US Leads the Industry while France Accounts for Minor Part of Global ICO Market.

According to a report on ICOs, released by French financial markets regularly AMF (I Autorite des marches financiers), the initial coin offering industry in France represents a minor part of the global ICO market. The report was published today on Nov.14.

Since 2014, the global ICO market has accounted for 19.4 billion Euros($21.8 billion). Most of the market share has mainly been concentrated in 2017 and during the first three quarters of 2018 with 13.4 billion euros($15 billion) raised within this latter period especially because it experienced rapid growth since 2016.

Most of ICOs were carried out in the U.S whereas France has accounted for a small share of the market with 89 million euros($100 million) raised in 15 ICOs projects as per the AMF report. According to a survey, French ICOs amounted to 1.6 percent of global equity financing in the year 2017.

The AMF revealed that local ICO projects are planning to incorporate into other industries and expect to raise upto 180 million euros($202.8 million). Keeping internal market in picture, the AMF emphasized a crucial role in this type of fund raising as used by small companies in order to preserve the integrity of their capital.

In order to adopt effective anti money laundering(AML) requirements and to provide a due level of transparency, the financial regulator made a point that the industry needs appropriate regulation with respect to investor protection.

AMF appreciated the decision of the French ministry for the economy and finance which has approved the action plan for business growth and Transformation bill(PACTE) dedicated to ICOs in september this year, which is now being examined in parliament. In this context, the AMF still stated that the industry needs cooperation from other countries in order to regulate the market, given the cross-border character of the industry.

After one year of Unicorn program, which represented a supportive basis and an attempt to build a regulatory approach to all new fundraising activity based on cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology, this new report was released to avoid any foul play in the market.

The finance committee of the lower house of French parliament had proposed tax amendments that would equate taxes on crypto sales to those on information technologies, which reduced them from the current 36.2 percent to 30 percent starting from Jan. 1, 2019.

During the month of September, the AMF blacklisted 21 investment websites, including crypto-related websites which were offering “atypical investments.” In the first quarter of the month i.e on march, there was an addition of 15 other websites by the stock regulators to the blacklist thereby warning investors about high risks associated with online schemes which promises high return to lure the investors.