Last night the government surprised everyone by making use of Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to make Bitcoin (BTC) a new national currency of France. This unexpected decision was taken without any parliamentary debate or public consultation, and immediately provoked mixed reactions across the country.
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France adopts Bitcoin after a 49.3
Following the use of Article 49.3 of the French Constitution by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, it’s France’s turnto everyone’s surprise, to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender alongside the euro.
Article 49.3 is a constitutional mechanism that allows the government to pass a bill without passing a vote in Parliament, by engaging the responsibility of the government on this text. This decision was made due to the complexity of the subject and the need to react quickly to promote the adoption of Bitcoin in France.
However, this action was criticized by some members of the opposition, who denounced the use of Article 49.3 to impose such a measure without debate in Parliament. They also expressed concerns about the security of cryptocurrency transactions and the country’s financial stability.
The Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire welcomed this historic decision as “an important step for France in the modernization of its economy”. He added that the government has been working closely with cryptocurrency industry players to ensure this transition goes smoothly.
In effect, Bitcoin will now have to be accepted by all businesses and businesses, and can be used to pay taxes and duties.
The government believes that the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender is a necessary decision to adapt to changes in the global economy. This decision puts France at the forefront of cryptocurrency innovationand could well lead to a major change in the consumption habits of the French population.
Moreover, this will undoubtedly boost the adoption of cryptocurrency in other European countries and encourage other governments to follow France’s example.
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A BTC airdrop for all French households
In parallel, a digital wallet only dedicated to Bitcoin and compatible with the Lightning Network will be available in the near future. Baptized ” Citizen Digital Wallet “, it will be accessible in the form of an application from a smartphone and an extension on a web browser. This digital wallet, which only French citizens will be able to use, will make it possible to store, send and receive BTC in complete security.
The government has also announced that each household in France will receive a one-time allowance of 0.005 BTC (about 130 euros at the time of writing) on their Digital Citizen Portfolio. This measure was taken with the aim of facilitating the adoption of cryptocurrency and stimulating the digital economy in France.
According to the latest INSEE data, there are approximately 29.5 million households in France. It means that the government will distribute a total of 147,500 BTC (about 3.8 billion euros) under this initiative.
To accumulate such an amount of BTC, which still represents 0.7% of all BTC that will forever be issuedFrance has multiplied for more than 5 years the purchases of BTC spread over a very large number of Bitcoin addresses, in order to remain under the radar of analysts.
While this makes maximalists happy, France’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender makes its critics unhappy. Those who used to say that ” bitcoin is not a currency will now have a hard time defending their ideas.
Source: Press Release🐟
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I am Poisson Inu, writer for Cryptoast since 2022. I write an article every year for April 1st. I hope you enjoyed this article!
