Societe Generale Unit Gets France’s First Crypto License

Emily Nicolle, Bloomberg News

The Societe Generale SA bank headquarters in the La Defense business district of Paris, France, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. SocGen is scheduled to announce earnings on Feb. 8. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Societe Generale’s blockchain unit received the first license issued under France’s new crypto rules, ramping up the investment bank’s expansion into digital assets.

Societe Generale Forge was designated a digital asset service provider, or DASP, by France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers on Tuesday, according to the regulator’s website. The license will enable Forge to meet demand from institutional clients for digital assets, Forge Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Stenger said in a statement Wednesday.

The license allows Forge to act as custodian for digital assets, arrange the purchase and sale of digital assets using legal tender, trade digital assets for other digital assets and receive and transmit third-party orders for digital assets, the AMF’s website said.

France’s DASP regime is more complex than the registration process for crypto companies, which doesn’t go beyond the requirement that firms meet the country’s anti-money laundering rules.

Read more: Macron’s ‘Startup Nation’ Becomes a Haven for Battered Crypto

After the European Union passed its own Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, rules earlier this year, all crypto providers will be required to have obtained a full license from a member state to operate in the bloc by January 2025.

--With assistance from Anna Irrera.