Beginning New Year’s Day next year, tobacco retailers in France are reportedly going to begin selling cryptocurrency. This is per a radio station out of France, Europe 1, which has stated that the tobacconists will be selling Bitcoin Core (BTC) vouchers in denominations of €50 ($57), €100 ($114) and €250 (US285).
The deal comes about due to a partnership with Keplerk, a French crypto startup. It has signed an agreement with a point-of-sale software provider and will provide a platform that allows customers to purchase BTC and store the digital assets in wallets on the Keplerk platform.
When the system is rolled out, between 3,000 and 4,000 tobacco retailers will have the vouchers available. In speaking with Reuters, Keplerk Director for Strategy and Development Adil Zakhar stated, “Tobacco shop owners are the best channel as they are trusted by customers and they are used to sell vouchers such as credit for mobile phones.”
The transactions won’t be cheap, though. In order to fund the endeavor, Keplerk has stated that all transactions will be assessed a commission of 7%. However, the exposure is going to serve the cryptocurrency industry well. According to the website of Buralistes, the French tobacconist federation, there are around 25,000 tobacco retailers in the country. If the program is successful and is able to be expanded into other venues, it has the potential to boost cryptocurrency adoption.
There have been a few rumors that France’s central bank, Banque De France, had signed off on the Keplerk endeavor. However, it issued a statement this past Wednesday, refuting the rumors and reasserting its warning to investors that cryptocurrencies are “purely speculative and are not currencies,” and that investors looking to trade in crypto do so “entirely at their own risk.”
The bank’s statement is common among most central banks and is to be expected. However, in general, France has been more accepting to cryptocurrencies than other countries. This past April, lawmakers cut in half the capital gains taxes assessed on cryptocurrency assets and financial regulators have been working continuously to develop a framework that will allow the crypto and blockchain industries to flourish in the country.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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The Finance commission of France’s lower house of Parliament is endorsing a proposal to lower taxes on sales from cryptocurrencies, according to a Reuters report.
When passed, the measure, adopted as an amendment to the country’s 2019 budget bill, will reduce the current tax rate on cryptocurrencies by 6.2%, from the current rate of 36.2% to a flat 30%.
The capital gains tax rate on digital assets had previously been at 45%, with tax officials putting them in the same classification as commercial and industrial property in 2014, but this was lowered last April to 19%. On top of the capital gains tax, however, is a 17.2% “social contributions” levy. Gains from cryptocurrency mining continue to be taxed at 45%, plus social contributions.
The proposed tax cut, along with the 2019 budget, is expected to take effect in January next year.
Other countries, in Europe and elsewhere, have sought tax reforms in connection with cryptocurrencies, if not to lower rates, then to at least provide for greater regulatory clarity. In Poland, a bill is now pending that would classify fiat proceeds from the sale of cryptocurrencies as individual or corporate income, while subjecting sales from cryptocurrency-related equipment and other property to capital gains tax. In the bill, cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency transactions are not taxed.
In Australia, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has maintained a position that cryptocurrencies are assets subject to capital gains tax, like sales from real estate.
In India, an 18% tax on cryptocurrency sales has reportedly been studied by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
In South Korea, cryptocurrency exchanges have been subject to taxes similar to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who receive 50%-100% tax cuts for their first five years, and are taxed from 5%-30% beyond that. However, starting around the end of the year, these companies will no longer enjoy such a classification, and taxes are expected to increase.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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A security officer in France is accused of selling confidential state information on the dark net, according to local media reports.
On Friday, French news outlet Le Parisien described the officer as a member of a sensitive division of the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI). The agent allegedly minted information to which he had access to, as well as potentially falsified administrative documents, which he sold on the dark web.
Sources close to the investigation told the news outlet there was evidence that the agent had been in contact with members of the organized crime world as well as “specialists of the economic intelligence” who were interested in obtaining such data. No link to terrorism has been found, according to the report.
Agents from the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police were the first to discover the leaks. This prompted the DGSI to use the agent’s personal code—which they use to connect to computers and perform consultations—to track his online activities. Internal security processes allow the authorities to trace the origin of file queries either in real time or in delayed manner.
Following the agent’s arrest, L’Office central pour la répression de l’immigration irrégulière et de l’emploi d’étrangers sans titre (Ocriest)—the agency in charge of monitoring “irregular immigration”—shut down the criminal network the suspect had been linked to, according to Le Monde.
It is not yet known how much information was sold or how much crypto the agent received. Data considered classified as “confidential defense” or “secret defense” within the DGSI, are punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of €100,000 ($115,393) if violated by any state agent.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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The French financial market authority, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has updated its official blacklist of fraudulent businesses operating in the country.
According to the publication, the list has 21 new names of businesses in the crypto space that are running illegal operations. Majority of these businesses are alleged to have offered investment opportunities in initial coin offering (ICOs), cryptocurrency trading and mining activities without getting approval from the relevant authorities.
The new list comes nearly six months after the AMF first published its blacklist of businesses allegedly involved in fraudulent schemes. The initial list had 15 cryptocurrency platforms, which were believed to have committed the same offence. Four more websites, all operating without licenses, were added to the AMF list in July.
The recently added businesses include bitcoin.co, acheterdubitcoin.com, adg-placemnet.com, cryptofrance.info, goodcoin.fr, investirvin.info and vinsimo.com, among others.
The AMF has been actively involved in making sure investors in the country do not fall victims to criminal activities in the crypto space—not an easy task given that France currently doesn’t have a legal framework that fully covers cryptocurrency activities. Under the French Law, cryptocurrencies are not considered as currencies. They are also not regarded as financial instruments. Despite lack of legal clarification on cryptocurrencies earlier this year, AMF concluded that crypto derivatives should be subjected to the rules applicable to financial instruments under the Monetary and Financial Code of France.
In September, lawmakers in Paris adopted a new legislation that introduced guidelines to regulate token sales in the country. The new law grants AMF power over businesses planning to conduct an ICO. According to the law, entities are required to meet certain conditions including proving specific guarantee to participants. Token issuers are required to publish all relevant information that will help the investor make an informed decision.
Authorities hope the new rules will provide a clear guideline on how to handle ICO matters. The new laws are also aimed at improving the cryptocurrency climate in the country. While the AMF is cracking down on businesses in the crypto space, the government is working to create a better environment—it recently lowered the tax rate on cryptocurrency capital gain from 45 percent to 19 percent.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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UNICEF France is now taking donations in cryptocurrencies. On its website, the humanitarian body said it accepts donations in nine cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin BCH, as well as BTC, ETH, EOS, Stellar, LTC, XRP, DASH and XMR. The decision to finally accept cryptocurrencies was partly due to the organization’s need to expand its circle of donors and sources of funding, according to UNICEF France.
The organization is also calling on its well-wishers to donate their computing power for the purpose of mining six crypto coins to directly to UNICEF France’s wallets. This concept of accepting crypto donations was born after the GameChaingers campaign in February. The campaign, launched by UNICEF to help children in the war torn country of Syria, asked gamers to contribute their mining power to mine cryptocurrency as part of the initiative. Interested gamers and donors had to install the Claymore mining software to mine ETH, the chosen crypto for the project. The campaign ended last March 31, with UNICEF mining 85 ETH.
Sébastien Lyon, the director of UNICEF France pointed out that while cryptocurrencies is an innovation in the fundraising sphere, it is being utilised by few organizations in the field. He noted, “Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology used for charitable purposes offer a new opportunity to appeal to the generosity of the public and continue to develop our operations with children in the countries of intervention.”
UNICEF France had taken a cue from UNICEF Australia, which, in April, created an initiative where crypto mining was conducted by visiting a website, HopePage, which had been set up for the specific purpose of mining Monero. Also in May, UNICEF announced that donors could use Coinhive to offer their donations to support refugees through mining cryptocurrency. The funds raised was used to help 400,000 children in Rohingya who were affected by the violence in Myanmar.
Jennifer Tierney, director of UNICEF Australia, explained, “The HopePage allows Australians to provide help and hope to vulnerable children by simply opening the page while they are online.” HopePage asks users for confirmation before using anybody’s system to mine for UNICEF Australia, and users can adjust how much computing power they are willing to donate or leave the browser tab open to keep contributing to the initiative.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
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