On 28 October 2025, Éric Ciotti, head of the centre-right Union of the Right and Centre (UDR) party, dropped the first full-on cryptocurrency bill in France’s National Assembly. It’s a proper shot across the bow: create a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, treat BTC like digital gold, and stack up to 420,000 BTC (2 % of total supply) over 7–8 years. At today’s price (~€114,000/BTC), that’s roughly €48 billion in value.
How It Works
- State-run vault: A new public body holds the BTC forever, just like France’s gold and forex reserves.
- No selling, ever: Pure hedge against inflation and euro wobbles.
- Inspired by the US: They’re using seized coins; France wants to mine and buy its own.
Where the Bitcoin Comes From
- Surplus nuclear power → state-run mining rigs. France dumps excess electricity cheap; this turns it into BTC instead. Builds on a July 2025 pilot to use 1 GW of spare juice.
- Seized crypto → straight to the reserve, no auctions.
- Daily buys → skim 25 % of inflows from Livret A and LDDS savings accounts. That’s €15 million a day, enough for ~55,000 BTC a year at current rates.
Reality check: With UDR holding just 16 of 577 seats, no vote scheduled, and green/ECB pushback looming, passage is unlikely but it still signals how nations are scrambling to avoid being left behind in sovereign Bitcoin adoption.
Bottom line: it’s ambitious, clever, and actually tabled. Whether it passes or not, France just put sovereign Bitcoin adoption on the EU table. If it sticks, expect Germany and Italy to eyeball their own stacks.