The French government has slashed the tax on Bitcoin and other crytpocurrencies from 45 percent to 19 percent.
The French State Council of taxation, the body that advises the government on legal matters and acts as the supreme court for administrative matters, declared that profits from cryptocurrency sales should be considered as capital gains of movable property.
The country's current capital gains tax rate is 19 percent.
In addition to this, 17.2 percent social contribution tax also will be levied on gains from crypto trading, France's Le Monde reported.
France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had recently touted the advent of a "blockchain revolution" in te country.
"The blockchain will offer new opportunities to our startups, for example with the Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) that will allow them to raise funds through tokens. It promises to create a network of trust without intermediaries, to offer increased traceability of transactions and, overall, to make the economy more efficient," he was quoted as saying loast month.
It was the High Administrative Court's order that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin be reclassified as property, that acted as a catalyst for lower taxation.
by Joji Xavier
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