The self-styled crypto hub won’t just copy and paste traditional finance norms, but Bruno Le Maire is also worried about energy consumption

France will review its crypto tax rules next year as it seeks to become the world’s leading blockchain hub – and won’t seek to simply replicate existing norms for stocks, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told local media in an interview published Monday.

Le Maire told BFM TV he was concerned about crypto’s energy consumption, and about the potential of blockchain technology to usurp the role of France’s fiat currency, the euro.

“We want to make the European Union the world’s leading economic zone for structuring and organizing the crypto market,” said Le Maire. “We want France to be the European hub of the crypto asset ecosystem.”

The EU has just agreed to its landmark Markets in Crypto Assets law (MiCA), which allows crypto companies to operate across the bloc if they meet investor-protection and stability norms.

In recent months, a string of companies such as Binance and crypto.com have registered with the French authorities under legislation which anticipates some of MiCA’s aims, but French lawmakers have protested the government is not doing enough to encourage Web3 entrepreneurs.