France’s Cryptocurrency, Should Not Directly Regulate

France’s “Monsieur Bitcoin” Jean-Pierre Landau reveal  an initial report into cryptocurrency July 5, claiming it had been “neither desirable nor necessary” to control the technology.

Government official and academic Landau consciously compares “technological” and “financial” innovation in the report, that runs to over 100 pages. Some of the conclusions could come back as a surprise to industry commentators, Landau arguing that over-regulation of cryptocurrency would constitute a “three-pronged danger.”

“Direct regulation isn't desirable because it would oblige us to define, classify and thus constrict objects that are essentially fluid and still unidentified,” he wrote in a outline section on cryptocurrency. The report continues:

“The danger is three-pronged: that of freezing the rapid evolution of technology in legislation, that of failing to grasp the real nature of the object we intend to regulate and that of pushing innovation towards regulatory avoidance. On the contrary, regulation should be technologically neutral, and in order to become so, address the actors and not the products themselves.”

Elsewhere, Landau advocates “minimal principles of transparency, integrity and robustness” for cryptocurrency exchanges, one thing that European lawmakers are reportedly considering as part of what's referred to as a ‘Euro-Bitlicense.

The report further contains many instances where financial and technological innovation are differentiated, Landau adopting a cautious tone.

“We should dissociate technological innovation –– which we should encourage and stimulate –– from monetary and financial innovation, that ought to be considered with care,” he wrote, continuing:

“In the current phase, the correct approach would be to let cryptocurrencies - and the innovations they bring - develop in the virtual realm that they occupy, but in parallel we need to avoid and confine any contagion.”

Landau received a cold reception when he became head of a governmental cryptocurrency working unit in january due to previously likening Bitcoin (BTC) to the 17th c. tulip Mania.