France FinTech, a non-profit association that promotes financial technologies in France, has launched a €100 million (£85m) initiative to support the development of the French and European blockchain ecosystem.

The initiative, which is being fully funded by leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance, will see the development of a research and development hub in France, a decentralised ledger accelerator, and an online education programme.

The education programme is being created in partnership with OpenClassroom and Ledger to build up French blockchain and crypto industry talent.

Binance founder and CEO, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, announced the initiative as “Objective Moon” at the French Ministry of Finance in Paris on November 3.

Zhao said: “At Binance, we recognise the quality of French and European tech, crypto and blockchain talent, and we are convinced that with the launch of Binance’s major operations and investment in France, we can significantly contribute toward making France and Europe the leading global player in blockchain and crypto industry.”

He was joined by Cédric O, French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, who announced a €1.8 billion (£1.53bn) cloud computing support plan for France earlier this week.

Alain Clot, chairman of France Fintech, said: “France Fintech believes that France is uniquely positioned in terms of regulation, talent and expertise to be the leading player in Europe in the field of decentralised finance and we believe that the collaboration started with Binance today will allow the entire ecosystem to grow significantly in the coming years.”

Find out more about Digital Transformation Week North America, taking place on November 9-10 2021, a virtual event and conference exploring advanced DTX strategies for a ‘digital everything’ world. 

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