AMF Adds 64 Unauthorised Crypto Sites to France's Blacklist in 2026
France's Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has published its third-quarter 2026 update to the national blacklist of unlicensed crypto platforms, bringing the total number of names added so far this year to 64. If you've traded, staked, or simply held funds on any of those sites, the implications go well beyond losing money. They reach straight into your tax position, your ability to calculate crypto taxes accurately, and your obligations under French anti-money-laundering rules. Here's what you need to know.
What the AMF Actually Published
The AMF is France's independent public authority responsible for protecting retail investors, ensuring the quality of financial disclosures, and supervising market participants. Under France's transposition of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework (MiCA) and the domestic PSCA (Prestataire de Services sur Crypto-Actifs) licensing regime, any entity offering crypto asset services to French residents must be registered with the AMF.
The Q3 2026 alert lists newly identified websites that have been caught offering crypto assets or related services in France without that registration. The AMF is explicit that the blacklist is updated frequently but is not exhaustive: new unlicensed or outright fraudulent operators appear constantly, so a site's absence from the list is not a clean bill of health.
How the blacklist works in practice
The AMF maintains two publicly accessible resources. The first is a blacklist of unauthorised sites, available through the "Espace Épargnants" section of amf-france.org and through the Assurance Banque Épargne Infoservice (ABEIS) portal under its fraud-prevention section. The second is a whitelist of properly registered PSCAs, also on the AMF site. If a platform you use does not appear on the whitelist, it should not be handling your money or your crypto.
The regulator also runs a dedicated helpline: 01 53 45 62 00, available Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 12:30, at the cost of a local call. The AMF Protect Épargne tool is a further resource for checking whether a specific operator is legitimate.
Why 64 in One Year Is Significant
Sixty-four additions in under nine months is a high volume for a single jurisdiction. It signals that unlicensed crypto services targeting French residents are not a marginal problem. The pattern fits a broader European picture: as MiCA raises the regulatory bar, some operators who cannot or will not meet licensing requirements continue to solicit retail clients through websites that look legitimate but carry no regulatory oversight.
The profile of a typical blacklisted site
While the AMF does not publish detailed profiles of each blacklisted entity in its quarterly notices, the categories it monitors span spot trading platforms, yield or staking products, crypto-asset portfolio management services, and investment schemes that use crypto as the underlying asset. Some are outright scams; others may be genuine businesses operating in a legal grey zone without having secured the required French registration.
The distinction matters less than you might think from a consumer perspective. Whether a platform is fraudulent or merely unlicensed, the consequences for you are materially the same: no investor protection, no deposit guarantee, no recourse through French dispute mechanisms, and serious complications for your crypto tax records.
The Tax and Accounting Consequences You May Not Have Considered
Most commentary on AMF blacklists focuses on fraud risk, and rightly so. But there's a layer that gets far less attention: what using an unlicensed platform does to your tax position.
Record-keeping gaps that make calculating crypto taxes very difficult
French residents are taxed on gains from the sale of crypto assets under the flat-rate Prélèvement Forfaitaire Unique (PFU) regime, currently set at 30% (including social charges), with an option to elect progressive income tax rates if that produces a lower bill. Calculating the taxable gain correctly requires knowing your acquisition cost for every unit of crypto you sell, the exact date of each transaction, and any allowable costs.
Unlicensed platforms often provide poor or no transaction history exports. If the platform disappears, those records disappear with it. Without them, you cannot run a meaningful crypto tax calculation, and the French tax authority (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, DGFiP) may impose a flat assessment based on presumed gains rather than real ones. That is almost always worse than your actual liability.
Loss deductibility and fraud
If you lose funds on an unlicensed platform, whether through fraud or simply because the site closes, the tax treatment of that loss is genuinely uncertain under current French rules. Gains from crypto sales are assessable; losses from outright theft or fraud sit in a different legal category, and the DGFiP has not issued blanket guidance permitting their deduction against taxable crypto gains. You may find yourself unable to offset a real financial loss against a real tax liability, leaving you worse off in two directions at once.
AML exposure for individual filers
Using an unlicensed PSCA also creates anti-money-laundering risk, even for entirely innocent investors. Licensed PSCAs are required to perform know-your-customer (KYC) checks and report suspicious transactions to TRACFIN, France's financial intelligence unit. Unlicensed platforms do none of that. If funds ever flow between an unlicensed platform and your French bank account, the bank's own AML monitoring may flag the transaction, triggering requests for documentation that an unlicensed platform simply cannot provide.
How to Check Whether Your Platform Is Licensed
The process is straightforward. Visit the AMF's official PSCA register at amf-france.org and search for the entity by name. A properly registered provider will appear there. If it does not, do not use it, no matter how professional the website looks or how attractive the advertised returns are.
What to do if you've already used a blacklisted site
If you discover that a platform you've used appears on the AMF blacklist, the steps below are worth working through promptly.
First, download every transaction record you can access while the site is still live. Screenshots, CSV exports, emails confirming trades, even browser history can all help reconstruct your position. Second, calculate your crypto tax position using whatever records you have, noting clearly any gaps. Third, consider reporting the platform to the AMF directly through the AMF Protect Épargne portal. Fourth, speak to a tax adviser familiar with French crypto rules before filing, especially if you've suffered losses or if the amounts involved are material.
The AMF's blacklist history and France's proposed crypto wallet disclosure rules are part of a consistent regulatory trend: French authorities are building a much more detailed picture of who holds what, and where. Using unlicensed platforms increasingly puts you on the wrong side of that picture.
The Broader French Regulatory Context
This Q3 blacklist update does not sit in isolation. France has been one of the more active EU member states in shaping crypto regulation at both the domestic and European level. The AMF was among the first national regulators to establish a voluntary PSCA registration regime ahead of MiCA's mandatory framework, and it has consistently used public blacklisting as a consumer protection tool alongside formal enforcement.
Earlier in 2026, proposals emerged to require disclosure of crypto wallets holding above certain thresholds, generating significant debate about the scope of French reporting obligations. France's stablecoin tax proposal added another layer of complexity for holders of euro-denominated stable assets. Taken together, these developments point to a French regulatory environment where the cost of non-compliance, whether through unlicensed platforms or undisclosed holdings, is rising steadily.
For individual investors trying to stay on the right side of both the AMF and the DGFiP, the practical message is consistent: licensed platforms generate the transaction data you need to file an accurate crypto tax report, and unlicensed ones very often don't.
Practical Steps for French Crypto Holders
Before you trade
Check the AMF PSCA register. This takes about 60 seconds and removes the single biggest source of preventable risk. If the platform isn't there, find one that is.
During the tax year
Keep a running record of every transaction: date, asset, quantity, EUR equivalent at the time of the trade, and the platform used. The DGFiP uses a specific portfolio valuation method under French law, and the numbers need to be exact. A crypto capital gains calculator can help, but only if it has complete, accurate input data to work from. Incomplete data from an unlicensed platform undermines the calculation from the start.
At filing time
French crypto gains are reported on the annual income tax declaration, typically on Formulaire 2086, which covers the overall portfolio gain or loss calculation. If any of your trading history involves a platform now on the AMF blacklist, flag this clearly in your records and, if the amounts are significant, take advice before submitting. Filing on the basis of incomplete records, even involuntarily, can complicate things if the DGFiP later queries your return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does being on the AMF blacklist mean a platform is definitely a scam?
Not necessarily. The blacklist covers both outright fraud and platforms that are operating without the required French licence. Some may be genuine businesses that simply haven't registered. Either way, they offer you no regulatory protection, and you should not use them.
Can I deduct losses from an unlicensed platform on my French crypto tax return?
French tax law on crypto losses, particularly those arising from fraud or platform failure, is not fully settled. The DGFiP has not issued a general ruling permitting deduction of fraud losses against crypto gains. You should take specific advice from a French tax professional before attempting to claim any such deduction.
How do I calculate crypto taxes if I've lost transaction records from a closed platform?
Start with whatever you can recover: emails, bank statements showing fiat deposits and withdrawals, blockchain explorer data for on-chain transactions. From there, a tax adviser can help you construct the most defensible version of your cost basis. Partial records are better than none, and a transparent disclosure to the DGFiP of any gaps is generally preferable to an incomplete return that looks complete.
Is the AMF blacklist the same as MiCA's EU-level register?
No. The AMF blacklist is a national French tool. MiCA creates an EU-wide passport for crypto-asset service providers, but full MiCA authorisation is being phased in across member states. During the transition, national registers like the AMF's PSCA list remain the primary reference for French residents. Always check the AMF register specifically.
If I used a blacklisted platform but made gains, do I still owe tax?
Yes. The legality of the platform does not change your personal tax obligation on gains you made. French tax law taxes the economic gain from disposing of crypto assets regardless of where or how the trade took place. Gains are gains in the eyes of the DGFiP.