Kraken Tour: France

French values, history, and culture have many parallels to crypto’s ethos and given Kraken’s long-standing mission to promote cryptocurrency adoption, we feel a kinship to France. It’s imperative that we tell that story. 

Thus we present to you, the Kraken Tour in France. 

• Where to? 21 stops to pay respect to 21 million bitcoin, while also ensuring we cover as much ground in France as possible. Not just Paris but every corner of France.
• The best route? The Kraken logo of course.
• Our objective? Explore every region, learn about crypto adoption, tell the Kraken and crypto story, and talk to as many people as possible!

In the end, we experienced more than we could have imagined. We held amazing events, attended crypto conferences, talked to thousands of people, listened, learned, and came away with a renewed appreciation for the world-class French culture, history, values, and industry. 

Our tour kicked off in Paris with Proof of Talk, a high-profile conference known for its strong networking opportunities and focus on real-world crypto use cases. Kraken sponsored the event and made sure discussions stayed lively with our Krakencinnos! Meanwhile, we made sure all of Paris knew Kraken had landed with the roaming trucks and bikes navigating Paris streets.

The Kraken beast logo’s tentacles sent our route to the east and then south. Specifically, we stopped in Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Dijon, Nevers, Bourges.

We first wanted to stop and pay respect to the EU Parliament, which was timely considering Kraken had recently announced our MiFID licensing and MiCA licensing. For years, the crypto industry has sought the regulatory clarity to operate within a defined framework and we felt immense celebration as we crossed these historic milestones. Strasbourg’s beauty and Alsatian culture made that a fantastic experience.

We held an event in coordination with a fantastic group at KMØ, an innovation ecosystem and network in Mulhouse. We had in depth discussions with a more technical audience, enthusiastic and inquisitive about crypto’s potential. It will be great to come back and spend more time with the ecosystems building France’s future.

Dijon is a fantastic city. Following the owls, exploring the climats, and experiencing authentic French culture. There is something magical about this - sitting in the Place de la Liberation, sipping wine perfected over centuries, and contemplating a future of finance that brings these themes together.

Nevers was a cool stop; a charming town on the way to Bourges. 

We are excited for Bourges to be a 2028 European Capital of Culture. We’re already thinking about our event to celebrate in a few years!

A special shoutout to Annecy, one of our favorites on the tour. We held an event in partnership with a fantastic association called Alpinechain.xyz that has done amazing work in promoting the bitcoin and crypto ecosystem. We had talks about the innovative crypto use cases in AI, DeSci, and RWAs. We’re excited to come back and see how these materialize in the coming years.

Lyon has so much to offer. Of course, we had to take advantage of the rich culinary scene. Put down the Kraken Tour brochure and fill up on some of the world’s best food and wine.

Clermont Ferrand was a highly worthwhile stop to reflect on the innovative spirit of Michelin through the decades. And how can we not reflect on the statue of Vercingetorix and its inscription of J'ai pris les armes pour la liberté de tous. May we unite around the principles of sound money, decentralization, and permissionless finance.

Lyon has so much to offer. Of course, we had to take advantage of the rich culinary scene. Put down the Kraken Tour brochure and fill up on some of the world’s best food and wine.

Clermont Ferrand was a highly worthwhile stop to reflect on the innovative spirit of Michelin through the decades. And how can we not reflect on the statue of Vercingetorix and its inscription of J'ai pris les armes pour la liberté de tous. May we unite around the principles of sound money, decentralization, and permissionless finance.

The world marvels at the beauty of Southern France. We were thrilled to bring some true Kraken style to the scene!

Avignon is a special city, so impressive in its restoration and maintenance of stone walls. Large castles, moats, and the high walls once provided security in a dangerous world. Kraken knows the topic of security quite well but oh how this concept has changed over the centuries!

Antibes was fun too. We all dream of crypto being the ticket to sailing a yacht through the Mediterranean. Is this the cycle WAGMI? It seems to the Nomad of Antibes is looking out to sea contemplating such life themes 😁

Cannes was quite the scene as we descended there in time for EthCC. Although the summer heat made it challenging, hundreds of people showed up to enjoy Kraken’s sponsored event at the USDG House. We brought clients and Kraken fans to the beachfront to enjoy a day of talking crypto and celebrating our industry. We followed that up by sponsoring a few night events with some of our ecosystem partners. Cannes was an unexpected but impressive choice: a city famed internationally for film and art, now hosting its first crypto conference and actively working with local merchants to adopt crypto payments. The energy around Kraken and crypto in southern France was truly exciting. As a bonus, great appreciation for the merchant payments adoption the city has aspired to.

Next on the agenda was Marseille, where Kraken hosted a Pétanque tournament. The winner gets a prize of Kraken labeled boules! This was a fun way to celebrate Marseille culture and tradition, while talking crypto to France’s second largest city. 

Last in Southern France was Montpellier. The tour had been pretty intense to this point and we took a bit of a breather in the vineyards outside the city. Summer in the French wine regions; does anything get better than that?

To complete the curve shape of the Kraken logo, we had a bunch of stops throughout France’s highly underrated western regions.

In Bordeaux we held a cool rooftop event in collaboration with Share3 Association. Naturally, we had to do a contest and award the winner a bit of Bordeaux wine… with a Bitcoin twist! We are excited about some of the use cases potentially associated with the wine industry; payments, tokenization, authenticity. We expect the crypto world to intersect with so many industries in the coming years.

Nantes was a fun time. In an effort to catch our “epic trading spots”, we went into the depths of the Château des ducs de Bretagne and opened the Kraken platform. Can someone please do better and tag their best epic trading spot on the Kraken France X page!?

Rennes was great. Its colorful half-timbered houses, parks, and nice city center made it a fun stop. We’ll be back soon for something additional on-the-ground. Stay tuned!

Rouen is a city rich in character; stunning architecture and fascinating history. In the spirit of bitcoin’s association with freedom, the Normandy region was a must-stop place for us and worthy of reflection for all that happened here - Charter to the Normans, Joan of Arc’s legacy, and the D-Day landings. Kraken’s mission is synonymous with freedom; throughout our tour, we paid our respects to the French history that frequently pushed for it.

We tried to get to Lille for the start of the real Tour de France. We thought it would be a good ending for Kraken’s tour. But we had so much to see so we settled for seeing the signage a few days after. We’re following along - the competition and results, stunning scenery, and maybe a few ideas for future in-person Kraken event stops.

Amiens was our biggest surprise of the trip. Anyone traveling to Paris ought to stop in Amiens for a day trip; such a beautiful city. This was our final city to complete the Kraken logo route but a place we’re inspired to hold future events in.

Paris was stop 21. Ending where we started. A great place to reflect on all the places we saw, people we met, events we held, and things we learned. 

The Bitcoin whitepaper pitched its vision as a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. It started a movement for sound money and innovation in our financial system. This is why our final stop was at the Monnaie de Paris to provide perspective on how far humanity has come to arrive at Bitcoin/crypto. We were pleased to see a strong acknowledgment of this innovation timeline; from different metals, coins, paper, and now electronic currency. Every regime had ideas about what money ought to be, while the historical context supported its persistent evolution.

A few other reflections on our tour:

1. French adoption.

We held a survey prior to the beginning of the tour. It showed strong adoption and even bigger intent for future investment or engagement with the industry (64% of those surveyed). We felt a similar sentiment on the ground. Crypto has been through a lot over the years; such is inevitable in a decentralized, early stage industry. However, there is deep French interest in crypto use cases, its investment potential, and in crypto values.

2. Localization.

This tour reinforced Kraken’s aspiration to be the leading crypto exchange in France. We have a stellar security reputation, significant number of Euro pairs and liquidity, innovative product suite, and deep commitment to being on-the-ground in France. This message resonated with many we talked to. We plan to do a lot more of it. We want to tell our story with authenticity and to showcase the use cases on French investment culture and industry. Expect to hear much more about Kraken in France.

3. Next step - industry.

We plan to do a lot directly with the crypto industry. But it’s more than that. We have big plans to integrate further into TradFi - payments, investments, and other areas of the financial system. We have some really fun French partnerships ahead. Last, we aspire to bring crypto’s story to industries where we see future use cases. France is known to be world-class in fashion, art, wine, culinary, and sports industries. It’s time for crypto to have a larger presence in worlds outside the core enthusiasts. This isn’t about asking them to speculate but to imagine how technology, investment, and transparency can innovate these industries. Crypto may have a place in that future!

Thanks for those that have engaged with us. If you are interested in hearing more about our tour or getting involved with the next ones, follow our Kraken France X page!