France’s Public Investment Bank Bpifrance to Invest $27 Million in Crypto

France-based public funding financial institution Bpifrance introduced Thursday plans to take a position $27 million (€25 million) straight into tokens and decentralized applied sciences in an effort to “strengthen the French blockchain ecosystem.”

Introduced throughout a blockchain-focused occasion in Paris, the financial institution’s funding seeks to speed up its “digital asset funding technique” by bolstering French crypto startups and helping the native enterprise capital gamers in Web3.

“We’re satisfied of the rising significance that these gamers will tackle within the years to come back, and we need to enhance French competitiveness and presence within the discipline of digital property,” Arnaud Caudoux, Deputy CEO of Bpifrance, stated in a Thursday statement.

Bpifrance’s new fund will complement its long-standing monetary assist mechanisms—like grants, loans, and fairness funding—by concentrating on blockchain-native fashions with a powerful “French footprint.” 

DeFi, staking, tokenization, Layer 1–3 protocols, AI-driven instruments, and digital ID options are amongst them.

It represents one of many first strikes by a serious state funding financial institution to buy open-market crypto tokens—a “pioneering initiative,” as Bpifrance put it.

Bpifrance will particularly goal “smaller, newly-issued tokens” from French tasks—property which have but to be listed on exchanges. 

“The U.S. is basically accelerating its personal crypto technique, so that is all of the extra essential,” Caudoux stated as cited in a Reuters report, noting the U.S. crypto push beneath President Donald Trump as a wake-up name.

Since his re-election, Trump has pledged to make the U.S. the “undisputed Bitcoin superpower,” floated plans to mine Bitcoin domestically, and vowed to make the nation the “crypto capital” of the world.

The professional-crypto President’s administration has additionally rolled again SEC enforcement against crypto firms, drawing blockchain expertise and capital towards the U.S. at a time when Europe stays cautious.

In response to developments within the U.S., Bpifrance’s initiative seeks to retain and nurture blockchain expertise inside France.

Bpifrance isn’t any stranger to crypto—it first backed {hardware} pockets agency Ledger in 2014 and has since invested in Aleph.im, Morpho, ACINQ, and others. 

In a 2023 interview with Decrypt, Bpifrance’s Blockchain & Crypto Lead Ivan de Lastours stated the financial institution was additionally exploring zero-knowledge proofs, noting their potential to confirm authenticity in a world dominated by AI-generated content material. 

“They could be key to the way forward for the web,” de Lastours stated.

Strolling the road

France’s broader crypto momentum acquired one other enhance this week when The Blockchain Group, a France-based tech agency listed on Euronext Paris, introduced it had purchased 580 BTC, price roughly $50.6 million.

Whereas such initiatives present a proactive method to Web3 innovation in France, it comes at a time when the nation’s regulatory our bodies are intensifying scrutiny of the crypto sector.

In January, French authorities launched a judicial investigation into Binance, the world’s largest crypto change, over allegations of cash laundering and tax fraud. 

The probe centered on actions between 2019 and 2024, with potential offenses dedicated in France and the European Union. ​

In November 2024, the French playing regulator, ANJ, started probing Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market platform, to evaluate its compliance with French playing legal guidelines. 

The probe was triggered after a French dealer reportedly positioned a multi-million-dollar wager on the result of the U.S. presidential election, prompting Polymarket to cut off access for customers in France, successfully shutting out a major section of its viewers.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair