United States-based companies are increasingly listing cryptocurrency-based investment products in Europe, with asset manager WisdomTree getting another listing for its crypto basket exchange-traded product (ETP). On Dec. 2, WisdomTree listed its Crypto Mega Cap Equal Weight ETP on Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam. Trading under the ticker symbol MEGA, the investment product is backed by physical crypto assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) with a quarterly rebalance. Launched in November 2021, MEGA was previously listed on Deutsche Boerse’s digital exchange Xetra and Swiss SIX exchange. Apart from MEGA, WisdomTree also launched two more crypto ETPs recently, including WisdomTree …

Global crypto exchange Binance is starting a 100 million euro ($115 million) initiative to develop the blockchain and crypto ecosystem in French and Europe, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced in a talk with French Minister Cédric O at the French Ministry of Finance in Paris. Binance is launching the new initiative, officially named Objective Moon, in partnership with the local financial technology association France FinTech. The association will help Binance connect and work with the local fintech sector, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph. According to the announcement, Objective Moon would see the development of a Binance Research and Development …

Le Bistrot d'Eleonore et Maxence, a restaurant in Paris, France joins the growing list of mainstream businesses to add Shiba Inu (SHIB) as a payment method. The information came to light from a video shared by a local resident and crypto investor Natheno Davy, which showed that the restaurant’s main entrance sported two new “Shiba Inu accepted here” stickers just above the other traditional payment options. Shiba accepted in a restaurant in PARIS Eleanor and Maxence 39 Avenue Duquesne 75007 -Paris France Shib will be the biggest regret as the bitcoin laggards were #ShibArmy #SHIB #shiba #ShibaSwap #crypto #ShibaCoin #Robinhood …

Concurrent to the United States finally launching its first Bitcoin (BTC) futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) Tuesday, France inches closer to a major Bitcoin-related ETF launch. Paris-based alternative investment firm Melanion Capital is preparing to launch its Bitcoin-linked ETF product already this Friday, the firm’s CEO Jad Comair announced to Cointelegraph on Monday. Called “Melanion BTC Equities Universe UCITS ETF,” the Bitcoin ETF will start trading on France’s primary stock exchange, Euronext Paris, at 7 am UTC. The product will be listed under the ticker symbol BTC FP, providing investors with Bitcoin exposure through a diversified basket of equities correlated to …

The central bank of France continues actively exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), completing a significant trial of a blockchain-based CBDC in the country’s debt market. Over 500 institutions in France have participated in a 10-month experiment testing a CBDC issued by Banque de France for government bond deals, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The CBDC trial was led by Belgium-based financial services firm Euroclear and used a system developed by American technology giant IBM. The CBDC test also involved the French public debt office alongside the central bank and a consortium of major financial companies operating in …

Following a $680-million funding round, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Sorare is looking to be an active player in bridging the gap between sports and digital entertainment. Now valued at $4.3 billion, Sorare told Cointelegraph that the company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its business with new hires and partnerships, as well as support community-led programs. Besides working with community-led football programs aimed at helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and backing underprivileged entrepreneurs in sports and gaming, Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia explained via email that the NFT unicorn would also support female representation in sports. He said: …

French stock market regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), continues monitoring the cryptocurrency market to warn investors about unauthorized crypto services. On Friday, AMF updated its web portals, identifying those that offer crypto and foreign exchange (forex) investments through unauthorized entities. The list included four websites related to cryptocurrency derivatives investments alongside 12 forex-related sites. According to the regulator, the listed entities have been offering investment products without being authorized to provide such services. To protect investors from potentially fraudulent investments, AMF and French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) regularly update the blacklist of unauthorized investment providers. Still, …

Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi, regarded as one of the game’s greatest players of all time, has reportedly made crypto fan tokens a part of the payment deal in his financial package with French club Paris Saint-Germain. The information comes from sources close to the matter, according to Reuters. Messi, 34, who had been at FC Barcelona since he was 13, this week signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), with an option to extend for a third year. His departure from Barcelona, with which he won four Champions League titles, was sealed after Spanish La Liga’s financial fair …

Paris-based derivatives fund manager Melanion Capital has launched a new, European Union-regulated fund that aims to track the price of Bitcoin (BTC) at a correlation of up to 90%. The fund is the first of its kind to be issued under the EU’s investment fund umbrella UCITS — an acronym for “undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities.” According to the European Commission’s data, UCITS-compliant funds account for roughly 75% of all collective investments by small investors in Europe. UCITS provides a framework for regulation at the European, rather than national, level and places exacting demands on fund managers. …

The government of France has proposed that the European Securities and Market Authority, or ESMA, should regulate digital currency activity across the European Union. If enacted, this would establish a single authority over the crypto sector across the trading bloc and would create uniform regulations across the union through ESMA, as suggested by the French securities regulator, Autorite des Marches Financiers, or AMF. The AMF’s proposal states: “Likewise, granting ESMA the power of direct supervision of public offers of crypto-assets in the EU (scrutiny of white papers) and of crypto-asset service providers would create obvious economies of scale for all …

For luxury brands, usual business and marketing practices work upside down. While other businesses aim to scale, optimize and become accessible — luxury brands are supposed to be a cold and beautiful dream, causing admiration and (rarely fulfilled) desires of ownership. Building a luxury brand takes generations of storytelling, and the skill of maintaining a fragile balance between making profits and remaining exclusive, one-of-a-kind perfection. This paradigm has shifted with the trends of the modern era, in which a successful business should be data-driven and community-driven. Digitalization aims to democratize everything from finance to art, and luxury brands need to …

Financial authorities in France and Singapore are actively exploring the cross-border applications of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In a joint announcement on Thursday, the Bank of France and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that they successfully completed a whole cross-border payment and settlement experiment using CBDCs and blockchain technology. The CBDC experiment was conducted with support and expertise from JPMorgan's digital currency-focused Onyx division on a permissioned, privacy-enabled blockchain based on the investment bank's Quorum blockchain infrastructure. As part of the experiment, the Bank of France and MAS simulated cross-border and cross-currency transactions for a Singapore dollar-based …