French authorities are stepping up inspections of crypto exchanges as part of a series of anti-money laundering regulations, Bloomberg reports. Among the companies investigated is Binance, one of the region’s largest exchanges.
The Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), the main regulator for entities such as banks and insurance companies, began these audits late last year with the aim of determining which of the more than 100 companies registered to provide cryptocurrency services in the country meet the requirements necessary to obtain a license under the European Union-wide MiCA (Markets in Cryptoassets) regulation.
In 2024, Authorities required Binance to strengthen risk management and regulatory complianceparticularly in relation to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Measures required include increasing the number of specialized human resources and improving computer security systems.
ACPR typically gives companies several months to make the requested improvements after verification. Coinhouse is also one of the so-called Numerical Asset Service Providers (PSANs) under investigation.
Binance says that in-person inspections are part of normal supervisory procedures. He assured that he was cooperating with French authorities..
The results of these controls are sent to the Authority for the Financial Markets (AMF), the institution responsible for regulating stock market activities in France. Failure to comply with ACPR observations could lead to sanctions and even jeopardize obtaining a MiCA license, which allows companies to provide services across community blocks.
Companies must obtain this authorization by June 2026.
Until now, Only a few crypto companies are fully licensed in FranceThese include Deblock, GOin, Bitstack and CACEIS, a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Banque group.
This surveillance in France is part of a broader effort at the European level to regulate crypto services under the MiCA Regulation. As reported by CriptoNoticias, Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is also supervising virtual asset service providers (PSAVs), with more than 40 registrations approved to date.