France Made DAC8 a 2026 Squeeze: 90-Day Liquidity Test Starts July 1

DAC8 started in January, but July 1 is the first real bottleneck

France made DAC8 live on 1 January 2026. The first DAC8 return is due within nine months of the end of the 2026 fiscal year, so operators have until 30 September 2027 to file. But the first major pressure point comes earlier, on 1 July 2026, when the transitional PSAN window closes. France also moved quickly on transposition, embedding DAC8 through Decrees no. 2025-1276 and no. 2025-1277 of 19 December 2025, with rules applying from 1 January 2026.

That timeline matters more than the reporting date. From day one, CASPs in scope had to begin identifying and collecting the relevant user data. Then, when the transition ends on 1 July 2026, existing providers still need MiCA authorisation, while new providers must be authorised as CASPs under MiCA just to operate. In other words, the licensing gate closes well before the first DAC8 exchange cycle is fully tested.

Why July 1, 2026 matters more than the 2027 filing date

The real squeeze is timing. DAC8 starts capturing transactions on 1 January 2026, but the main compliance deadline does not arrive until 2027. The PSAN transitional window closes in the middle of that preparation window, so operators do not get a long runway to adapt.

For the market, that creates an early test. Licensed providers may gain relative ground as the unlicensed channel narrows. At the same time, operators that were relying on the transition period now have to secure MiCA status or step back. For crypto markets in France, that is a more immediate structural change than the first DAC8 data exchange.