Bpifrance to Invest 25 Million Euros ($27 Million) in Digital Currencies

Bpifrance, the state-owned bank of France, has revealed intentions to invest 25 million euros ($27 million) in digital currencies.

Bpifrance, the state-owned bank of France, will invest up to 25 million euros ($27 million) in digital currencies.

The move will see the bank put the money into existing blockchain initiatives in France, in exchange for which Bpifrance will obtain tokens from the startups. The bank will focus on decentralized finance (DeFi), staking, Web3, tokenization and artificial intelligence.

The French Ministry of Economy and Finance is supportive of the initiative. Bpifrance aims to highlight innovative blockchain technologies and increase France’s presence in this emerging sector. While blockchain is rapidly developing worldwide, the bank noted that French investments in the field are still limited.

France’s Role in the Crypto Industry

Both public and private funding are crucial to ensuring France’s competitiveness in the global market, said France’s digital and artificial intelligence minister, Clara Chappaz.

Bpifrance Deputy CEO Arnaud Caudoux shared similar sentiments. He believes blockchain companies will play an increasingly vital role in the economy and that France needs to strengthen its position.

“The US is really accelerating its own crypto strategy, so this is all the more important,” Caudoux said at a press conference, according to a report by Reuters. He also mentioned that Bpifrance started investing in crypto even before the United States launched its latest initiatives in the sector.

Over the past ten years, Bpifrance has been actively involved in investments within the blockchain industry. To date, the bank has contributed more than 150 million euros ($162 million) to various projects.

Among its early investments was in Ledger, a French company that makes crypto hardware wallets. The bank helped fund Ledger in 2014.

In 2022, Bpifrance began testing token-based investments on a smaller scale. One of its first deals was with Morpho, a decentralized finance lending platform.

Morpho has since become one of the largest DeFi protocols, with a total locked value of $3.24 billion, according to crypto analytics firm DefiLlama.

Crypto Investments on the Rise

Bpifrance’s approach reflects a broader trend in the crypto industry, with more venture capital firms investing in blockchain projects through tokens.

Crypto venture capital deals are expected to reach $18 billion by 2025, up from $13.6 billion in 2024.

When crypto projects launch tokens, they usually allocate a portion to investors with lock-up periods that prevent them from being sold immediately. Another part of the token allocation goes towards the creation of a public token to be sold to generate liquidity.

If users sell the tokens too quickly, it can affect the token price, which in turn influences the valuation of the crypto project.