French Court Moves the BTC Chess Piece — How Will Regulators Respond?

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 Bitcoin as financial instrument could be an important development in the legitimization of the cryptocurrency,” added John Wagster, an attorney at Frost Brown Todd LLC, in a statement to Cointelegraph, “but the real significance of the ruling will be determined by if and how it is incorporated into France’s regulatory regime.” Wagster added…