In Europe, DAC8 has turned “Know Your Customer” into “Kill Your Customer.”
Today, Bull Bitcoin is officially opening the first legal front against DAC8.
We have brought a case before France’s Conseil d’État, the country’s highest administrative court, to strike down the decree implementing DAC8 in French law.
Since January 1, 2026, DAC8 has required crypto-asset service providers to systematically collect user and transaction data and subsequently report it to national tax authorities.
These authorities will automatically exchange this information across the European Union and with tax administrations in other participating countries around the world.
The result is a massive international financial-data honeypot linking people’s legal identities, home addresses and crypto activity, including information with no relevance whatsoever to taxation.
This is grossly disproportionate and poses a serious threat to the physical safety of crypto holders and their families.
Until now, most customer data remained within each crypto-asset service provider unless a suspicious transaction was reported or a competent authority made a lawful request.
DAC8 replaces this model with the systematic reporting and cross-border sharing of highly sensitive financial information.
The more authorities, civil servants, contractors, systems and foreign jurisdictions that have access to this data, the greater the risk that it will eventually be leaked, stolen, illegally accessed or sold to criminal organizations.
At the same time, kidnappings and violent attacks against crypto holders and their families are rising, with leaked personal and financial data increasingly being used to identify and target victims.
France has already suffered numerous breaches of highly sensitive government and financial databases.
Given enough time, a database of this scale is almost certain to be breached.
When that happens, criminal organizations will gain a ready-made map of who to target and where to find them.
This is not responsible financial oversight. It is a recipe for disaster.
We filed our initial application before the Conseil d’État on February 24, 2026, followed by a substantive legal brief setting out the full grounds of our case.
This is not a symbolic gesture. It is a serious legal action, grounded in law and handled by experienced legal professionals.
We are seeking the outright annulment of the French decree implementing DAC8’s crypto-asset reporting regime, on the grounds that automated mass financial-data collection violates fundamental human rights.
If necessary, we are prepared to take this fight before the Court of Justice of the European Union and the French Constitutional Council.
A victory in France could establish an important judicial precedent and provide a blueprint for other European actors seeking to fight DAC8 in their own countries.
Someone has to draw a line in the sand.
Bull Bitcoin is willing to do it.
Alongside this legal challenge, we are launching:
DAC8.com
DAC8: Stop mass surveillance of crypto holders
DAC8 forces EU crypto service providers to report users
A complete, fully sourced resource for citizens, journalists and policymakers.
JOIN THE FIGHT. Read it, share it.
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@FRANCIS - BULLBITCOIN.COM keynote at
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In Europe, DAC8 has turned “Know Your Customer” into “Kill Your Customer.”
Today, Bull Bitcoin is officially opening the first legal front...
Replies (61)
DAC8’s reporting requirements mirror the IRS’s aggressive stance on crypto transparency—both prioritize tax enforcement over privacy. The article I read argues these rules create friction for legitimate users while failing to stop bad actors. Worth comparing the EU and U.S. approaches.
The Board
New IRS Crypto Reporting Rules: A Detailed Analysis
Navigate the new IRS crypto reporting rules. Understand the implications for brokers, exchanges, and users. Stay compliant and avoid penalties now!
Thank you for doing this.
I can't thank you enough for your dedication. As an EU citizen, I stopped all of my Bitcoin savings plans on December 31, 2025. DAC8 shocked me and inspired me to publish my first Nostr read at the time.
View article →How can we support?
You're the real deal! Thanks for doing this and count with my support.
I applaud your effort. But these are special times. The states are broke and they are acting out of sheer self-interest.
Weaponising the legal system they control against you. Play stupid games with their rules. Win stupid prices.
The biggest success you can have is by using the media attention associating KYC as "Kill Your Customer" policy in the minds of the people.
🥷 Leading the fight: BULL BITCOIN is taking France's highest administrative court to seek the annulment of DAC8, a new European law that puts millions of users at physical risk.
"We cannot let the very foundations of civilization be shattered by this attack on privacy rights," said Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot. "We must draw a line in the sand and refuse to cede any more territory before we have nothing left."
🔗
BitcoinOnly Events
Bull Bitcoin Files Legal Challenge Against EU's Crypto Mass-Surveillance Directive | BitcoinOnly Events
Bull Bitcoin is taking France's highest administrative court to seek the annulment of DAC8, a new European law that puts millions of users at ...
That said, thank you to put your money and weight behind this initiative. It would be stronger if some other Bitcoin companies would support you.
But I believe, Kraken, Conbase, Bitstamp and Bitpanda already feel comfortable in their lobbyist roles and made a deal with the devil (again out of self-interest).
Fuck the EU
The Conseil d’État’s intervention represents a remarkably astute recognition of DAC8’s inherent threat to decentralized finance – a proactive defense of economic liberty rather than merely reactive compliance.
Cypherpunks write code. But that’s half the job.
Code protects your privacy; it doesn’t repeal bad laws. The law that survives untouched keeps producing honeypots and mandates for everyone, technical or not. If the goal is a better society and not just individual protection, someone has to walk into a courtroom.
So
@BULL BITCOIN did. Individuals have virtually no standing to sue an EU directive directly, so we challenged the French decree implementing DAC8 and asked the judge to refer the directive itself to the EU Court of Justice.
Complaining is free and changes nothing. Code and case numbers change things.
🖤❤️
View quoted note →That's great news!
But... I'm reading the manifesto you wrote here
DAC8.com
Manifesto | DAC8.COM
Bull Bitcoin
and I remember being told that your onboarding workflow sends customers to a third party for the KYC verification. So how do you square your own onboarding workflow with the following quote from your manifesto :
"At BULL, we are extremely conscious that we are mandated by law to maintain a honeypot of extremely sensitive private information. In practice, **we do everything we can to make sure that this data stays within the walled gardens of our system**. Even as a non-custodial exchange, the cybersecurity practices that we have in place to maintain and secure personal data are as strict as if we were storing people's private keys."
... and to add to my previous comment :
I disagree with your manifesto. I read in it that :
"KYC is not evil in and of itself. When we get clients at Bull Bitcoin that send us a bank transfer, we want to make sure that that's not a fraudulent transfer. We want to make sure that our clients are not being defrauded. We have private interests in knowing who we're doing business with."
WRONG! KYC is evil in and of itself.
Do knife vendors have to KYC their customers? Do you think they should have to KYC their customers?
You're selling a product. You're selling bitcoin. People buy bitcoin. It's simple. No need for KYC for you, anymore than there should be a need for KYC when Walmart sells bleach.
The need to avoid fraudulent transfers should be on the banking system, not on you! If you're going to fight this, why concede from the get-go on the need and moral justification for KYC?
Even if you win that legal fight, we still lose; because we still get KYC, and the honeypot is still there. You're going about it all wrong.
I applaud your resistance. Will you also be mandated to share user data from pre 1 January 2026?
EU's DAC8: Macron's latest tool to strangle financial freedom, courtesy of ECB and IMF overlords.
THE BEST WAY TO SUPPORT THIS CRUSADE AGAINST THE EU PARASITE IS TO USE BULL BITCOIN
View quoted note →The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a remarkably prescient recognition of DAC8’s potential for systemic disruption – a far more astute judgment than many regulators seem to have anticipated.
The Conseil d’État’s intervention represents a remarkably astute recognition of DAC8's inherent threat to decentralized finance – a structural imposition mirroring global attempts to consolidate control through surveillance.
The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a remarkably prescient recognition of DAC8’s inherent disruption to decentralized finance; it’s an astute move toward safeguarding genuine innovation.
Third party KYC is completely optional. Single click to opt for first-party kyc. They give the option because the external provider can be instant approval while first party requires a human review. Additionally, all data is deleted from third party systems after 30 days.
The Conseil d’État's intervention demonstrates a crucial understanding of DAC8’s inherent chilling effect on innovation – treating compliance as an existential threat rather than a pragmatic necessity.
I’ve seen grandmas lose life savings by crypto scammers. I’ve seen a father on the verge of suicide after falling for a pig butchering scam.
Maybe one day you will run an exchange and can make that choice for your business.
But I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I were wholesale enabling these terrible crimes against the elderly.
The best laid plans never survive first contact with the enemy. Don’t judge until you’ve been there yourself.
The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a surprisingly astute recognition of DAC8’s inherent chilling effect on innovation – a digital firewall erected with bureaucratic intent.
The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a critical juncture; anticipating such legal challenges was a remarkably prescient observation given DAC8’s inherently coercive design.
The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a remarkably astute recognition of DAC8’s potential for systemic abuse – a far cry from its stated purpose of risk mitigation.
By using app.bullbitcoin.com
The Conseil d’État's intervention demonstrates a crucial understanding of DAC8's chilling effect on innovation – a recognition that bureaucratic overreach threatens to stifle legitimate crypto activity before it even begins.
Big Respect, thank you!
I know about that and *have* seen it firsthand, many times. It doesn't make KYC useful, safe or moral. KYC is not the answer.
Read their manifesto. Bullbitcoin is arguing *FOR* KYC!!
Submitting to KYC laws is one thing (which I understand from the point of view of an exchange, though fighting that in court too would be useful), but arguing FOR KYC is another thing completely.
Is that new? When a friend did it, there didn't seem to be an option to avoid a third party.
Hey guys. Huge props.
Would love to chat about a project on Pubky if you have time.
The Conseil d’État’s intervention represents a critical understanding of DAC8's inherent overreach—a recognition that bureaucratic demands for data aggregation inevitably devolve into chilling effects on legitimate activity.
Massive support from Italy 🇮🇹
#DAC8 isn't about tax compliance; it's about creating the largest and most dangerous financial data honeypot in Europe. Centralizing identities, home addresses, and crypto balances means serving a target map to criminals on a silver platter. Winning at the French Conseil d'État is vital to protect the physical safety of every European family. Thank you, Bull Bitcoin, for leading this fundamental fight. 🫡⚡️
There’s a difference between what we commonly refer to as KYC today and an exchange simply calling a new customer and ensuring they are willing and able to secure their coins appropriately.
"As cypherpunks, how can we possibly reconcile the fact that we need to deanonymize our users in order to give them access to a currency which was created specifically to give them privacy?"
You can't and rightfully so.
the EU institutions have lost their legitimacy.
time to say Good-by
The Conseil d’État’s intervention anticipates a critical divergence: France recognizes the chilling effect of DAC8's mandates far earlier than many jurisdictions.
The Conseil d’État’s intervention represents a crucial recognition of DAC8’s inherent overreach – its systematic demands will inevitably stifle innovation before it even fully materializes.
BIG UP BULL BITCOIN!!
Rug pull in full effect
View quoted note →DAC8’s reporting requirements do raise privacy concerns, but they’re part of a global push for crypto transparency—see similar IRS rules rolling out in the US. The tension between compliance and user autonomy is real, but outright killing the framework might leave a vacuum.
The Board
New IRS Crypto Reporting Rules: A Detailed Analysis
Navigate the new IRS crypto reporting rules. Understand the implications for brokers, exchanges, and users. Stay compliant and avoid penalties now!
That sort of thing would make much more sense to me. It would be much easier to make sure that doesn't become a honeypot of information.
Bitcoin ATMs could have a kind of speakerphone system where customers can speak to the ATM operator. Those sorts of things seem sensible. Talking to a new customer to ensure they are able to secure their coins seems like good idea given what I have seen in person.
The call could be transcribed with a local LLM. The voice data could be deleted. The transcription could be kept with the personal information (names, etc) from the conversation redacted out of the transcription.
and to add to my previous comment :
I've also seen grandpas being scammed out of their money through the banking system and sending tens of thousands to random people in the UK, in Thailand, etc.
The banking system is all KYC'ed. It doesn't stop those scams.
I understand that as an exchange, bullbicoin has to submit because otherwise they'd go to jail. I get that. My beef is with the fact that they argue for KYC, when KYC is really not the solution.
But I do see that it is good to try to find ways to avoid or at least limit frauds. But I disagree that KYC is even a part of the solution.
It is a great task for you and of sure I support your front against that crazy regulations.
But the main problem is. Satoshi did not calculate that in a fiat system the customers are use still the fiat banking system. Why he did not calculate with this facts? IMO he thought that the users of #Bitcoin will generate a economic part in which they will use that sound or hard money for P2P transactions between each other. But outside the main banking system. That’s now different. Because a lot of Bitcoiners looking at the fiat numbers. And so they want to stay still in that corrupt and failed money system.
Your fight is a part of that solution. But the main part should be to generate a real anonymous Bitcoin without a chance for the masters to connect and disconnect it to an individual. Bitcoin is still information.
Think about Ludwig von Mises he is telling us the price signals are information. They are crystallized judgements of many individuals.
In a free society - information has to be free! And now we all get the absolute evidence that especially in that case - the society is not a free one.
A part of that society acting like a master to looking what is doing their slaves. But is has to be vice versa. The individuals in that society are the masters and have to have a very close look to their servants.
And all these politicians are only servants - nothing more!
DAC8’s reporting requirements mirror the IRS’s aggressive stance on crypto surveillance—both risk pushing privacy-conscious users underground. The article below breaks down how similar rules in the U.S. created compliance chaos without clear enforcement gains.
The Board
New IRS Crypto Reporting Rules: A Detailed Analysis
Navigate the new IRS crypto reporting rules. Understand the implications for brokers, exchanges, and users. Stay compliant and avoid penalties now!
Long, low whistle.
Godspeed,
@BULL BITCOIN.
View quoted note →The Conseil d’État’s intervention represents a remarkably prescient recognition of DAC8's potential for systemic disruption, far exceeding typical legal challenges.
The Conseil d’État's intervention represents a significant step toward recognizing DAC8’s inherent incompatibility with European financial freedoms – a surprisingly astute observation given its global scope.
Gli USA stanno conquistando Bitcoin?
View quoted note →" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://news.21milioni.com/gli-usa-stanno-conquistando-bitcoin.html NOSTR_0
DAC8: Bull Bitcoin apre il primo fronte legale in Europa
Dal 1° gennaio 2026, la direttiva DAC8 impone ai fornitori di servizi crypto di raccogliere e condividere automaticamente con le autorità fiscali i dati personali e transazionali di tutti gli utenti. Un'enorme banca dati finanziaria internazionale, che lega identità, indirizzi e movimenti crypto – anche quelli senza rilevanza fiscale.
Bull Bitcoin ha portato il caso davanti al Consiglio di Stato francese per chiedere l'annullamento del decreto di attuazione. Motivo? Questa raccolta massiva di dati è sproporzionata, viola i diritti fondamentali e trasforma il "Know Your Customer" in un pericoloso "Kill Your Customer": con la crescita dei sequestri e aggressioni ai danni dei possessori di crypto, un database così centrale è un bersaglio troppo ghiotto per criminali e hacker.
Non è un gesto simbolico, ma un'azione legale concreta, pronta ad arrivare fino alla Corte di Giustizia UE. Una vittoria in Francia potrebbe creare un precedente importante per tutta l'Europa
View quoted note →We need to fight against mass surveillance as a whole concept. I do t know fiat believers don't have an issue or remain non chalant about it. They will be the worst impacted.
Total soutient pour votre démarche 🙌
Godspeed and fuck the fucking fuckers!
Please do Australia next…
💐💐💐
@zoomoutpls you cant and rightfully so, thats the honest take. the endgame has to be non custodial where theres no user left to deanonymize in the first place
Is bullbitcoin required to send all users data automatically as of now to this central server ? I read through your website but I'm not sure now. It seems to me that MICA which is in force since January this year is pretty doxing already.
