Larchevêque Criticizes the Tax Amendment

Eric Larchevêque, co-founder and former CEO of Ledger, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hardware crypto wallets, has sharply criticized the French tax initiative known as Amendment 1649AC and called on the crypto community to adopt forms of “civil resistance.”

The Essence of Amendment 1649AC

The French Amendment 1649AC requires French tax residents to declare the market value of all crypto assets held in self-custody (non-custodial), including hardware wallets and personal addresses, even if no taxable transactions are carried out with these assets – such as sales, exchanges, or income generation.

Critics of the initiative note that the rule:

• effectively equates ownership of crypto assets with a taxable event;
• creates serious administrative and technical difficulties, since the market valuation of many tokens can be unstable or subjective;
  
  
• undermines the very principle of self-custody, which is considered one of the key elements of financial sovereignty for cryptocurrency users.

Eric Larchevêque’s Position

Commenting on the amendment, Larchevêque called it legally questionable and technologically inadequate, emphasizing that the state is attempting to regulate something that cannot be properly controlled without destroying the foundations of the crypto ecosystem. According to him, the requirement to declare a hypothetical market value of assets that do not generate income and may be illiquid opens the door to arbitrary interpretations and abuses.

“Civil Disobedience” as a Form of Protest

As a symbolic and practical response, Larchevêque proposed the idea of mass civil disobedience. He put forward the concept of creating a special protest token called 1649AC, which would:

• have no real economic value or liquidity;
• formally be able to display an artificially inflated market value, up to billions of euros;
  
• be held in self-custody by users.

According to the idea, if thousands or tens of thousands of French users declare ownership of such assets with astronomical nominal values, this would overload the tax administration system, render asset valuation absurd, and demonstrate the impracticability of the amendment in real-world conditions.

Crypto community reaction

Larchevêque’s idea quickly gained wide resonance within the crypto community, both in France and beyond. Many market participants perceived the initiative not so much as a literal call to action, but rather as a political and ideological gesture pointing to the conflict between state regulation and the principles of decentralization.

On social media and specialized forums, the 1649AC token is already being described as:

• a symbol of resistance to excessive regulation;
• a warning to lawmakers about the risks of adopting technologically illiterate rules;
• a reflection of the growing tension between the traditional fiscal system and the crypto economy.

Broader Context

The situation surrounding Amendment 1649AC fits into a broader European trend toward increased control over crypto assets – alongside the implementation of the MiCA regulation, the expansion of KYC/AML requirements, and discussions about restrictions on anonymous wallets. Critics, however, point out that excessive pressure could lead to an outflow of innovation, capital, and developers to more favorable jurisdictions.

Thus, Eric Larchevêque’s statement became not just a reaction to a single specific rule, but a marker of a deeper conflict between the idea of financial autonomy and the growing ambitions of the state in the sphere of digital assets.

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