Chainalysis Reports Over 90% Tax Non-Compliance in French Crypto Market

According to a recent report by Chainalysis, France is facing a significant issue with tax non-compliance in the cryptocurrency sector, with estimates suggesting that over 90% of taxable activity goes unreported. The report anticipates that France's taxable cryptocurrency activity will reach approximately $9.4 billion by 2025, yet only €368 million was reported by taxpayers in the previous year.

Chainalysis categorized the estimated taxable crypto activity into three segments: capital gains at $2.5 billion, income from mining and staking at $1.7 billion, and payments, which constitute the largest portion at $5.2 billion. The stark contrast between these estimates and the actual declarations highlights a systemic underreporting issue, as noted by François Volpoet, Director of Chainalysis France.

This trend aligns with Chainalysis' global analysis, which predicts that only about 14% of potentially taxable on-chain activity, estimated at over $457 billion worldwide in 2025, will comply with emerging reporting frameworks.

New regulations are on the horizon, with the DAC8 directive set to take effect on January 1, 2026. This directive will require crypto service providers in EU member states to gather extensive user data and transaction records, with the first international data exchanges scheduled for September 30, 2027. Currently, France imposes a flat tax rate of 31.4% on net capital gains from digital asset disposals, with a small exemption for total disposals under €305.

However, significant enforcement gaps will persist even after DAC8 is implemented, particularly concerning self-custody wallets, decentralized finance protocols, and peer-to-peer transactions that do not involve centralized intermediaries.