The French Public Investment Bank Bpifrance has announced plans to accelerate its digital asset control strategy and to bind up to € 25 million to support French blockchain companies through direct investments in crypto -tokens.
The move marks a rare attempt by a fund -supported fund in decentralized financial markets and emphasizes the ambitions of France to transmit in emerging technologies.
The announcement was made on March 27 during a blockchain industry event in Paris, attended by Clara Chappaz, minister -representative for AI and digital matters.
Supported by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the program aims to strengthen the French blockchain ecosystem by focusing on projects with strong local ties, including decentralized finances, tokenization, deployment infrastructure, identity certification and blockchain-integrated AI applications.
Bpifrance has been an important proponent of the French blockchain landscape for almost a decade, with more than € 150 million deployed in more than 200 startups.
These include share interests in companies such as Acinq, DFNS, Flowdesk and Arianee, as well as investments in special digital actival funds managed by White Star Capital, Cygni Capital, Sparkle Ventures and Ledger Cathay.
For the first time, the bank tested crypto-assets activities in 2022 with small-scale token investments in French protocols Aleph.im and Morpho, so that it can develop internal possibilities for managing digital assets.
These pilot initiatives laid the foundation for current upscaling, which now includes active participation in decentralized financial markets and deeper involvement in Tokenized ecosystems.
The presence of France in the worldwide investment of digital assets is limited despite rapid international growth, with more than 1,000 crypto-oriented funds that manage more than € 2.7 trillion worldwide.
The move of BPifrance represents one of the first efforts supported by the government to invest directly in crypto tokens and start blockchain infrastructure of the next generation.
The new allocation of € 25 million will be deployed in addition to the existing BPIFRANCE innovation tools, including subsidies, loans and stock investments through its digital company, large company and French approach capital divisions.
The goal is to create a more robust and more competitive environment for French blockchain startups and to accelerate their ability to scale within the developing European regulatory framework.
