France wants crypto exchanges to start acting like bouncers at the door of decentralized finance.
French authorities have proposed that centralized crypto platforms run checks on the DeFi protocols they connect customers to. Under the proposal, those platforms could also face liability for certain customer losses. The plan arrives as a suggested change to the European Union’s crypto rulebook.
What France is asking for
The proposal targets crypto asset service providers, or CASPs. That is the EU’s term for regulated, centralized businesses like exchanges and brokers that hold licenses to serve customers.
France’s idea is simple on paper. If a regulated platform routes you to a DeFi protocol, it should first examine that protocol. If something goes wrong in certain cases, the platform may share responsibility for the damage.
The consultations behind this push are being led by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s markets regulator, and the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), its banking and insurance supervisor.
The measures under consideration include mandatory due diligence on protocols, possible restrictions on which protocols platforms can offer, and liability for customer losses that stem from DeFi activity. None of the frameworks under discussion name specific tokens or protocols. The focus is structural, aimed at how platforms behave rather than at any single project.
How we got here
The backdrop is MiCA, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, formally known as Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. MiCA created a single licensing system for crypto service providers across the bloc.
France had its own regime before MiCA arrived. Firms registered there as digital asset service providers, or DASPs. Under MiCA’s transition rules, that French DASP regime runs out on July 1, 2026, after which firms need to operate under the EU framework.
MiCA, however, largely left DeFi alone. Fully decentralized services sit mostly outside its scope, and the regulation calls for further reports on the sector rather than writing detailed rules for it on day one.
French regulators have been circling the problem for a while. The AMF and ACPR started work on smart contract certification in 2024, and those efforts continued into 2025 alongside public consultations. The goal is to establish compliance standards for DeFi services that regulated firms might touch.
EU-level watchdogs have also weighed in. A January 2025 report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) examined DeFi risks. It flagged hacks, weaknesses around anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls, and gaps in consumer protection.
What this means for exchanges and users
The most direct impact would land on centralized platforms. Due diligence on a DeFi protocol means reviewing smart contract code, governance structures, admin key arrangements, and track records. Mandatory certification processes would add another layer of cost and paperwork. Platforms would have to decide whether offering DeFi access is worth the compliance bill.
Liability raises the stakes further. A platform that could be held responsible for certain customer losses has a strong incentive to offer fewer protocols, not more. The likely result is a smaller, more conservative menu of DeFi options inside regulated apps.
There is also a risk the rules push activity somewhere regulators cannot see. If centralized platforms pull back, some users and projects may head straight to fully decentralized interfaces or to offshore services outside EU jurisdiction.
For now, the key items to watch are the progress of the AMF and ACPR consultations, any formal EU response to France’s proposal, and the forthcoming MiCA-mandated reports on DeFi.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.