Bruno Le Maire, once a strong opponent of Crypto currencies and blockchain, demanding they be regulated has now done an about face and is now a passionate supporter of the new wave of currency. At a recent breakfast meeting Le Maire discussed aspects of of Bitcoin and blockchain noting the issues faced with banks, taxation and legal difficulties. In an admission that he was wrong the minister has had a change of heart and, according to Alexandre Stachtchenko, President of Chaintech, and Co-founder of Blockchain Partner, Le Maire declared:
“J’etais néophyte il y a un an, mais à present, je me suis pris de passion. Mais cela m’a pris un an. Faisons preuve de bcp de pédagogie avec nos concitoyens pour faire de la France la première place d’innovation Blockchain/cryptos en UE” @BrunoLeMaire ce matin. Il se passe qch!.”
“I was a neophyte a year ago, but now I’m passionate. It took me a year. Let us show a lot of pedagogy* with our fellow citizens to make France the first place of blockchain & crypto-active innovation in Europe.”
France has been a part of the European Union since its inception and took a stance along with the Union, supported by the Central bank, that Crypto Currencies were against cryupto currencies frojmk the start, formulating an amendment to the EU Forth directive inlcuding, “Tackling terrorist financing risks linked to virtual currencies: to prevent their abuse for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes, the Commission proposes to bring virtual currency exchange platforms under the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so that these platforms have to apply customer due diligence controls when exchanging virtual for real currencies, ending the anonymity associated with such exchanges.”
The European Union Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová said about the directive, “Today’s agreement will bring more transparency to improve the prevention of money laundering and to cut off terrorist financing.” According to Reuters, “Bitcoin exchange platforms and ‘wallet’ providers that hold [bitcoin] for clients will be required to identify their users, under the new rules which now must be formally adopted by EU states and European legislators and then turned into national laws.” in this revarsal of policy, Le Maire also declared plans backing the French blockchain and crypto industry, assuring his “total and determined support.”
“You have with me a total and determined support to make change things.” He declared.
It is only a matter of time before other members of the Union follow suit.
* pedagogy.
1.the function or work of a teacher; teaching.
2.the art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods.