French state bank Bpifrance builds fund to buy cryptocurrencies

By Elizabeth Howcroft

PARIS (Reuters) - France's state-owned investment bank, Bpifrance, plans to spend up to 25 million euros ($26.95 million) on little-known cryptocurrencies in a bid to support France's crypto businesses, it said on Thursday.

The bank has previously spent 150 million euros on investments in blockchain-related projects, including "limited amounts" of investments in cryptocurrencies, but this is the first time it has created a fund specifically to buy cryptocurrencies directly.

Instead of purchasing large cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the fund will be targeted towards buying smaller newly-created tokens issued by French projects, before they are listed on crypto exchanges, said Arnaud Caudoux, deputy CEO of Bpifrance.

"The U.S. is really accelerating its own crypto strategy so this is all the more important," Caudoux said, adding that Bpifrance's move into crypto started before the pro-crypto shift in the United States.

Bpifrance could also help token projects get listed on exchanges, Caudoux added.

"Bpifrance's initiative is a strong signal of our determination to make France a country of excellence for these technologies," said Clara Chappaz, France's Minister Delegate in charge of AI and Digital.

There has been a revival of interest in cryptocurrencies since U.S. President Donald Trump's election win in November. Trump has expressed support for the industry, sought to overhaul policies and even launched his own crypto products.

European finance ministers, however, are concerned that the U.S. embrace of cryptocurrencies could affect euro zone monetary sovereignty and financial stability.

Caudoux said that U.S. policies were attracting crypto companies to move there.

"We have great engineers and great companies in Europe, including in the UK obviously, and we want to keep those companies here because we strongly believe that it is very important in the future to have our own ecosystem," Caudoux said.

The European Union in 2023 introduced the world's first set of comprehensive crypto regulations, requiring crypto companies to be authorised by the EU to serve customers in the bloc.

Bpifrance is jointly owned by the French state and the country's public lender, CDC, and invests money to serve French public policy objectives.

France's finance minister last week announced that Bpifrance would launch a 450 million euro defence-focused fund.

($1 = 0.9278 euros)

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Kirsten Donovan)