Stablecoin balances held in French self-custody wallets grew 192% between June 2025 and June 2026, while French bank deposits rose 2% over the same period, according to the Western Europe chapter of the Chainalysis 2026 Geography of Crypto report, published on Monday 9 November. The blockchain analytics firm also ranks France first among the region’s largest crypto markets for the share of stablecoins in withdrawals from centralised exchanges, at 54.2%. In 2023, France was tenth.
The numbers describe a small but fast-moving group. Chainalysis counted 12,255 French personal wallets holding stablecoins in June 2026, against 3,577 a year earlier. It gives growth rates for the balances in those wallets, not their total value in euros or dollars.
The report places the French data under a heading about fiscal pressure, and it links the timing of the wallet growth to stress in the French bond market. It also says its data cannot establish direct links between the two, and that the trend does not point to a wider loss of trust in the single currency.
French stablecoin self-custody: three signals in the Chainalysis data
Chainalysis lists three signs that French users may be moving toward self-custodied stablecoins. The first is the share of stablecoins in what leaves exchanges. Stablecoin-related withdrawals made up 54.2% of French withdrawals from centralised platforms in the 2026 period, which runs from July 2025 to June 2026. That put France ahead of Germany on this measure.
The value sent from exchanges to France also rose faster than elsewhere: up 12%, compared with 7% for the rest of Western Europe. Chainalysis reads this as a sign of growing user control over crypto assets in the country, since funds that leave an exchange can sit in a personal wallet or move on elsewhere on-chain.
The second signal is the number of wallets. French personal wallets holding stablecoins rose in every month of the period, from 3,577 to 12,255, a 3.4-fold increase. Across the rest of Western Europe, the count grew 1.7-fold.
The third is the balances themselves, up 192%. Chainalysis writes that the sum is “still small next to traditional savings”, but that the pace stands out. For readers new to the idea, self-custody means the user holds the private keys of the wallet, rather than leaving the coins with a platform that can freeze or close the account.
Wallet growth peaked after the autumn 2025 bond stress
The month-by-month pattern is the part of the chapter that ties the French data to the bond market. According to Chainalysis, the number of French wallets holding stablecoins grew by about 6% a month in mid-2025. That rate reached 18% by the end of 2025, after what the report calls an autumn bout of bond market stress. It then slowed to 5% a month by June 2026 as markets calmed.
Chainalysis describes France as a focal point of Europe’s public finance worries, citing rising debt, a fragmented parliament, protests over austerity and the cost of living, and governments struggling to pass budgets. It notes that the yield on French 10-year government bonds climbed above 5.14% in October 2026, the highest level in more than 20 years.
That October spike falls outside the data. The reporting window closed in June 2026, so the chapter cannot say whether the latest turmoil pushed more French users toward self-custody, and Chainalysis says so itself. The same goes for later French events such as the rejected 2027 budget, whose proposed tax on stablecoin swaps fell with it, as we reported on 17 October, and Binance’s decision to close French and Italian accounts on 31 December.
François Volpoët, general manager of Chainalysis in France, told Cryptoast that the amounts remain modest compared with traditional savings, but that more and more French people seem to be choosing to hold and manage their funds directly, in a climate of fiscal uncertainty. Cryptoast, which reported the French figures on 10 November, also points out that the wallet count covers only addresses Chainalysis clearly attributes to French residents, so the real number is probably higher.
On the meaning of the trend, the report is cautious. “This by no means signals a broader loss of confidence in the euro or regional crypto markets,” it says, adding that French users may instead be diversifying how they hold and access their money.
Western Europe’s crypto economy reached $2.08 trillion, second in the world
The French figures sit inside a regional picture of slow growth. Between July 2025 and June 2026, Western Europe’s all-in crypto economy totalled $2.08 trillion. That makes it the second-largest region worldwide. Activity grew 1.2%, which made Western Europe one of only three regions in growth over the period, after Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The Sub-Saharan Africa chapter, published on 29 October, put that region’s growth at 13.4%.
Six countries account for roughly two-thirds of the regional total.
| Country | Crypto economy (Jul 2025 to Jun 2026) | Trend given by Chainalysis |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $424.5 billion | Down 8%, mainly lower DEX activity |
| Germany | $288.8 billion | Modest contraction, lower DEX activity |
| France | $215.8 billion | Broadly flat |
| Netherlands | $207.8 billion | No trend given |
| Spain | $156.1 billion | Growth, driven by centralised exchanges |
| Switzerland | $132.8 billion | Growth, driven by centralised exchanges |
The United Kingdom remains the largest market, at about 20% of the region, but it shrank 8% while the rest of Western Europe grew 3.8% and the European Union 2.2%. Chainalysis suggests two possible reasons, without claiming proof. The final July 2026 MiCA transition deadline may have spurred a last push for authorisation among EU providers, and a licence lets them passport services across the bloc. UK users and firms, on the other hand, may have been waiting for the Financial Conduct Authority to finalise its rules and open its authorisation gateway in September.
Stablecoin holdings rose 131% in the region, against 52% worldwide
France is not an isolated case. Stablecoin holdings in personal wallets rose in every Western European country Chainalysis measured, by 131% for the region as a whole, against 52% globally. Western Europe’s share of global stablecoin balances went from 3.4% to 5.1%. Austria and France recorded the strongest gains in 2026, although the chapter gives no separate figure for Austria. Our beginner guide to stablecoins explains how these tokens hold their peg.
Among possible drivers, the report names interest in other ways to store and move value, and the growth of euro-backed stablecoins authorised under MiCA. It does not break the balances down by token, so it is not possible to tell from the chapter how much of the French growth is in dollar or euro coins.
The euro’s place in crypto trading is rising too. By the end of the period, euro-denominated trading was 11.8% of crypto volume across the 33 main government currencies, according to Chainalysis. The firm compares this with a benchmark of 14.5%, half of the euro’s 28.9% share of global foreign exchange turnover reported by the Bank for International Settlements for April 2025. The growth coincides with MiCA taking effect, which Chainalysis again says it cannot prove is the cause. Our guide to the MiCA regulation covers what the rules require of issuers.
The chapter also recalls that in September 2026 the European Central Bank and EU national central banks called for changes to MiCA’s reserve rules. Under those rules, issuers keep at least 30% of reserves in deposits at European banks, or 60% for significant issuers, which the central banks see as a risk for those banks if a wave of redemptions hit.
Bond yields and euro trading in bitcoin and tokenised gold
A separate test in the report looks at the whole euro area rather than France. Using weekly data from July 2025 to June 2026, Chainalysis compared the yields of the highest-rated euro-area government bonds with US Treasury yields. When euro yields rose about 2 basis points relative to US yields, euro-denominated trading in bitcoin and tokenised gold ran about 7.5% higher relative to dollar trading. At about 7 basis points, the gap was about 12%. When euro yields fell relative to US yields, euro trading was 8% to 10% lower.
Chainalysis offers one reading: traders may be adding bitcoin and tokenised gold to their portfolios as confidence in euro-area public finances weakens. It presents this as a pattern in the data, not a proven cause.
UK and Italian holders are also switching more crypto into stablecoins
Other countries show a different use of stablecoins. In the UK, domestic stablecoin transfers between UK wallets reached $2.09 billion in the 2026 period, up from $109 million in the previous 12 months, more than the $1.41 billion recorded by the rest of Western Europe combined. The Bank of England published draft rules for systemic stablecoins in June 2026 and has proposed a £20,000 per-coin holding limit for individuals in systemic sterling stablecoins.
Chainalysis also measured the share of eligible retail wallets that converted at least 80% of their crypto into stablecoins. The UK led at 1.03%, up from 0.66% a year earlier, ahead of the Netherlands (0.54%), Italy (0.52%), Finland (0.46%), Sweden (0.38%) and Germany (0.20%). The rate rose in all six markets. Italy’s grew 2.5 times and Germany’s 2.3 times, against 1.6 times in the UK. UK conversions peaked between July and September 2025, before bitcoin’s October high, which Chainalysis reads as a gradual change in habits rather than a reaction to the sell-off.
Italy and Portugal are the two biggest sources of money flowing into Spain-registered exchanges, and both sped up sharply. Growth in flows from Italy accelerated from 22% a year earlier to 329% in the 2026 period, according to Chainalysis, and from Portugal from 36% to 751%. Gabriel Ayala of Bit2Me, quoted in the report, attributes part of this to the Italian market itself: “In Italy, regulatory complexity and sector fragmentation have historically made it difficult to consolidate certain operators.”
What the report leaves open
Several questions remain after the French chapter. Chainalysis gives no absolute value for French self-custodied stablecoins, so the 192% applies to a base readers cannot see. It does not say which stablecoins those wallets hold. It covers a period that ends four months before the October bond spike. And the wallet count rests on the addresses Chainalysis can attribute to France.
Chainalysis is publishing its 2026 Geography of Crypto report region by region, with the full report still to come. Any reading of how French users reacted to the October bond stress will need data that runs past June 2026.