Forge Becomes First Fully-Licensed Crypto Provider in France
• Forge, a subsidiary of Société Générale, has become the first company to obtain the highest access license for providing crypto services in France.
• The provider will have a right to custody digital assets and purchase/sell them for legal tender as well as trade them against each other.
• Société Générale has been quite active in the crypto sector, issuing euro bonds on the Ethereum blockchain and security tokens on the Tezos blockchain.
Forge Becomes First Fully Licensed Crypto Provider in France
Société Générale Subsidiary Gets Highest Access License from AMF
Forge, a subsidiary of French banking giant Société Générale, became the first company to officially receive the highest access license from France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) for providing crypto services. The approval gives Forge rights to custody digital assets and purchase/sell them with legal tender as well as trade them against each other.
Société Générale’s Crypto Service Activities
Société Générale has been actively involved in various crypto projects over recent years. These include issuing euro bonds on Ethereum blockchain and security tokens on Tezos blockchain as well as proposing Dai stablecoin loans exchanged with bond tokens. In April 2023, Forge launched EUR CoinVertible – a euro-pegged stablecoin available only for qualified institutional clients after undergoing Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering procedures by Societe Generale itself.
French Crypto Regulatory Environment
France is one of greater Europe’s most accommodating countries when it comes to cryptocurrency regulations, but that doesn’t mean all activities go unchecked here either: Binance’s local arm was recently subject to an investigation conducted by Parisian Judicial Investigation Service of Finance under specialized interregional jurisdiction direction.
Advantage Large Banks Have Over Smaller Crypto Companies
Given stringent requirements for this level of approval from AMF, large traditional banks such as Société Générale have an obvious advantage over smaller crypto companies looking to do business in France – something Business FM radio station pointed out recently.
Conclusion
All things considered, it looks like France is becoming an increasingly favorable environment for larger players operating within its borders while also closely regulating activities related to cryptocurrency transactions – something that does not necessarily work out so easily in some other European jurisdictions.
