French lawmakers are advancing a budget amendment that would require residents to declare self-custody cryptocurrency wallets worth more than €100,000, a measure introduced against a backdrop of rising physical attacks on bitcoin holders and a recent breach of the national tax database.
The amendment, numbered I-CF821 and attached to the 2027 budget bill, was proposed by deputy Charles de Courson. It would oblige holders of self-custody wallets exceeding the €100,000 threshold as of December 31 to declare them to tax authorities, with non-compliance punishable by a fine of up to €10,000.
The sponsor's justification rests partly on a gap between crypto gains realised in France and what has actually been reported to the tax administration. In 2021, capital gains generated in the French crypto market reached €3.5 billion, but only €400 million was declared to tax authorities that year, according to the figures cited in support of the amendment.
Wider tax package
The wallet declaration requirement sits alongside other measures the finance committee has already approved. Taxation of stablecoin exchanges is set to begin in 2027, and the existing exit tax regime has been extended to cover digital asset holdings exceeding €800,000. These domestic steps come as the European Union prepares to roll out DAC8, a directive requiring crypto platforms to report client identities and transaction data to tax authorities starting next year.
A tax database breach and a wave of attacks
The push for stricter disclosure arrives weeks after a security breach at the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, France's tax authority, exposed data belonging to 678,000 contributors. The database was illegally extracted in mid-2026 and included records of more than 26,000 individuals with declared tax income exceeding €100,000.
The breach has heightened concern because it coincides with a marked increase in violent incidents targeting crypto holders in France. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez disclosed that 77 physical incidents linked to digital assets were recorded in the first half of 2026 alone, compared with 45 cases for the whole of 2025. The French elite police unit GIGN has responded by training rapid intervention tactics, including the use of drones, to counter kidnapping attempts targeting bitcoin owners.
The combination of the proposed wallet registry and the backdrop of attacks has drawn attention from French crypto outlets including Journal du Coin, which has tracked the amendment's progress through the National Assembly's finance committee. The measure has not yet been voted into law and remains subject to further debate as the 2027 budget process continues.
