The France National Assembly has this week passed into law a bill that makes a provision for, among other things, life insurance providers to use the funds at their disposal to invest in cryptocurrencies. The law named Pacte law (Plan d’action pour la croissance et la transformation des entreprises, an Action plan for the growth and transformation of enterprises) was brought before the floor on Thursday, April 11th whereby it got a majority of the votes from the assemblymen.
The Pacte is designed to stimulate local business development through redirecting savings from individuals towards businesses as explained by local financial news outlet Les Échos. Insured parties will now have the option to purchase life insurance policies that are exposed to crypto funds, a first of its kind of product in any country.
However, a dual provision to the act only allows the insurers to invest in crypto through specialized professional funds, and through this dual provision, other professional capital investment funds will be able to invest in crypto as well.
Joel Giraud, deputy and budget manager of Emmanuel Macron’s party La République En Marche commented about the passing of the law and helped clarify some of the legal speak.
He said that “This was not the primary objective of the Pact, but insurers will be able to offer products based on crypto assets. They will be able to do so through specialized funds.”
The Pacte law also allows the insurance funds to invest in crypto sans any maximum or minimum limits.
One lawyer, Emilien Bernard-Alzias, a lawyer at Simmons & Simmons LLP, who spoke with tech-focused news media Trustnodes explained some of the implications of the Pacte as follows:
“With these two provisions, it is written in black and white that FPSs can invest in cryptos like bitcoin.” However, the law does not specifically mention blockchain. The closest reference to blockchain is that it states any “property” that is subject to “registration in a shared electronic recording device” will be considered as an asset that qualifies to be held by a specialized professional fund.
