Éric Ciotti, leader of the French right-wing party Union des droites pour la République (UDR) and member of the National Assembly, officially submitted a shocking proposal to the French National Assembly on October 28. The proposal plans to position Bitcoin (BTC) as "digital gold" and recommends that the government gradually purchase approximately 420,000 Bitcoins over the next 7 to 8 years, accounting for about 2% of the total Bitcoin supply, in order to seize the leadership in the cryptocurrency field through national strategic reserves.
Core of the proposal: 420,000 Bitcoins in national reserve
The bill proposes the establishment of a dedicated "French Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Public Institution" to manage this digital asset. Purchases will be made gradually over seven to eight years, with the goal of making Bitcoin the "new gold" to combat inflation and the hegemony of the US dollar.
Funding sources: mining, confiscation, and national savings
To avoid squeezing out the fiscal budget, the proposal has designed multiple funding sources, including:
- Public mining: Leveraging France’s nuclear and hydroelectric surpluses for low-cost Bitcoin mining.
- Judicial Forfeiture: Preservation of Bitcoin seized in court proceedings.
- National Savings Grant: A quarter of the funds in popular savings accounts will be withdrawn to purchase €15 million worth of currency every day.
- Bitcoin Tax Payments: Allow taxpayers to pay their taxes in Bitcoin (subject to constitutional review).
In addition to the Bitcoin reserve strategy, the proposal also puts forward a series of crypto-friendly policies: first, it clearly opposes the digital euro, regards the EU CBDC as a threat to monetary sovereignty and privacy, and advocates legislative prohibition; in contrast, the proposal encourages euro stablecoins and supports European companies to issue euro-denominated stablecoins to replace the dominance of US dollar stablecoins; finally, the bill also believes that the registration of crypto companies should be simplified, transaction taxes should be reduced, and tax exemptions should be provided for miners.
