The Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), the French financial markets regulator, has approved its first Initial coin offering (ICO). Even though the token sales stay legal as an option of fundraising in France, those that had been approved by the AMF might be marketed directly to the general public.
The AMF shows a whitelist of ICOs on its website that had been approved; blacklist displays misleading or inaccurate data or their approval withdrawn. Besides, the ICO that has been approved by the issuer is an organization called French-ICO. As per its site, the token’s public offering is planned to start on March 1 and end on June 1.
The French financial regulator clarified,
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“It issues approval to ICOs, not their issuers. The information document approved by the AMF concerns only one ICO over a period that may not exceed six months and is valid only for the period of the offering described in the information document.”
Previously, France had presented its very own rules governing the Initial coin offerings and similar token sales at the beginning of 2018. Afterward, it proposed legislative corrections to place cryptocurrency-related elements under the legislative domain of its financial supervisory body.
Additionally, the new system accompanies heavy fines for the individuals who neglect to comply, however, who will not refund investors for their losses, as it occurs with compensation funds that mostly cover traditional investments.
France’s new law, The PACTE law, was introduced this year in April, a law on business development and transformation which incorporated a particular system for ICOs.
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Under the PACTE law, issuers of the token applying for a visa from the French regulator are obliged to give a document that contains all significant data on the proposed ICO. Further, this information document and the materials related to marketing identifying with the ICO must be precise to enable investors to understand the risks related to the offer.
