MiCA in France: rules, supervision and CASP licenses

The AMF authorises and supervises crypto-asset service providers in France under MiCA, with EU rules applying since 30 December 2024 and transitional arrangements for existing French registrants running to mid-2026 at the latest.

France arrived at MiCA early: the PACTE law created the PSAN regime in 2019, under which hundreds of crypto firms registered with the AMF — and a stricter optional 'agrément' existed for firms wanting full authorisation. Much of MiCA's design will look familiar to anyone who knew PSAN.

PSAN registration was mandatory for custody and exchange services aimed at French customers; the full agrément remained rare. MiCA harmonises this at EU level: one CASP authorisation, ten defined services, passportable across all member states — replacing the national patchwork France's regime was part of.

For users the upgrade is uniformity: the same custody-segregation, capital and disclosure rules now apply whether your provider is French, Danish or Dutch.

Check the AMF's register of authorised providers (amf-france.org) or ESMA's EU-wide CASP register. The entry shows the services covered and the entity that holds the authorisation.

EU-passported platforms may legally serve French customers on their home-state licence; the ESMA register is the single place to verify any of them.