Tisséo, the main public transport operator in Toulouse and its region, is opening up to cryptocurrencies. Since Monday, March 17, 2025, it has been possible to pay for metro, bus, tram, and cable car tickets with digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and XRP.
With this initiative, Toulouse becomes "the first city "Europe to allow cryptocurrency payments to buy transport tickets," declared Jean-Luc Moudenc, the city's mayor, in a post on X.
A desire to "not miss the boat"
To justify its decision, the operator highlights a study by Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange platform. This indicates that nearly 18% of French people have invested in cryptocurrencies. For Tisséo, "this will perhaps be 20 or 30% in two to three years." So, "in order not to miss the boat, and in the interest of modernization, we are launching this means of payment", explains Sacha Briand, the elected official in charge of finances at Tisséo, our colleagues from Parisien.
By allowing payments in cryptocurrencies, Tisséo is not seeking to build a reserve of digital assets. Indeed, all cryptocurrencies paid by the people of Toulouse will be automatically converted into euros. "Users will pay in cryptocurrency, which is converted into fiat currency so that we receive the amount in euros," continues Sacha Briand. Payment is made via Binance Pay, the payment solution of Binance, the world's leading crypto exchange. It is therefore essential to have a Binance account. Currently, there are no plans to pay with an account directly on the blockchain, whose keys are managed by the user. However, other payment solutions are planned, but we don't yet know which ones.
For the elected official, "This could potentially represent 20,000 to 25,000 users interested in this payment method" if we estimate "that 10% of French people have a crypto wallet". In Toulouse, "where the population is made up in particular of students or young, highly tech-savvy workers, this rate could be even higher," says Sacha Briand.
Metro, crypto, taxes
As reported by Le Journal Du Coin, all purchases of a transport ticket with cryptocurrencies will have to be declared to the tax authorities. French tax law stipulates that all conversions of cryptocurrencies into euros must be declared, as they are likely to generate capital gains. Specialized media outlets are calling this a veritable "tax hell." As a reminder, the French government imposes a tax on all conversions of cryptocurrencies into euros. This is the famous flat tax.
Source: La Dépêche
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