French fintech firm ID Distribution announced a joint venture with local real estate firm Groupe JRI, amining to tokenize various properties in Paris. According to a June 17 announcement, ID Distribution and Groupe JRI plan to jointly issue security tokens and a Frankfurt listed bond to acquire buildings in downtown Paris. The total amount of funds to be spent, 70 million euros (about $78.5 million) will be allocated to acquire five buildings which will be then leased. The use of security tokens is meant to strengthen the capital more so than could be achieved with traditional debt instruments. Furthermore, ID …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is rolling out Tezos (XTZ) staking rewards for users in the United Kingdom and three European countries. In an announcement on May 28, the exchange revealed that users in the U.K., France, Spain and the Netherlands are now eligible to earn interest on their XTZ holdings for depositing and holding the token on the exchange. According to Coinbase, since this feature was launched in the United States back in November, users have earned over $2 million in XTZ staking rewards. What is staking? In blockchains that use a Proof-of-Stake system, staking enables network participants to earn …

Per a May 20 announcement from Banque de France, France has become the first country to successfully trial a digital euro, operational on a blockchain, following a call for new technology to back such a development at the end of March The bank says it tested a sale of securities for central bank digital currency (CBDC) on May 14, signalling the beginning of more robust testing. Wholesale rather than retail CBDC Though the bank’s announcement did not go into great detail, it did indicate that the current pilot program is focusing on wholesale rather than retail uses for a digital …

French crypto startup Digycode has introduced support for Tezos (XTZ) purchases through its prepaid vouchers and gift cards. The integration is the product of a partnership between Digycode and the research and development team from Nomadic Labs — which contribute to maintaining Tezos’s core code. Digycode’s co-founder Christopher Villegas described Tezos as “one of the most promising” crypto projects, adding that the listing followed several months of consideration. XTZ for sale at 10,000 shops in France Starting Tuesday, French customers can now purchase Tezos from 10,000 tobacco shops, gas stations and mini-markets across the country in the form of coupons …

Crypto is a place where everything changes faster than in any other industry, and seeing as it was born in the age of the internet, this is quite fitting. Today, China is leading the global digital asset initiative. The train of innovations seems to go faster as the digital yuan (also referred to as DCEP) has fueled rapid development in the field of distributed ledger technology. Instead of wallowing in a swamp of regulatory uncertainty, the Chinese government shifted its attention to benefits. The Chinese have not wasted time, and despite being the country where the new coronavirus started and …

Russian authorities are not stopping their efforts to help Alexander Vinnik — an alleged fraudster who is accused of laundering as much as $4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) — to return to his homeland. In another attempt to extradite Vinnik, the Russian Embassy reportedly requested that France place the alleged former BTC-e operator under house arrest in Russia. The latest extradition request is reportedly driven by intensifying concerns over Vinnik’s health amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The news was reported by Russia’s pro-government publication RT on April 15, citing Alexey Meshkov, the Russian Ambassador in Paris. France purportedly ignored Russia’s request …

Lately, it seems that most major national banks are toying with the notion of a national digital currency. France is conducting tests of its own now, and it could pave the way for a digital euro. What will France’s experiments involve, and how will they affect the crypto ecosystem? Here’s what is known so far. According to a document it published on March 30, the Bank of France is on the hunt for a central bank digital currency that can ease interbank settlements. To find one, the institution has called on Europe’s finest, inviting applicants — institutional or otherwise — …

Australian blockchain firm Power Ledger and French green energy retailer ekWateur are betting that consumer choice can help spur the transition to sustainable energy usage. In an announcement on April 1, the two firms revealed that they will be offering almost a quarter of a million French residents the opportunity to customize their energy mix, using blockchain technology to securely certify its source. Green choices The new partnership will involve connecting ekWakteur’s network of over 220,000 electricity meters across France to a new blockchain-enabled tool from Power Ledger, dubbed Vision. EkWakteur — a green energy retailer and aggregator which supplies …

French international soccer striker Kylian Mbappé filed a complaint on March 31 for the unauthorized use of his name on a cryptocurrency scam network, which is being investigated by local authorities. According to the newspaper L’Équipe, the soccer player, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, is being impersonated to use his name in advertising campaigns for the alleged scam that involves a cryptocurrency acquisition scheme. These advertising posts cited false statements by Mbappé, where he allegedly claimed that the formula offered by the network was miraculous and that people could become a millionaire in two or three months. Fake advertising articles …

Security token offering (STO) platform, Blockpulse, has obtained registration with the ACPR Bank of France. Blockpulse “registered at ACPR Banque de France with its partner, Lemonway, the leading European digital payment solution for investment platforms,” Blockpulse COO Marien Irzykiewicz told Cointelegraph. The company also alleges that the outfit is the first STO platform to achieve registration with the french entity. Confirmation of their registration is available on the ACPR Bank of France registry. STOs are a more regulated approach than ICOs Initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have largely died off as a fundraising method since their 2017 boom — the …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Bitcoin price drops to $3,637, rebounds above $5,200 within minutes Whenever there’s a big crash on the stock market, traders on Wall Street are often pictured with their heads in their hands — surrounded by a sea of screens with red numbers. This week, it was crypto’s turn. Bitcoin prices had been relatively stable in …

The Commercial Court of Nanterre’s Feb. 26 ruling that Bitcoin (BTC) is a fungible, intangible asset sent some ripples through the French crypto community, and beyond. This may seem surprising, given that this was a lower court decision and, moreover, one that did not declare BTC a currency or fiat money — as some news stories reported — but just a fungible asset like money. The ruling is “an important milestone for further development of the crypto market, particularly in France,” Roman Matkovskyy — associate professor at the Rennes School of Business — told Cointelegraph. “The French court’s characterization of …