Open letter from Web3 bosses to the government

We, the French Web3 entrepreneurs, enthusiastically welcome the statements by Mr Bruno Lemaire, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty and Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Telecommunications, calling for "Europe to become the world's leading economic zone in terms of structuring and organising the crypto-asset market and for France to become the European hub for this ecosystem." We share this ambition and are convinced that France can, indeed, play a major role in this Internet, new generation.

Behind "the crypto assets market" lies a major issue, that of digital sovereignty. That of our personal data and our companies' data: the digital sovereignty of France and Europe.

Using crypto assets means becoming independent of platforms, participating in the deployment of an architecture where each user owns and controls his or her data, and where a company cannot build a monopoly by getting its hands on all users' data or limit its use outside of it.

There is just one thing missing to turn the tide and take a decisive lead: putting these new technologies in the hands of the French and becoming the first country in the world to recognise the right of ownership of digital content. In a sector where competition is global and innovations are developing faster than regulations, we need nimble and creative regulators and a responsive administration and legislature.

A teeming ecosystem

It is by creating a favourable environment, by having the market most educated in uses that we will make France an attractive country at global level. While some industries are helping to familiarise their customers, the State has the opportunity to create the conditions for much faster and mass adoption in the service of individual freedoms.

NFTs can be used as proof of ownership of any type of physical or digital content, whether it's a document, a driving licence, a vehicle registration document, a diploma, a transport ticket, a work of art, a video game character. Used as digital passports for our digital identities and our products, they will help to facilitate their reparability and circularity. Public authorities and regulation can help to speed up this adoption.

France is fortunate to have an ecosystem of projects and experts that is already highly developed, some of whom are already world leaders in their category. The luxury goods, fashion, cosmetics and video game industries, to name but a few, are beginning to appropriate Web3 technologies to pass a major milestone in their digital transformation. French Web3 players are already world leaders who have penetrated the American market, which represents a radical departure for France in the digital world.

If France wants to remain at the forefront of this revolution, it can choose to be bold and use public power to change usage. Companies in the sector have managed to make themselves attractive to private investors. They don't need subsidies. What they need is an ambitious movement that will benefit all citizens by making these technologies available to them in their daily lives.

For the first time in the history of digital transformation it is possible to take back control. Let's seize this opportunity.