Bitcoin: Relief in France as self-hosted wallets avoid mandatory declaration.

France has backed down on the mandatory declaration of self-hosted wallets, and this is a clear victory for Bitcoin defenders. On April 28, 2026, the joint parliamentary committee did not retain Article 3 quater of the bill aimed at combating social and tax fraud. This provision sought to impose an annual declaration of digital asset wallets controlled directly by their users.

A retreat that changes the political signal

The targeted article did not concern accounts opened on a traditional platform. It targeted wallets held directly on the blockchain, without an intermediary service provider. In other words, wallets where users keep their own keys.

The proposed threshold was low. The text adopted by the National Assembly referred to an annual notification once the total value of the assets exceeded €5,000. This declaration would have required users to report the market value of the wallet to the tax authorities.

So the issue was not only fiscal. It touched the very principle of self-custody. With Bitcoin, owning your keys means truly owning your funds. Turning that autonomy into a specific reporting obligation would have pushed self-custody into a zone of permanent suspicion.

The database worried people more than the tax

On paper, the objective was to give the tax administration more visibility. The amendment even claimed to address the lack of clarity around wallets not managed by service providers. It presented these wallets as a possible tool for reducing the taxable base.

But the ecosystem mainly saw another risk. A database listing cryptoasset holders can become a target. Not only for hackers. Also for criminal networks looking for solvent, traceable and vulnerable profiles.

This point weighed heavily in the debate. France has seen several cases targeting people linked to crypto or their relatives. Le Monde notably reported arrests in kidnapping cases connected to the sector, with targets associated with crypto entrepreneurs.

Bitcoin is defending more than just a tool here

This episode highlights something that is often misunderstood. A self-hosted wallet is not a tech enthusiast’s gimmick. It is the logical extension of Bitcoin. The network was designed to reduce dependence on trusted third parties.

Requiring a specific declaration for this practice would have created a strange asymmetry. Holding your own keys would have become more suspicious than entrusting your funds to a platform. That is precisely the opposite of Bitcoin’s philosophy, which prioritizes individual responsibility.

The mobilization of Adan and the National Bitcoin Institute therefore focused on a central point: the fight against fraud must not produce a map of crypto wealth. Tax law can require gains to be declared. But an annual inventory of private wallets opens a different door.

The removal of Article 3 quater does not close the matter. It moves it elsewhere. The European framework is already advancing with MiCA, which sets common rules for cryptoassets, service providers, issuers and transaction supervision.