France’s PACTE Digital Asset Service Provider regime was the national framework created by Law No. 2019-486 of 22 May 2019 for prestataires de services sur actifs numériques, commonly abbreviated PSAN in French and DASP in English. The regime was administered by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), with the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) involved in AML/CFT review. As of 6 July 2026, the regime should be treated as a repealed historical framework for service-provider authorisation: the French transition to the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ended on 1 July 2026, and MiCA authorisation is now the operative route for crypto-asset service providers in France.
PACTE DASP regime scope
Article 86 of the PACTE Law inserted a dedicated chapter into the Monetary and Financial Code for digital asset service providers. The original service perimeter covered custody of digital assets or access to digital assets for third parties, buying or selling digital assets for legal tender, exchanging digital assets for other digital assets, operating a digital asset trading platform, and ancillary activities such as order reception and transmission, portfolio management, advice, underwriting and placement of digital assets.
The regime sat alongside PACTE’s separate optional visa framework for token offerings. For this profile, the relevant subject is the intermediary framework for firms providing digital asset services in or into France, rather than the ICO visa itself.
Registration, optional licensing and supervisory checks
The PACTE framework used a two-tier design. Certain core services were subject to mandatory AMF registration before the provider could operate in France. The AMF described the mandatory registration perimeter as custody, buying or selling digital assets for legal tender, exchanging digital assets for other digital assets, and operating a digital asset trading platform. Registration checks included fit-and-proper review of managers and beneficial owners, and AML/CFT review for relevant services in coordination with the ACPR.
France also provided optional licensing for DASPs established in France. Licensed DASPs had to meet broader organisational, financial-resource and conduct requirements, including resilient IT systems, internal control, conflict-of-interest arrangements, complaint handling, client information, client agreements and service-specific requirements. This optional license did not create an EU passport under the national PACTE regime.
Enhanced registration and MiCA transition
The French framework evolved before it was replaced. The AMF updated its rules in 2023 to reflect an enhanced registration regime introduced by the DDADUE Law. Those changes applied from 1 January 2024 for new players seeking to provide the four services subject to mandatory registration and aligned parts of the DASP license with the forthcoming MiCA CASP authorisation pathway.
MiCA changed the legal baseline. The AMF stated that the harmonised EU framework would replace national frameworks from 30 December 2024 for providers not entitled to a transitional period. Existing French DASPs with simple registration, enhanced registration, optional licensing, or certain fifth-category services before 30 December 2024 could continue only for the French market during the transition, with the transition ending on 30 June 2026 and MiCA authorisation required from 1 July 2026.
Status and editorial treatment
For CryptoSlate taxonomy purposes, the PACTE DASP regime should be marked as Repealed. The status is supported by Ordonnance No. 2024-936, which abrogated the prior Monetary and Financial Code provisions for digital asset services with effect from 1 July 2026, and by the AMF’s statement that only MiCA-authorised CASPs could provide crypto-asset services in France from that date. The profile remains useful as a historical reference because PACTE shaped France’s pre-MiCA registration model and the transition path for registered or licensed DASPs.