$9.4B in French Crypto Activity: Chainalysis Study Uncovers Tax Reporting Challenges

France is facing a significant challenge in tracking potentially taxable crypto activity, according to a recent study by Chainalysis. The company estimated that France generated around $9.4 billion in potentially taxable crypto activity during 2025, ranking it among the world's top 15 largest markets. This estimate includes income, gains, and payments from various sources such as mining, staking, lending, and gambling.

The study also found that global potentially taxable crypto activity reached $457 billion across six blockchains in 2025, with the United States leading individual countries at $112.6 billion. The European Union collectively accounted for $125.1 billion.

Chainalysis emphasized that its estimates exclude exchange-internal activity and may understate total taxable economic income worldwide. The company also noted that trading, staking, and lending conducted within centralized exchange systems cannot always be observed on a public blockchain, which may result in underestimated totals.

The study's findings arrive as France prepares to receive detailed customer and transaction data under the European Union's DAC8 tax reporting system and the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. This new framework requires providers to collect 2026 transaction data, with the first exchanges due on September 30, 2027.