French financial authorities crack down on crypto trading sites

As the European market continues to grapple with the ever rising crypto world and the corresponding markets, the Authorite de Marches Financieres (AMF) in France has come up with a list of websites that offer cryptocurrency services and is advising customers not to engage or trade in these platforms.

At first glance the blacklist appeared to be an outright ban although on closer examination, it was not the case. The AMF is merely advising the listed websites to register with the government agency before conducting business to the French public. It appeared that there are a large number of websites—at least 15 were identified by the AMF—that were operating independently of the French financial authorities in this regard. The AMF has now issued a press release listing all those websites which offer crypto trading and which do not have the license from the authorities to do so.

In a statement, the AMF said: “The investment proposals highlighting the possibility of a financial returns or a similar economic effect involve intermediation in miscellaneous assets and are now subject to ex ante control by the AMF. Consequently, no offer can be directly marketed in France on without prior allocation by the AMF of a registration number.”

The companies that keep advertising and marketing to the French public include AKJ Crypto, Bank Crypto, Bcon Bank, Bit Crypto, Bourse Bitcoin, Crypteo, Crypto Bank Web, Crypto Major, Crypto Partners Invest, BND Group, Private Finances, ECS Solutions, Ether Invest, Kraken Access, and Mine de Crypto.

The list of all unauthorized websites to offer atypical investments is available in the AMF’s website. The registration numbers delivered by the AMF are also available on the website. This list of websites may change very quickly and this list is not intended to be exhaustive. So it would be good to follow up with the government agency on what is authorised for trading.