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France Seeks to Block Development of Libra in Europe

France plans to block the development of Facebook Libra in Europe citing concerns over consumer risk and monetary sovereignty according to a report by The Guardian on September 12.

While speaking at a recent conference in Paris on virtual currencies, Bruno Le Maire, French Finance Minister said, “In these conditions, we cannot authorise the developments of Libra on European soil.”

When Facebook unveiled its plans for Libra in June, experts immediately came forward—warning that the cryptocurrency could shift control over the economy from governments and their central banks to big business.

Herbert Sim, Head of Business Development, Broctagon Fintech Group told Blockchain.News that France’s rejection of Libra is symptomatic of countries feeling threatened by a viable alternative to fiat currency. Sim said, “Libra represents the first stable digital currency which could be a feasible alternative for the mass market—it’s no wonder France feels threatened. And they’re not the only ones responding in the same way, countries like the US and India seem to be actively working against crypto.” He continued, “At the same time, others are throwing themselves into the race, with China advocating for Bitcoin and creating its own digital currency. It’s clear that some are recognising the opportunity cost of dismissing the crypto market.

Sim highlighted that the announcement of Libra has had little impact on the Bitcoin price and believes it is a positive indication for the cryptocurrency market. He said, “It’s interesting that Bitcoin prices haven’t really shifted since the announcement. It seems prices are becoming less dependent on the actions of central authorities. This is a positive sign for the crypto markets. As we look set for a global recession, we could see the previous “Wild West” of the investment world become a safe haven.”

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Bitcoin Gets Integrated into the French Education Curriculum

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are continuously being embraced across the globe. As a result, they have instigated interest from different sectors, and education is not an exemption.

French high school students will have the opportunity to learn about Bitcoin soon. This follows the inclusion of cryptocurrency into the Economics and Social Sciences syllabus.

The French education ministry has outlinedthe integration of Bitcoin into the curriculum, as it noted that cryptocurrency would be used to assist students in comprehending the characteristics of money.

Bitcoin to be taught as an introductory overview

It has been stipulated that Bitcoin will not be explored deeply as this will be beyond the high school students’ capabilities. It will, therefore, be taught as an introductory overview as this will help the French students understand the idea of decentralization in the context of major financial systems.

Nevertheless, the course is informative and detailed because the ministry has also included four explainer videos, such as “Is Bitcoin the currency of the future?” and “Can Bitcoin replace the Euro?” They are intended to give the students a better grasp of how cryptocurrencies work, as well as how different they are from fiat.

France has been making notable steps to inculcate cryptocurrencies into the education structure. For instance, in October 2018, Financia Business School started accepting Bitcoin payments.

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The French Army Validates its Judicial Expenses via Tezos Blockchain

The French Army has revealed that it has been using the Tezos Blockchain to authenticate its judicial expenses through a smart contract. This development makes Tezos the first blockchain to be used for operative intentions by a public entity.

The French Army and the Gendarmerie’s Information & Public Relations Center (SIRPA) have revealed that this project has been going on since September 2019.

Expressly, the Gendarmerie’s cybercrime division (C3N) has been authenticating judicial expenses experienced during investigations and storing them on the Tezos Blockchain.

C3N has also been using an innovative program to attain cryptocurrency payments from Europol-allocated funds to cater for operational costs. For the traceability and auditability of these funds, C3N has been applying the Tezos Blockchain with the help of a smart contract.

The smart contract developed has been private because it can only be viewed by specific persons. This strategy has been put in place so that operational costs can be concealed, as exposing them could endanger continuing judicial investigations.

Blockchain is being viewed as an ideal technology to transform the operation of various armies across the globe. As reported by Blockchain.News on Nov. 20, the Chinese military is likely to adopt blockchain technology to ensure proper management of personnel data, improve their training and performance in mission. They also planned to provide soldiers with earned tokens, which could be spent on rewards.

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Greece Council of State Rules for the Extradition of a Russian Bitcoin Laundering Suspect to France

Greece Council of State has ruled in favor of the order to extradite a Russian bitcoin laundering suspect named Alexander Vinnik, as known as “Mr. Bitcoin” to France, as reported by Greece Greek Reporter.

The Council’s ruling means that Vinnik’s extradition to France can now proceed without any further delay as he is seriously being sought by the authorities of three different countries which include: the United States, France, and Russia.

The report stated that Vinnik was arrested in northern Greece in July of 2017. It then noted that the authorities of the countries mentioned above have been after him and have in their different capacities issued international arrest warrants for him. The countries have charged him of using an e-currency platform he established up for money laundering activities.

Justice Minister Constantinos Tsiaras has previously ordered that Vinnik being extradited to the three countries he was accused of bitcoin laundering, starting with France, then to the United States and lastly to Russia. However, Vinnik filed a request to Greece Council of State, the country’s supreme administrative court, seeking that the court should annul the order of his extradition. Against Vinnik’s wish, the supreme court supported the order of Tsiaras, insisting that the minister has the full legal authority to outline the order of the countries to which the suspect will be extradited.

According to the press release, judge Athanasios Rantos, The Plenary of the Council of State, presided over by, considered that the Minister of Justice had wide discretion in ruling whether or not to order the extradition of the suspect.

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French Football Star Mbappe Seeks out Crypto Scammers Trying to Score off The PSG Striker's Reputation

Kylian Mbappe, the famous French soccer player and Paris Saint-Germain’s striker, has filed a complaint with the French police after his image was used to encourage people to sign up for a crypto scam network. The French local authorities are investigating the matter.

Mbappe scam victim breaks silence to warn danger

The PSG superstar filed charges against the crypto fraudsters when his photo and name were used as part of a crypto scam that alleged to help users “become a millionaire” without Mbappe’s knowledge or prior consent. The 21-year-old was used for publicity for a get-quick-rich scheme that claimed it could turn investors become a millionaire within three to four months. The crypto advertising posts that have been circulating cited a false statement by the French soccer player, where he allegedly endorsed the miraculous investment plan as being legitimate.

The scam stated that Mbappe had told fans to start participating in Bitcoin trading and investing while they could as banks would soon be stamping them out. The scam claimed the world cup winner said, “What made me successful was taking advantage of new opportunities quickly, without hesitation.”

Anne-Sophie Coulbois, Head of the Central Office for the Suppression of Financial Crime with the French police, stated, “These pages are used to impersonate future victims, save your contact details, then an alleged vendor calls them to explain the procedure for investing, but there is never a product that is invested in.”

French investigators reveal that this kind of scam uses the good image of celebrities to convince investors to invest their money in this form of virtual currency. These con artists, through their call centers located in Israel, contact clients to convince them to invest. When clients invest their money, these fraudsters disappear without a trace.

This is not the first time that the PSG superstar has been affected by alleged crypto scandals that use his name without permission. In April last year, his official twitter account was hacked where impersonators reportedly encouraged his fans to make investments in crypto scams.

Beware of crypto scams in this crisis market

Despite their decentralized nature, most cryptocurrencies are still sold and bought at exchanges. While this makes it easier to find the crypto coins that investors desire, there is still no global regulatory body that oversees such exchanges. Many crypto exchanges operate only online and are unregulated, which means that it is difficult to know who is exchanging, offering, selling, or buying cryptocurrency. Scammers thus exploit the fact that many people are still unfamiliar with virtual coins besides their supposed “get rich quick” potentials. Regulators should be aware of how such scams function and fix them accordingly.

In a recent speech, California governor Gavin Newsom asked the public to remain cautious against Bitcoin fraudsters who try to capitalize on the coronavirus fears. The California governor becomes the latest government official to speak about Bitcoin in the public address, joining the likes of US Treasury Steve Mnuchin and President Donald Trump.

Governor Newsom mentioned the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin as a warning to the public. He stated that crypto scammers might utilize this pandemic for fraudulent activities by defrauding and scamming people. The governor thinks that the residents of California are on the hit list of crypto scammers. According to the governor, cryptocurrency scammers may be currently targeting the people of California with the promise of essential commodities in exchange for advances payment in Bitcoin. Hence governor Newson has cautioned people to be vigilant in such cases and avoid such forms of offers.

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Bank of France Announces HSBC, Accenture Among the 8 Successful Applicants of the CBDC Experimentation Program

Earlier this year, Banque de France, the French central bank launched a program of experiments to test out the potential central bank digital money aimed for interbank settlements.

Potential participants have been invited to submit their applications to experiment with the digital euro, and Banque de France announced the 8 successful applicants: Accenture, Euroclear, HSBC, Iznes, LiquidShare, ProsperUS, Seba bank, and Société Générale Forge.

The program of experiments was launched in late March 2020, where the central bank asked participants to submit their applications before May 15, 2020. The French central bank is open to test out new technology, although it did not specify using blockchain. The three main objectives of the CBDC experiment includes identifying benefits, analyzing potential risks, and modeling as CBDC-based interbank settlement. It was noted that a maximum of ten CBDC-related applications created by groups or individuals will be selected based on “innovative nature” as a major criterion for selection.

The successful candidates will be able to explore new methods of exchanging financial instruments, excluding cryptocurrencies against the CBDC. Testing of the regulation of the digital euro in order to improve the conditions of execution of cross-border payments and the successful applicants could also review the methods of making CBDC available.

The French central bank will be working closely with the 8 successful applicants to carry out the experiments in the coming months.

The official report from the Bank of France read:

“The lessons learned from these experiments will constitute a direct contribution to the more global reflection conducted by the Eurosystem on the benefits of a central bank digital currency. These experiments also illustrate Banque de France’s commitment to innovation, which was recently chosen to host, with the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank, a new joint innovation center in Europe within the framework of the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements.”

Banque de France successfully trialed its first experiment with the digital euro on blockchain, to test a sale of securities, which was carried out by Société Générale Forge.

The Dutch Central bank also wants to play a role in developing a CBDC in Europe

The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank made an announcement in its bulletin, saying that it aims to become the European leader in the development of CBDCs. The report highlighted that the topic of CBDC has gained more public exposure in the Netherlands than in “several other euro area countries for several reasons.”

The Dutch central bank has a positive outlook on CBDCs, as it believes that central bank money is essential to preserve as it is important for people to maintain essential trust in the monetary system.

EU’s Latest Coronavirus Recovery Deal: What’s Wrong with Fiat and What’s Right with Crypto

EU leaders have come into an agreement on an unprecedented plan to jointly borrow €750 billion to be used for the recovery of the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken over 135,000 lives in the EU.

The recovery fund spearheaded by the EU is made up of €390 billion in grants and €360 billion in loans, which will be added to a new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), with the sum of €1.074 trillion as a seven-year budget. The heads of state and government have reached a unanimous agreement, resulting in a total financial package of €1.82 trillion.

Germany and France, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron have been delighted for the plan’s approval. Macron described the approval as “a historic change of our Europe and eurozone.” Some supporters of the plan said that it was a strong demonstration of solidarity in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the economic consequences thereafter.

However, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden opposed the idea of taking on debt to issue the recovery fund. They were reportedly fighting fiercely to reduce the portion of grants in favor of loans. Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, stated that he would not label the deal as “historic,” adding “that’s a term I wouldn’t use.”

As the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase globally, especially with the resurgence of cases in a number of EU countries, some leaders had feared that a potential failure to reach an agreement would cause stock markets to crash. With the stock market plummeting, and the sense of distrust brewing in the traditional markets, the crypto market could see a surge in adoption.

With the current debt-driven economy in the EU, we could potentially witness the collapse of the current monetary and financial systems. With blockchain technology, perhaps there could be the end of the monopoly of government-issued currencies, as suggested by Friedrich Hayek — the author of Denationalisation of Money. Bitcoin could be the next answer to financial crises, as suggested by Bouri et al. in 2017, “Bitcoin is often seen as a panacea, replacing financial institutions and providing shelter from sovereign risk and weakness in the global financial system.”

Countries that are in the midst of economic crises could often tighten controls on the financial market, imposing capital controls on their populations. This could mean prevent their citizens from taking cash out of the bank during financial turmoil, some people have turned to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

French Police Arrest 29 People for Financing Syrian Islamist Terrorists Using Bitcoin Coupons

The French police have apprehended 29 individuals across the nation suspected of funding Islamist extremists in Syria using cryptocurrencies. French authorities allege that the arrested individuals are involved in a complex terrorism-fiancing scheme using coupons to finance terror members in Syria as the payments are credited to the extremists’ Bitcoin accounts.

Purchasing cryptocurrency coupons

The terror network is thought to have been active since 2019 as the 29 people, aged 22 to 66, often purchased crypto coupons valued at between 10 and 150 euros ($11 to $175) at different tobacco shops called Tabacs across France.

Upon making the payment, the references were transmitted via secure messaging to Syria-based jihadists who would then credit them to Bitcoin platforms.

The police noted:

“Constant surveillance of these networks prompted terrorist organizations to seek more opacity by using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.”

The police revealed that the network’s ringleaders were 25-year old Walid F and Mesut S, both jihadists located in northeastern Syria. They are suspected of belonging to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. In 2016, the two were slapped with a 10-year sentence in absentia and are under an international arrest warrant.

Unraveling terror financing

Tracfin, a team within the French Economy Ministry, mandated with tracing terror financing, money laundering, and fiscal fraud, uncovered the complex terrorism-financing network.

Two of the 29 accomplices are thought to be the masterminds of offering logistical aid to the terror system, which is suspected of supplying hundreds of thousands of euros whose beneficiaries have been al-Qaeda members.

In August, the US Justice Department revealed that it had seized Bitcoin and cryptocurrency worth millions of dollars intended to fund the activities of terror groups like the military arm of Hamas, the Islamic State, and Al-Qaeda. This breakthrough was the largest clampdown on online terrorist fundraising.

French Finance Minister Praises Blockchain, but Condemns Cryptocurrency

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has once again made his stance on crypto clear – he is critical of it and does not support it.

Le Maire backs blockchain, hates crypto

Though Le Maire has time and again reiterated that he disliked cryptocurrencies, associating them with illicit activities such as drug trafficking, the purchase of weapons, money laundering, and more, he has hinted that he did not put blockchain in the same basket. Rather, he surprised the crypto community by implying his support for blockchain, the underlying infrastructure for all things Bitcoin and digital assets.

Le Maire appeared to back blockchain, as indicated from a Twitter response he wrote addressing crypto fund partner of Starchain Capital, Cyril Paglino. The seasoned crypto bull tagged the French Finance Minister in his post and said:

“This 10-year-old myth about cryptocurrencies needs to stop spreading. Transactions on a blockchain are secure and traceable. It is of no interest to a terrorist. Unlike cash, which circulates without any control.”

Paglino referred to the recent Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) leak, where more than two trillion USD was alleged to have been laundered through five major banks. Despite being flagged, the dirty money was reported to have still been flowing through institutional banks.

Le Maire then answered that the French Finance Ministry and he “did not question the reliability and traceability of blockchain technologies.” However, he remained firm on his stance regarding cryptocurrencies, stressing that the nuanced stance he adopted was that “certain crypto assets could have been used to facilitate fraudulent transactions (drugs, arms, money laundering) in an anonymous manner.”

Le Maire condemns Facebook’s Libra token

Le Maire had previously vocalized his views on Facebook’s Libra token, denouncing it as an asset prone to be leveraged for money laundering and terrorism financing. He had said that the Facebook-backed token would risk the “monetary sovereignty of states.” He said:

“All these concerns around Libra are serious. So I want to say this with a lot of clarity, I want to be absolutely clear: in these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil.”

French Central Bank Succeeds in CBDC Experiment in the Issuance of a Government Bond

The Banque de France or Bank of France, the central bank of France, has prospered in undertaking an experiment on using a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to issue a French government bond.

As per the announcement:

“The experiment consisted in the simulation on a permissioned blockchain of Government bonds’ (OAT) issuance by Agence France Trésor, followed by several secondary market operations performed on these bonds.”

Cash settlements were simulated using the blockchain-powered CBDC. The Bank of France experimented on the 21st and 24th of this month in collaboration with a group of economic players led by Euroclear. The program launched in March last year.

CBDCs are digital assets pegged to a real-world asset and backed by the central banks, meaning that they represent a claim against the bank exactly how banknotes work. Furthermore, they are blockchain-enabled, representing a new technology for issuing central bank money at the wholesale and retail level.

The interoperability between legacy and distributed architectures

Nathalie Aufauvre, the general director of financial stability and operations at Bank of France, noted:

“As a new achievement such as to explore wholesale CBDC potential, this experiment allowed testing for the first time financial optimisation on a blockchain with REPO operations, as well as the synchronisation of collateral operations between the blockchain and the European platform for securities settlement Target 2 Securities.”

He added:

“This provides a very good illustration of interoperability between legacy and distributed architectures.”

The experiment also entailed creating and deploying smart contracts so that the French central bank could issue and control the circulation of CBDC tokens, triggering their simultaneous transfer as a result.

Meanwhile, The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently disclosed its full backing for the development of CBDCs by central banks to pursue financial and monetary stability through international cooperation.