Binance Will Always Have Paris

Amid our reporting on developments from Binance Blockchain Week in Paris, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called on France to be the hub for crypto in Europe.

How is France leading the way in the blockchain space?

Some viewpoints on that topic were expressed during a Binance Blockchain Week panel discussion, led by former French parliament member Pierre Person, France FinTech Founding Chairman Alain Clot, and Adan President Faustine Fleuret.

The panelists said they are extremely bullish about the blockchain space as a whole. Person kickstarted the conversation by talking about his early days when blockchain wasn’t too popular. He said:

“I discovered blockchain in 2013, I kind of knew that it will change the world and it did. So, I decided to work with regulators to build a framework in Europe about crypto assets. Now there are a lot of regulations all over the world but back then we were the only ones.”

Fleuret noted that if France is to lead the blockchain ecosystem, there is much work to be done. Toward that end, Adan is a professional organization with the goal of representing all the crypto proponents that will help build the Web3 industry in France.

Clot said that the blockchain industry is a sustainable one in France and across the whole of Europe when seen from a global perspective. He said that France already has a great pool for talent, and the fintech ecosystem in France is the second-largest in Europe according to nearly all metrics.

There are around 40,000 crypto jobs in France, and in this year alone 12,000 were created, he said.

Anti-Crypto Establishment

Despite the optimism for crypto in France, the country and continent have plenty of naysayers, including some in high places.

For example, European Parliament member Assita Kanko of Belgium has said she isn’t “anti-crypto,” while focusing on the potential criminal misuses of cryptocurrency and proposing legislation that industry leaders say would harm privacy and innovation.

In an interview with Euractiv, she said she had been the subject of racist, sexist and violent messages in response to her stance on crypto.

She said, “Crypto is not necessarily bad. People are free to use whatever they want, but some bad people use anonymity to do bad things. We want to protect society against that and also increase trust in the crypto world.”

Other politicians argued that the financial transactions between banks can be traced, but no one knows who is behind the crypto assets. According to them, there need to be more rules in place.

Despite hurdles that the entire crypto sector faces in the form of legislation and skepticism, France seems well-positioned in terms of infrastructure and regulations to become the leader of the blockchain space in Europe.