Seizing cryptocurrency in France: freezing funds through the enforcement judge

The criminal complaint has been filed, or the judgment has been handed down. Meanwhile, a statement from a crypto exchange shows that the funds are still there, in an account held by the person who owes you the money. That person can move them in a few minutes to a wallet to which only they hold the keys. The enforcement judge can freeze them first, on an ex parte application and without warning. You still need to know what this seizure can achieve, and where it stops.

Who can have cryptocurrency seized?

A civil seizure of cryptocurrency is open to anyone with a money claim against a person who holds crypto-assets. The French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures never mentions cryptocurrency, but its general rules allow it to be frozen.

The most common case is that of a fraud victim who has identified the account that received the funds, for example one held by a known company or individual on an exchange established in France or elsewhere in Europe. The steps to take in the first hours, preserving evidence and filing the complaint are covered in our article Crypto-asset fraud: the legal and procedural routes to recovering funds. The civil seizure comes on top of this, at the same time as the complaint.

It is also available to a creditor left unpaid by a client or business partner holding a cryptocurrency treasury, to someone who lent money or cryptocurrency and was never repaid, and to someone holding a judgment that the debtor does not comply with while their bank accounts are empty.

Freezing cryptocurrency held on an exchange

If your debtor keeps their cryptocurrency on an exchange, the exchange holds it on their behalf, much as a bank holds an account. The European MiCA Regulation requires the exchange to keep its clients’ assets separate from its own (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Article 75).

You do not need a judgment to act. It is enough that your claim appears well founded in principle and that its recovery is under threat (article L. 511-1), which is fairly easy to show when the money can leave the exchange within minutes.

The application is made ex parte to the enforcement judge (juge de l’exécution). The judge rules without hearing your debtor, who is therefore not warned before the freeze is in place. A judicial officer (commissaire de justice) then serves the seizure on the exchange, which must declare immediately what it holds on your debtor’s behalf (articles L. 211-3 and R. 523-4). If it refuses to answer without a legitimate reason, it may have to pay you the sums at stake itself (article R. 523-5). Against an exchange established in France, or authorised to operate in Europe, this is a persuasive argument.

Two time limits then run. Your debtor must be notified of the seizure within eight days (article R. 523-3). And if you did not yet have a judgment, you have one month to bring the proceedings that will give you one (article R. 511-7). After that, the freeze lapses. These deadlines are prepared before the application is even filed, so that each step follows without losing the benefit of the seizure.

Enforcement judges already handle these cases. In Paris, one of them authorised, on an ex parte application in July 2025, a precautionary attachment of more than 850,000 euros in a dispute between companies in the cryptocurrency sector (JEX TJ Paris, 20 April 2026, No. 26/80155). The measure targeted bank accounts. No published decision yet shows a seizure of the tokens themselves.

Identifying the exchange before acting

The speed of the procedure has a price: your file must be ready from the start, since the judge decides on the documents. Before filing the application, the firm checks with you that you have:

• proof of your claim: judgment, contract, acknowledgement of debt, written exchanges, transfer orders;
• what is needed to identify the exchange: bank statements showing transfers to it, confirmation emails, screenshots, wallet addresses and transaction identifiers;
• what shows the risk of the funds disappearing: recent movements, statements by the debtor, prolonged silence, past conduct.

Identifying the exchange is often the difficult part. The blockchain is a public ledger, and tracing makes it possible to follow the funds from address to address to the point where they reach a centralised exchange, which must identify its clients. These exchanges must also collect and pass on information about the originator and the beneficiary of each transfer (Regulation (EU) 2023/1113). Courts already rely on such analysis: the Cour de cassation upheld the seizure of bitcoins identified through blockchain analysis (Crim. 15 February 2023, No. 22-81.326).

The judicial officer can obtain from public authorities the identity of third parties holding liquid or payable sums on your debtor’s behalf (article L. 152-1), but this right to information does not expressly cover cryptocurrency accounts. In practice, it is you, with your lawyer, who provide what is needed to name the exchange.

When the exchange is abroad or the debtor keeps the keys

The limits of the procedure need to be stated plainly, because they determine the strategy.

The exchange is established outside the European Union

A seizure served by a French judicial officer has no direct effect on it. Your judgment must first be recognised in the country concerned, through exequatur proceedings, which takes time when the funds can be moved in minutes. A seizure attempted without this step costs money and may freeze nothing, and unnecessary costs remain with whoever incurred them (article L. 111-8).

The cryptocurrency is in a personal wallet

When your debtor keeps the funds in a wallet to which only they hold the keys, on their phone or on a Ledger-type device, there is no exchange to serve. The judicial officer can seize the device, but without the code it gives access to nothing. The judge can attach a periodic penalty (astreinte) to the order, which only bites if the debtor has other assets. If you are the victim of an offence, there is another lever: organising one’s insolvency by concealing assets to escape a judgment is a criminal offence, punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros (French Criminal Code, article 314-7).

Neither situation makes action pointless. Both require the civil seizure to be combined with other tools, and that decision is made at the start of the case.

From freezing to payment

Freezing the cryptocurrency does not pay you yet. Once you have a judgment, the seized assets must be sold so that you are paid in euros.

French courts treat cryptocurrency as property, not as money. The Nanterre Commercial Court held as early as 2020 that bitcoin is fungible and consumable, and treated a bitcoin loan as a loan for consumption (T. com. Nanterre, 26 February 2020, No. 2018F00466). The Grenoble Court of Appeal refused compensation in ether, for want of legal tender status, and reasoned in euros (CA Grenoble, 26 June 2025, No. 24/02105).

The sale follows the rules for intangible rights (French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, article L. 231-1). Your debtor first has one month to sell the seized assets themselves, under the judicial officer’s supervision, and you can refuse an offer that is too low. Failing agreement, the assets are sold at auction. This last step remains cumbersome for cryptocurrency, whose price changes constantly, and it is often negotiated. The freeze alone sometimes leads the debtor to propose a settlement, since they can no longer do anything with the funds.

Civil seizure and criminal complaint: running both together

If you are the victim of a fraud, you do not have to choose between the complaint and the seizure. The firm brings both at the same time, because they do not have the same effects.

The civil seizure leaves you in control of the timing and can freeze an identified account within days. The complaint opens the way to requisitions sent to exchanges by investigators, to the criminal seizure of crypto-assets (French Code of Criminal Procedure, article 706-154) and to cooperation between judicial authorities in different countries. It also protects the victim at sentencing: assets that can be returned to the victim are excluded from confiscation (French Criminal Code, article 131-21). The Cour de cassation has already ruled on the return of seized crypto-assets, in a case involving a ransom paid in ETH and USDT (Crim. 20 May 2026, No. 25-86.539).

The two procedures must be coordinated: an account already frozen by the criminal courts can no longer be seized in civil proceedings, and two actions brought without coordination get in each other’s way. This is one of the first points the firm reviews with you: where the funds are, who holds them, and which route reaches them fastest.

The firm acts for victims and creditors in cryptocurrency cases: analysis of the situation and of the flows, application to the enforcement judge, coordination with the judicial officer, criminal complaint and civil party application where the facts justify it. Fees are set in a written agreement provided before any work begins. Call-back guaranteed within one hour during office hours. Contact the firm →

Frequently asked questions

Can I have cryptocurrency frozen without a judgment?

Yes. The enforcement judge can authorise a precautionary attachment if your claim appears well founded and its recovery is under threat (French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, article L. 511-1). You must then bring proceedings on the merits within one month of the seizure, or the freeze lapses (article R. 511-7). If you already have a judgment, the judge’s authorisation is not even required.

Will my debtor be warned before the freeze?

No. The judge rules on an ex parte application, without a hearing and without hearing your debtor. The debtor is only informed afterwards, within eight days of the seizure (article R. 523-3). That is the whole point of the procedure when the money can be moved very quickly.

What happens if the exchange refuses to answer?

The exchange must declare immediately to the judicial officer what it holds for your debtor. If it fails to do so without a legitimate reason, it may be ordered to pay you the sums at stake itself (article R. 523-5). This argument is effective against an exchange established or authorised in Europe.

Another creditor has already frozen the account: can I still act?

Yes. The Cour de cassation accepts that an attachment order (saisie-attribution) may be made against a claim already frozen by an earlier precautionary attachment (Cass. 2e civ., 15 January 2026, No. 23-13.416). Acting quickly nonetheless remains the best protection.

My debtor has moved the cryptocurrency abroad or onto a Ledger: what can I do?

An exchange authorised in Europe and active in France remains within reach. Outside the European Union, your judgment must first be recognised there, and a criminal complaint, which opens cooperation between judicial authorities, is often the surest way to obtain a freeze. On a Ledger, the device can be seized but is useless without the code; if you are the victim of an offence, a complaint for fraudulently organising insolvency is serious pressure (French Criminal Code, article 314-7).

How long does it take to be paid?

A freeze can be obtained quickly when the exchange is identified. Payment then depends on the judgment on the merits and on the sale of the seized assets, unless your debtor agrees to settle first. The firm gives you a realistic estimate at the first conversation, once the situation of the funds is known.