Declare or disappear. In France, holding your cryptos in self-custody could soon rhyme with an additional line at the tax authorities. Friday October 9, the Finance Committee of the National Assembly adopted an amendment on self-hosted wallets. In fact, this text of the 2027 budget requires their declaration beyond 100,000 euros. An idea which immediately triggered a wave of protests, in a country marked by the kidnappings of holders.
The key points of this article:
The Finance Committee of the National Assembly adopted amendment I-CF821, which requires the declaration of self-hosted crypto wallets worth 100,000 euros or more.
In addition, in the event of failure to declare, the fine can reach 10,000 euros according to the presentation of the amendment, based on the value of the assets at the end of the calendar year.
Thus, several figures in the ecosystem denounce a major security risk, after a series of kidnappings and robberies targeting holders in France.
However, the measure remains fragile, because it fell with the revenue section rejected in committee and must be re-tabled in session.
100,000 euros to declare, 10,000 euros fine in case of silence
It is amendment I-CF821 which crystallizes the anger. Defended by Charles de Courson (LIOT), it received the approval of the commission on Friday, as reported by Decrypt. In practice, the text adds a provision to the general tax code. This requires holders of cryptocurrencies held in self-custody to declare their assets from 100,000 euros. The valuation is based on the value of the assets at the end of the calendar year. In the event of a breach, the presentation of the amendment mentions a fine of up to 10,000 euros.
As a reminder, a self-hosted wallet (self-custody) refers to a wallet whose private keys are kept by the user themselves. No centralized exchange platform intervenes in this scheme. According to the amendment, the stated objective remains the fight against fraud, with the holding of crypto-assets considered underestimated. However, nothing in the text regulates the fate of this sensitive data. And that’s precisely what’s scary.
A ledger of crypto fortunes, in the worst of times
Indeed, the community did not wait for a definitive text to step up to the plate.
“This is the same government whose employees sold crypto holders’ tax returns to criminals. If you live in France and hold crypto, leave. If you cannot leave, hire personal protection for you and your family. »
This charge comes from Rand Hindi, founder of the Zama privacy protocol, on X (Twitter) on October 12. For his part, Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius infrastructure, continued on the same network:
“France is the leading country on the planet for crypto kidnappings and wrench attacks. From now on, it is a question of multiplying by 50,000 the data collected, and therefore the data likely to leak. »
Furthermore, Harry Halpin, CEO of Nym, told our colleagues at Decrypt that this idea was simply a very bad idea. He recalls the recent case of a tax agent accused of having sold administration data to criminals, according to Le Parisien. For him, France must respond to the victims of these kidnappings, because tomorrow criminals will rely on on-chain analysis and surveillance powered by artificial intelligence.
These fears are rooted in a painful reality. In January 2025, attackers kidnapped David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, and his wife from their home, with a ransom in bitcoins. The kidnappers even cut off one of the victim's fingers to increase the pressure. At the beginning of 2026, the wife of Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt in Villenoy, in Seine-et-Marne. The same year, a couple in their fifties had to transfer nearly a million dollars in bitcoins to Chesnay, near Versailles, under threat of knives from fake police officers. Decrypt also recently mentioned more than $30 million taken during physical attacks in the first half of 2026, according to Chainalysis. A list far from exhaustive. At the same time, the gendarmerie detailed its strategy in the face of the explosion of these cryptorapts. A man whose past mixed luxury watches and cryptocurrencies was also shot dead in Nîmes this week.
