France has called for accountability from cryptocurrency platforms that connect customers to DeFi protocols.

On Oct. 21, local time, blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported that the French Treasury, the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF), the central bank and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) included the proposal in a joint opinion submitted for review of amendments to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules.

The French authorities said crypto-asset service providers (CASP) should be held responsible for certain incidents if they actively support customers’ access to DeFi. MiCA currently excludes crypto services provided in a fully decentralised manner without intermediaries. The authorities said that when a regulated platform connects DeFi with users, the platform’s investor protection obligations should be strengthened.

They proposed requiring platforms to carry out mandatory verification before connecting to a DeFi protocol and to monitor suspicious activity afterwards. They also voiced support for certification of protocols and smart contracts.

They did not take an approach of fully excluding uncertified protocols. The French authorities said platforms could connect customers to uncertified protocols if they conduct their own due diligence and provide enhanced risk disclosures. The proposal was seen as aiming to tighten rules without fully blocking market access.

On non-custodial or self-custodial wallets, they opposed imposing uniform certification requirements across developers. Instead, they preferred applying voluntary certification to advanced wallets that integrate DeFi services.

France also renewed calls to shift supervisory authority over CASP from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). It also said the current threshold for key operators, an EU daily average of 15,000,000 active users, should be lowered, and that assets under custody, business risk and the complexity of group structures should also be taken into account. It said user numbers alone make it difficult to sufficiently reflect market influence.

The submission also included a call to overhaul the stablecoin regulatory framework. The authorities said the asset-referenced token (ART) category should be reviewed and proposed adjusting the e-money token (EMT) framework so it can encompass stablecoins based on multiple currencies.

The opinion came as the European Commission reviews whether MiCA needs to be revised in line with changes in the crypto market. The commission is gathering views on activities such as DeFi that fall outside existing law, and the results are expected to be reflected in a report to be submitted to EU lawmakers by June 30, 2027.