Bitcoin Forum

There is this new picture around the internet about the new French president holding a Ledger Blue (which is bitcoin hardware wallet).

https://i.imgur.com/7L3FHts.png

I doubt Its fake because It was posted by Ledger themselves (on Twitter) and since they are based on Paris, I believe It somehow make sense. So, what does it mean for us and can we expect some rules that could help boost bitcoin? I know that some might say that he is just a corrupt president trying to hide stuff using bitcoin.

Probably means he won't do anything to Bitcoin, so likely just more years of limbo since he won't want anything of his to get taxed, but I don't know French politics too well so there are many things that he might be able or unable to do.

We'll see what the guy is able to do, he seems sketchy and the fact that he's married to some teacher of his who's magnitudes of years older than him seems really weird. I don't know the guy, but he went from someone I never heard of to president. I have no idea what his policies are beyond some UBI-like program and some other social issues.

Macron was a banker.I don`t expect him to support bitcoin.
The best thing will be, if he keeps a neutral policy about bitcoin and cryptos.
Please remove this image.I can`t see anything except his ugly face. ;D

He's just won the election and ledger is based in Paris put two on two maybe they funded his campaign and in return he did this stunt? Or after Japan he is already considering a legal law for Bitcoins. It will be interesting to see if he actually does it, he says it's a new start, people need support and he wants to kick start things. By making a law for Bitcoins, he can earn good revenue from the taxes and also make a name for taking bold decision, however till he give more clues about his intention, let's wait and watch and pray for the best.

Hey, the guy has style so let's give him some credit. Most politicians do not even know what Bitcoin is and what a hardware wallet is.

I hear he had a crush on his teacher in school when he was 15 and then he started dating her at age 18 and now he is married to her. You got to admire such persistence and drive to reach your goals. He is also the youngest president since the 1700's.

We need younger politicians with drive and ambition and willingness to try new technologies and ideas. Can you see Mugabe < 95 year old president of Zimbabwe > doing the same for Bitcoin?

Well, all we can do is hope that maybe he is probably watching many Bitcoin developments lately most especially that of  Japan already recognized Bitcoin and is poised to benefit from the many blessing that Bitcoin can bring to an economy. I am sure that France really need some re-invigoration badly so Bitcoin can be one of the many avenues worth exploring for his new government. While a relatively unknown, we are hoping he can bring the nation forward and be able to solve the many ills, challenges and division that are facing the country.

On a speech in 2016, Macron reportedly (https://bitcoin.fr/emmanuel-macron-adopte-la-blockchain/) supported blockchain technology for crowdfunding (as far as I can understand with my bad French ;) ), but Bitcoin itself isn't mentioned.

In my opinion, a "free market and pro-globalization guy" is better for Bitcoin than a "nationalist socialist" like Le Pen. Nationalists often have crazy and authoritarian ideas like cryptocurrency prohibitions that could lead to much uncertainty (and <500$ prices ;) ), and migration as a whole is good for Bitcoin because of the remittance market that is one of Bitcoin's most important real world use cases as of now.

it means that one of the largest countries in the west will adopt bitcoin at a greater rate i mean right now its dominated by the institutional investors, techies and drug dealers mainly although more mainstream services are adopting it, just give it 5 years countries such as france will lead the way in bitcoin adoption rates.

Do you have any source for this? (ie a real person for example) or is this an assumption based on your views?

Is he really holding ledger o don't believe . Being basically banker how he support

He may be a crypto user, but that doesn't mean that he supports it.
I think that one of the worst things that could happen for most crypto users would be that someone in charge really understands crypto.

They will know how people trade, when taxes are due but not being paid, they can follow the blockchain to find illegal transactions. They can shut down non-regulated exchanges, the would require more KYC etc etc.

It might be better for the long term acceptance of Bitcoin, but it would kill the idea of Bitcoin as a non-centralized people's currency

The device does look like a Blue, however there's no way to see what's on the screen because it's so damn bright.
He was a banker who is now supposedly supporting Bitcoin. He's quite powerful now, and that means great news for bitcoin. Publicity and proof that we're doing something right.

He is a globalist, but I do believed that he will support bitcoin/blockchain technology. Definitely, since he is a banker, he heard about the effect of blockchain implementation in the banking industry so he is probably inclined on it and since he is the new President of France, he might swayed on the idea of bitcoin and blockhain technology to be used in France. We can't wait France to join the revolution - bitcoin.

Same thinking to me! We have to wait and see for next!

On the contrary, Macron as a banker loves any form of money and there is no problem for any bank have its reserves in bitcoins, gold and/or fiat money. I believe that new president will be more progressive and maybe will establish the bitcoin payment but under certain  KYC/AML regulations.

MACRON is young and because of his age, this might mean something good for Bitcoin and Alts in general. Many banks now are looking to the blockchain as a new technology so he might be open to perhaps giving Bitcoin startups and Incubators a nice tax break, easier entry laws etc.. So being more business oriented as a personality, Macron may Give Bitcoin a head start, just form a different angle than most would expect.

You just give too many powers to politicians regarding Bitcoin. Macron like any other politician will do nothing and he can't influence that significantly. He has far more serious problems than Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Don't expect from single persons to do some revolutionary for Bitcoins because that is not going to happen.

This is similar when Donald Trump become the President of USA. We all said that he has a lot of bitcoin friendly people or advisers around him. And this is a good news for bitcoin ecosystem. But up to now, I haven't seen or read anything related to bitcoin from his bitcoin friendly advisers that will push bitcoin in the USA to a new dimension. But just like what others have stated, we will just have to wait and see.

Hi Yes this photo is real, I confirm. it's a photo taken from the co-founder of Ledger last year, during the celebration of the 10 years of Cap Digital at Tokyo Palace. He is a believer of the blockchain technology and support the fintech economy

A pure capitalist product is now taking place. too bad. Unemployement rate will grow by 5% and more profits for the multi nationnal firms, less taxs. Don't start to dream this guy will let them use bitcoin as Japan did.

I am sure no Bitcoin holder voted for him  ;D

He likely just showed up at some new-tech related event to score few popularity points before the elections. Posing for the photo with the device is hardly 'supporting bitcoin'.

No, it won't change anything for the Bitcoin in France (great PR for Ledger Blue though), other than legitimising it for the masses. But don't wait for Macron to propose any special regulations making it easier for French bitcoiners, unless such are proposed and approved on the EU level.

There's probably more chance of positive news coming from UK. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/16/regulating-bitcoin-new-frameworks-could-catalyst-cryptocurrencies/)

Obviously this helps to legitimize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Any time the president of a major country makes a positive comment about it, that's a good thing.

wow good to hear that. There are already known people supporting bitcoin, and with him openly supporting bitcoin/cryptocurrency then its a great way something of a promotion to bitcoin.I am sure, he can gain believer on cryptos, he is a politician then its a plus factor from bitcoin community.

I think it needs more than just a picture to have any kind of influence in the crypto world.
A clear statement like "I use bitcoins, so should you" would be something that could boost up bitcoin.
But everything beyond that, I doubt it has any measurable impact on the developement of bitcoin.

I don't expect anything. Why should we?
France is midsize country with terrible public finances and high unemployment, that Macron guy has many more priorities before thinking about BTC.

He's the new elected French President! He is a banker though, so not sure if he would support bitcoin, let's just hope so!

he just going to have his own coin MACRONCOIN :) :)

i m not sure Macron like bitcoin, he is a banker , i dont expect anything from him

I don't think it will mean anything really, I am not expecting him to do much with bitcoin unless he is told to by the EU.

He was banker only 3 years, it's nothing in a carreer. After a master in politic science, he worked as an "Inspector of Finances" for gov during 5 years, only after he started with  Rothschild bank. You see it as a banker, but as I say, he has been just 3 years!
He supports the blockchain technology but it doesn't mean he has an interest in bitcoin. It's just that it's the most easy way to show the use of the blockchain to show his support is via Bitcoin, so don't except something from Macron to propose any regulations.

This is a great news regardless of his political history, it may means that Bitcoin will be supported officially by the french government, if Marcon is really a Bitcoin user (and i think he is) then he will for sure propose some regulations regarding his usage.

Now if you ask me why he is a Bitcoin user (if he is) there is a single answer, because Marcon's assets declaration is the lowest one from all the candidates who listed for the french presidencials, it probably means that he have hidden assets some where, like Marine Lepen tried to prove even using fake documents.

His assets may be stored in Bitcoin, thus he was able to hide them efficiently.

It doesn't matter if he is a banker or the president of France.

He has no power in this world. (The world of Crypto) He is a mortal as much as we are. As an outsider, all he can do is banning bitcoin but he won't do something like that unless he has a proper reason because he will make France look like another shitty ME country if he does.

And what If he supports bitcoin... Well that can't be a bad thing. Let's hope he holds his coins for a long time so we small share holders can benefit from it.  :D

Really ? the president of France doesn't have any power over Bitcoin ?

https://bitcoin.fr/emmanuel-macron-adopte-la-blockchain/
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fbitcoin.fr%2Femmanuel-macron-adopte-la-blockchain%2F&edit-text=

It means that bitcoin will be used by the french government, and this was back in 2016, now the guy who introduced Bitcoin to the french government is the president, guess what will happen, maybe the first crypto nation.

I wouldn't pay much attention to this picture.
Unless Macron will say it himself that he knows and understand Bitcoin/blockchain significance.
I will treat this as another cool picture with new gadget at an innovative businesses event.
Most of the time people who are holding advanced tech pieces have no idea what that really is.
I read some press releases when Macron said that he will take closer look at blockchain tech.
He is a banker, he would rather incorporate this tech in banking systems, and won't allow Bitcoin to be legalized.

More links with info about Macron and Ledger Wallet:

- https://bitcoin.fr/le-ledger-wallet-demmanuel-macron/ (https://bitcoin.fr/le-ledger-wallet-demmanuel-macron/)

- https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/newly-president-elect-france-emmanuel-macron-might-bitcoiner/ (https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/newly-president-elect-france-emmanuel-macron-might-bitcoiner/)

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/69sw8q/the_french_president_holding_a_ledger_blue/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/69sw8q/the_french_president_holding_a_ledger_blue/)

I suppose we can only speculate as to what this means.

I like some of the posts thus far. He may have been funded
by the maker of the storage, he may be a bitcoiner and he may just
have been an investor in that business.

He is though very much pro EU and as has been mentioned above
which could also have other interesting consequences if he is a Bitcoiner.

As the second largest economy in the EU and a country with a lot of
infleuence along with Germany, He may have plans to do something
similar to what Japan has recently done by recognising Bitcoin as a
legitamate mode of payment.

Japans stance has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world, lets see  ;)

Politicians can't really be depended on when it comes to crypto currencies. Even if on the surface they say they are supporting digital currency, their position as representative of the government would always lean towards favoring their own currency. Blockchain might get more support in the long run but bitcoin as a booming currency in France is still a long ways into the future.

Macron holding those bitcoin hardware wallet is not a coincidence. The picture maybe taken somewhere else a convention may be but the point is that Macron has an idea about bitcoin. He will also not have hold it and have a picture with it if he deemed in insignificant. This picture gives us a probability that there is a potential that Macron could accept bitcoin in France.

He was a banker before becoming a potential politician, so I guess he had the knowledge of cryptocurrencies. But it doesnt mean that he will openly support Bitcoin or any altcoins in that matter. No president has done that and governments wont like it to support a decentralized currency.

Pretty much this, best (likely) scenario is he just leaves bitcoin alone & doesn&t impose ridiculous taxes & or bans/sanctions etc.

i wish he support bitcoin or any altcoin.i knoe he dos not have power in the world of bitcoin, but he is president.

I hope that this new president supports
cryptocurrency eventhough he is a banker.

Was that picture taken after the price of BTC starting to increase by a lot?

Depending on the date the pic was taken, it might not be difficult to understand why he chose that particular time.

 :D

Come on, those are all BS websites or plain fake news. There's nothing to say Macron supports BTC on his website, nor on any serious French media. A picture of the guy holding a smartphone is not revealing.

Perhaps we will see some positive light in France regarding Bitcoin at the very least it looks like a positive sign.
What happens in legislation though will reveal if that is really a good or bad thing although that was taken a while back and it presumes that Macron remembers every event he attended and photos he has posed for.

Yes all of comunity bitcoin has same hope with you include me, because it will makes bitcoin be more famous on France, and the impact will to bitcoin's price also bitcoin will be adopted by other bankers, but the ficture is still doubt, is it true or false? So let's wait what will be done by new president related bitcoin.

Bitcoin has never shown any negative sign in any country in the world, it is perfectly fine. It's not recognized yet, but it's being recognized. I believe France will be the next country to accept bitcoin as a legitimate currency, and if that happens, I think the value of bitcoin will rise even higher.

Australia is going to be next country to adopt Bitcoin and in general Crypto Currencies.

See my thread here > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1911873.0

In an effort to attract more Digital Currency businesses they are treating digital
currencies like cash in relation to sales tax.

Hopefully this will highlight the crypto world even more and maybe France will follow next?

Proof that France doesn't know anything, nor supports BTC:

http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/cp_lancement_blockchain_def.pdf

It's an official document from the French government. On the first paragraph, it's very revealing. They made a mistake. They wrote "bitcon" instead of "bitcoin". If they don't even know how to spell bitcoin, I'm not expecting much from them...

What a bunch of losers!

Having a technical error does not mean they will no be engaging in bitcoin. The error in the document must be the mistake of the typist and not of their officials. In the government service the typist or encoder are not perfect they also make errors and I am a witness to that since I am working in the government. The fact that they have those words in their documents could be be a sign that bitcoin has a future in France.

Come on! It's a typo. Oh yeah, very revealing to say the least. You also make typos, then what ? You make me laugh. You can't call a nation nasty name because on a PDF related to the blockchain there is a typo. On the top of that, there is only 1 typo... so funny

Typo error? Sorry, but there's no excuse. Don't they have proofreaders? Don't they check the correct spelling of a word if they're not familiar with it? I do. I know France has low standards, but failing to write correctly bitcoin on a government's document where it's very precisely the subject is telling a lot.

No government would ever support something like Bitcoin, because it's their direct competitor. When they say that they support Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, it means they are looking how to tame it, install some backdoors or alter the core principles. They will tell you that it's all for your protection, to stop terrorists and drug sellers, but in fact they just don't want to lose their control over money.

Taming - yes, perhaps you are right they would like to do it. However, I don't think they are stupid enough to think they can really tame it. And if one realizes it, perhaps one can figure out a way to improve country's economics by setting some prices for goods in btc and the prices will include taxes. If a state would have money stored in btc - it may win big time on this price growings. So, Macron might plan to use both btc and euro and sell btc whenever there is the need in it.

Recognition (and later on maybe even acceptance)  from authorities can always means a two-edged sword. The more governments know about Bitcoin the more they can think of many creative ways to hinder its growth...yes this can be true if they are not really supportive of the cryptocurrency revolution.

What we want is the same thing that is happening right now in Japan which we hoped is opening up new frontiers for Bitcoin to grow and reach mainstream. Usually, dictatorial regimes are wary of Bitcoin because they do not have direct control of this currency and dictators are control freaks.

Paging Russia, North Korea, Iran and even maybe USA.

Its really good to see a young man getting to that position with so much agility and ability to understand what is obtained currently which is determinant of what is coming in the future. On his support for bitcoin, he might have soft spot for it in his own personal capacity, but when it comes to making decision that will affect the whole country then its beyond one person which is why I wont want to get my hopes high that his emergence as the new elected President will automatically gives bitcoin a soft landing in France.

I agree with your post.

Macron is one of the most influential presidents out of the two selections. I am sure that the higher class people within France and the other Countries would not want Le pen to win and try to damage the Currency system since that is what defines them.
Plus Le pen does not have the money to do anything that she stated that she wanted to do also she had a budget that was multiple times more than the amount that Macron has.

On a side note, there is a coin called Macron.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1840661.0;all

Let me remind you that you are telling us firstly France doesn't know anything about Bitcoin and is a loser because there is a typo in a PDF document. How silly is such argument? You are just ridiculous and not a credible person. Yet you make yourself typos as well, so according to you, you'are a loser as well. Ironic. And no, France doesn't have "low standards", I can see you don't know anything. I guess Google is available in your country ? Use it wisely

I don't make typo errors. I can't afford it. I would lose my job if I did, so I'm paying proofreaders, people who check and correct my words if necessary. Besides, when I wrote about "low standards", I wasn't only thinking about typography. I've been in France 4 times so far this year (I'm also going to Paris next Friday, but it will be a quick trip, I'll arrive in the morning, and leave in the afternoon), 3 times before going to Italy, and Italy is cleaner, with more polite people. Believe me, I know France, all the neighboring countries, and I'm very good when it comes to comparing countries.

Back to Macron, I'm still waiting for a tangible proof of his supposed support.

Neat, I once wanted to be an editor/proofreader but never really got around to getting involved with anything like that.
I think the only proof being provided about Macron supporting Bitcoin revolves entirely around the picture that was used by that one wallet service, and honestly I wouldn't call that enough proof in order for me to believe that Macron is actually interested in providing Bitcoin with any special privileges, if he makes any at all.

Oh Paris ?  oh yeah, man you're so funny. What a great representation of France, you make my day seriously :D :D
Yeah now back to the topic. There is no tangible proof of his supposed support regarding Bitcoin, because there is not, and nowhere he claimed supporting bitcoin ! Someone posted this old pic on Twitter after the election results and of course those blogs related to Bitcoin/crypto jumped immediatly on the opportunity to write something, like if there isn't better to write about. This photo was taken during a Fintech event, you can aslo find the FrenchTech logo, where does it means he support Bitcoin ?

Don't believe in this. Macron is a socialist and he is also French! :) That's all you need to know to understand that Bitcoin there will be maybe accepted by highly overregulated... So you can't expect any freedom binded with bitcoin to be accepted by french government under Marcon or actually any other french politic.
Also he is a full blown populist, ideal puppet of Merkel, of Banskters, of Globalists, add here whatever antidemocratic, antifreedom lobby you want.

Even if he cares about economy it is globalist economy run by overpowered corporations, not a free economy for masses and inviduals. 

Like most French, I'm afraid you're plain stupid, believing to know everything without actually knowing anything. Sorry to point it out, my apologies, but you should not suppose things about me without knowing me. I've lived in Paris, Cannes and Nice. I've hired and fired French people (loved that last part). I owned an apartment on the Riviera, and a house in Brioude (bought in 2008, sold in 2012). Are you familiar with Brioude? I was, and I'm sure there are many places in France I know and you don't. And I've also been living in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, so I repeat myself, I know France very well, and my knowledge of other countries enables me to make valid comparisons.

I've seen the news about the new prime minister from Le Havre, I've been swimming there once. He has a lot to do with Macron, and I believe they will fail, because French people are viscerally opposed to change.

If they did it then this was a smart move, it could also be just a show of support to a French business, since there is a new wave of nationalism in Europe, so it may seem a good idea from his perspective to try to support local businesses.

You are totally right about this point because french people are the most complaining in the world. It is not that i have something against them, it is just their nature, and Marcon said that his challenge will be to change this, so he knows about that, and that's why i will follow him closely.

Now regarding Bitcoin, i think that we should try to get informations about what happened regarding the law he changed to enable to the usage of Bitcoins, if it had been beneficial or not. This may be the best answer we will get regarding the support of Macron.