articles we produce – will have to accelerate this year with new initiatives, some of which are still top secret, but we will be unveiling them soon!

A fine programme in short, ambitious but necessary in view of the challenge of seeing France and the European Union choose the path of innovation and preserve its digital sovereignty.

A programme that is already well underway, as you will discover in this newsletter!

This month, let’s welcome our 19 new members, who join the ranks of our 195 members. Thank you all for your crucial support Happy reading!

Announcement

Adan is still looking for its European Affairs Officer (M/F)

Find out about our job offer

Adan is recruiting a management assistant on a work-study contract (M/F)

Find out about our job offer

Publications

DeFi: 50 shades of decentralisation

Si la DeFi est souvent présentée comme un ensemble intrinsèquement décentralisé, il convient de nuancer cette affirmation parfois hâtive. Le niveau de décentralisation peut en effet considérablement varier d’un protocole à un autre. A tel point que – dans certaines situations – la décentralisation d’un protocole n’est qu’artificiellement construite par des acteurs centralisés pouvant prendre de manière unilatérale des décisions affectant le protocole et ses utilisateurs. Cet article pédagogique a pour objectif de démontrer la multitude de niveaux de centralisation des protocoles DeFi. Par ce prisme l’Association tient à rappeler les principales valeurs de la DeFi : le caractère décentralisé assurant une communication directe d’utilisateur à utilisateur, faciliter l’inclusion financière, promouvoir la confidentialité et parer la censure. Lire cet article pédagogique

Adan responds to Basel Committee consultation on the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures

Following a preliminary proposal in June 2021, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published a second consultation for its position on the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures on 30 June 2022. This document clearly shows the direction in which the banking sector is heading towards cryptoassets and what this should imply for the market more generally.

Between the need to maintain financial stability and the need for the banking industry to experiment with this new asset class, Adan encourages the adaptations made by the Basel Committee since its first consultation but considers that certain obstacles remain for the traditional financial world to fully embrace this industry. Read Adan’s response

Crypto & Finance Forum 2022: what to retain from this second edition organised by Adan?

On Monday 18 July 2022, before the opening of the EthCC5, Adan organised the second edition of its Crypto & Finance Forum at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris.

The Crypto & Finance Forum is the annual event that brings together the crypto sector, companies and start-ups, as well as decision-makers and authorities, in order to engage in constructive dialogue and objective debate on the major economic and structural issues and challenges facing the French and European cryptoasset industry. Read the report

BFM Crypto Replay: What is the first assessment of the crypto sector’s return to work?

On September 28, our President and CEO Faustine Fleuret discussed the return to work of the crypto sector, in the BFM Crypto: Le club programme presented by Guillaume Sommerer. Watch the replay

BFM Business Replay: Crypto, how to adopt sobriety?

On 5 September, our President Faustine Fleuret looked at the reception of cryptoasset industry players this Tuesday at Bercy to find solutions to use the opportunities offered by blockchains to facilitate ESG-RSE solutions, in the 60 Minutes Business programme presented by Sandra Gandoin. Watch the replay

Newsletter of September 2022

Read the Adan newsletter of September 2022. On the agenda: Crypto & Finance Forum 2022, Tornado Cash… Read our last newsletter

Work

Concerning the Association’s strategy for the 2022-2023 school year, Adan organised its first meeting with its members on 14 September at the Espace Saint Martin in Paris. The objective of this meeting was to take stock of the actions undertaken by Adan in 2022 and to define the Association’s action plan (strategy, priorities, objectives) for the new school year, in consultation with the members.

This meeting was also an opportunity to validate the creation of our two new committees:

️NFT Committee: The purpose of Adan’s NFT Committee is to support the ongoing reflections on the framework of NFTs, to facilitate the understanding of the various use cases around these new assets and to bring together the various players in the sector at dedicated events in order to support the development of these project carriers in France and in Europe.

⛓️DeFi Committee: Adan’s DeFi Committee participates in the reflections led by the Association on the regulation of decentralised finance. Federating the member companies of the Association whose activity tends to deploy decentralised finance protocols, it serves as a place of reflection between members for the legal structuring of their company / association, the delimitation between DeFi and falsely decentralised projects, the construction of arguments to accompany the reflections led by the authorities and political decision-makers (European Commission, ECB, IOSCO, BIS, IMF, etc.)

At the French level, while there are many topics, the evolution of the taxation of cryptoassets is at the centre of our concerns.

Within the framework of the Finance Bill (PLF) for 2023, Adan continued to draft its proposed amendments and to exchange throughout the month of September with its interlocutors (authorities, political decision-makers, etc.) in order to include cryptoassets in the text. When it was presented on 26 September, no mention was made of cryptoassets. However, some of Adan’s proposals were taken up by Véronique Louwagie (Les Républicains MP – Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee), with 24 co-signatories from the same political group and by Mohamed Laqhila (Democrat MP – Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee). After three years of implementation of the tax regime for cryptoassets, Adan considers that a global evaluation of the system should at least be carried out to understand the obstacles encountered by taxpayers and professionals.

On the accounting side, the Association and its members exchanged views with the French Accounting Standards Authority (ANC) on the accounting applicable to NFTs and the proposals made by Adan on taxation for the PLF2023.

Concerning the framework applicable to DASPs, Adan participated in the ACPR’s LCB-FT Consultative Commission on 16 September. During this meeting, the Association presented its proposals for amendments to the Sectoral Application Principles (SAPs) for DASPs and took part in the debates on the update of the general LCB-FT questionnaire.

Concerning the criminal law applicable to activities on digital assets, the LOPMI bill has been tabled in the National Assembly and is currently being examined by Parliament. In view of the fact that Article 4 of this bill would allow a judicial police officer to seize digital assets by any means, with the authorisation of the public prosecutor, Adan wished to discuss the application of such an article and, more generally, the security issues applicable to cryptoassets.

Regarding the environmental issues related to cryptoassets, Adan met with the cabinet of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, to explain the challenges related to cryptoassets in terms of energy consumption and to discuss how cryptoassets can contribute to France’s energy transition challenges.

On the issues hindering the digital assets sector in France, Adan met with Schwan Badirou Gafari, Technical Advisor for Financial Services and Multilateral Financial Affairs, to explain the opportunities related to the cryptoasset sector for France’s competitiveness and the hurdles faced by players in doing business.

At the European level, MiCA and TFR have made their comeback, and are about to be finalised.

Regarding the Regulation of cryptoasset markets, Adan received at the end of September the latest version of the MiCA Regulation before its validation by the EU Permanent Representatives Committee and the European Parliament. Thus, while Adan noted several positive developments for the industry, our preliminary analysis had highlighted a number of concerns regarding NFTs, the stablecoin regime and service providers (CASP). The text will be subject to a final vote in the Parliament on 10 October and is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic in early 2023.

In the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), technical discussions on the TFR progressed during the month of September. The text was approved by the EU ambassadors (COREPER) on 5 October and should be voted on by the joint ECON-LIBE committees of the European Parliament on 10 October.

In addition, the other texts of the AML/CFT package continue to be debated in the European Parliament. Some compromise amendments would apply AML/CFT measures to decentralised finance protocols and DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations), while others provide that NFT platforms would be considered as fully AML/CFT actors.

The European Commission’s (EC) DG FISMA has announced a call for tender for a study on the supervision of decentralised finance (DeFi). This initiative has already been announced in the European Financial Stability and Integration Review report. It has also been presented as a potential option for regulating DeFi by the BIS, most recently in a discussion paper.

In more detail, DG FISMA is looking for candidates who will develop, implement and test innovative solutions for the integrated monitoring of the DeFi. The project will mainly focus on the development of an automated data collection system directly from the Blockchain and will evaluate the technological relevance of real-time monitoring of DeFi activity.

You are a DeFi protocol and you wish to participate in the call for tenders ? Follow this link: https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-document.html?docId=129606.

Speaking Opportunities

  • Appearance on the BFM Business programme “Crypto, comment adopter la sobriété?” on 6 September 2022
  • Speech at the DJCE’s back-to-school seminar on 7 September 2022
  • Participation in the Bored Alpes Summit organised by Nomiks
  • Participation in LaBChain’s webinar on “Regulatory developments in Europe and the world”.
  • Participation in the CRCC Paris conference “Cryptoassets: towards a new way of financing companies?”
  • Presentation at the panel “Decentralization And How To Speed It Up In Light Of Regulations” at DappCon Berlin on 12 September 2022
  • Intervention à la table ronde “How France is paving the way for the Blockchain ecosystem” lors de la Binance Blockchain Week le 15 septembre
  • Speech at the webinar “the new cryptoassets framework” organised by DriveInnovationInsights on 19 September 2022
  • Presentation at Patrimonia on the panel “Crypto: danger or eldorado? How to best support your clients” on 29 September 2022
  • Appearance on BSMART’s SMART TECH programme on 4 October 2022

Member News

  • ACADEE BLOCKCHAIN ACADEMY: We are launching our NFT collection to support associative and entrepreneurial projects related to the Web3. Read more
  • Ambrosia: Our team is growing and we are now close to 10! Recruitments necessary for the launch of our Crypto Piggy Bank.
  • Arquant Capital: We have launched the first active cryptoasset management funds in France, Arquant Bitcoin Dynamic Fund and Arquant Ethereum Dynamic Fund. This offer is aimed at professional clients and aims to facilitate access to the asset class and to help clients manage volatility with a rigorous management process. To find out more, click here.
  • Atlendis Labs: A new borrower is now present on the Atlendis protocol. A liquidity pool has been opened in favour of Parallel Capital, a market maker with an AA credit rating. Read more
  • Caredda concept: A look back at the opening of the Julie Caredda Hybrid Gallery To know more about it
  • EDDU: We will soon start our fundraising to acquire our first stock of ASICs, various partnerships signed to use 100% green energy, complete redesign of the website in progress.
  • GOin: GOin, the asset management company specialising in diversified cryptoasset strategies, obtains its DASP registration and launches a dedicated offering for asset managers and their clients. Read more
  • iExec : In September, we issued a call for applications for the first Web3 Incubator in Lyon, launched in partnership with the H7 accelerator. 25 applications were received and the 4 selected startups will be launched in October and will benefit from 6 months of support from the iExec and H7 teams. To find out more, click here.
  • Irene MEONI (IM FINANCE): I participated in the international conference organised by Consejo Profesional de Ciencias Economicas de San Luis (Argentina) on 7 September 2022.
  • Lyzi: Crypto-currency payment available from LG Group. Possibility to pay for your car, motorbike, car repairs or car rental with the Lizy app! More information
  • Morpho Labs: Morpho-Aave is now available, improve your APY Aave on Morpho, already 20 millions of liquidity! Many integrations are in progress! To know more about Morpho Labs
  • Nomadic Labs: September 23, 2022 marked the successful launch of the Kathmandu Protocol – the 11th update to the Tezos Blockchain, providing users with an optimal and innovative experience. The Kathmandu protocol offers among other things:
    • improved randomness in the distribution of baking rights
    • event-logging allowing off-chain systems to react to the execution of the contract
    • continuous adjustments of the block validation to improve the TPS of Tezos
    • support for ‘Ghostnet’, permanent testnet
    • More information
  • Revo Avocats: Chérine Hosny, an associate of the firm, has successfully passed the admission tests of the Ecole 42, and will strengthen the team’s skills on the technical side of the crypto sector To find out more, click here.
  • SCAGLIA Avocats: We are pleased to announce the launch of the website of SCAGLIA Avocats dedicated to the tax strategy of companies, entrepreneurs and individuals, with expertise in the cryptoasset sector. Read more
  • Scorechain: Lugh, an AMF-registered DASP and issuer of stablecoin EURL, has chosen Scorechain, a leader in crypto compliance, to help them meet their AML and transaction monitoring obligations. Scorechain’s tools enable Lugh to implement regulatory analysis and monitoring procedures on the Ethereum and Tezos blockchains. Read more about Scorechain
  • Wagmi Studio : Wagmi Studio is proud to expand its team by adding new Tech and Project Manager profiles!

New members

  • AML Factory: For all those who suffer from the regulatory millefeuille, AML Factory has modelled the entire LCB-FT regulation to automate its implementation and deployment; making its compliance simpler, faster and more exhaustive.
  • APWine SAS : Protocole d’échange de rendement futur. Les utilisateurs de DeFi peuvent déposer des actifs porteurs d’intérêts pendant une durée définie et négocier à l’avance le rendement futur qu’ils vont générer.
  • Binance France: Global leader in the blockchain ecosystem with a suite of financial products including the largest digital asset exchange. Binance France SAS is registered since May 4, 2022 as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).
  • BLOK: Tokenisation solution for real estate investment.
  • BRUZZO DUBUCQ : Business law firm.
  • Capsule Corp. Labs: Platform for the creation and development of augmented NFTs. We bring NFTs to life. We partner with developers of augmented NFT solutions by providing them with all the resources they need to develop their decentralized application. From ideation to launch on the Ternoa Blockchain.
  • Crypto Assets Management: Our service is a portfolio management solution under mandate specialised in digital assets for individuals, professionals and companies.
  • Dartevelle Dubest Bellanca : Independent French law firm founded in 2009, Dartevelle Dubest Bellanca & Associés is a leading player in the criminal defence of companies and their managers, as well as in banking and financial regulation and compliance.
  • Functori: We are actively working on the core of the Tezos blockchain, designing open-source tools for the development of smart contracts using our expertise in formal methods and programming languages. Finally, we use all this expertise to support our clients on web3 projects (NFT, DeFi, etc.).
  • Lord Services : Cryptoassets trading platform with premium customer service, premium support staff and an exclusive investment service. LordToken provides a launchpad to become a launching pad for many sustainable and philanthropic projects.
  • Luno France : Wallet and crypto currency exchange.
  • Moonshot Incubator: Web3 Studio Incubator.
  • NSK Legal : Firm dedicated to banking and financial regulation, as well as to new technologies associated with financial and payment services.
  • Onchained Lab (EtherScore): Decentralised reputation system providing NFT badges based on blockchain users’ transaction history.
  • URBIZ : Club of freelance excellence, we source your assignments from our members with transparency, professionalism and tolerance.