France Eyes Bitcoin Mining Leadership With Surplus Nuclear Energy

Would the French government rather mine bitcoin than sell its electricity? Or is it trying to stay clean-handed, letting machines do the dirty work of the golden digital world? Or maybe it is content to observe, regulate, and correct when necessary. Opinions vary, debates heat up, but one fact remains: the idea has crossed the threshold of the National Assembly.

The Surplus Bet: A French Strategy to Valorize Excess Electricity

While the debate around the future digital euro is already stirring European institutions, could France secretly prefer to bet on bitcoin? The idea may seem iconoclastic, but in a bill filed on July 11, 2025, 72 deputies from the National Rally, accompanied by 4 colleagues from the Union of Rights for the Republic, have put forward an idea that is causing buzz in the assembly: using surplus electricity to mine bitcoin. And not marginally. It is a full-scale five-year test at centers located near production sites.

“It is imperative to put an end to this absurd logic from a scientific and economic standpoint, and to valorize our electricity surpluses to stabilize the grid while preserving our nuclear park“, we read in the explanatory statement.

The calculation is simple: the repeated modulation of plants, imposed by the production peaks of renewable energies, is costly to the infrastructure and results in loss-making sales. Why not turn this burden into a crypto-energy opportunity? Bitcoin could well become the unexpected regulator of an electricity mix undergoing transformation.

Bitcoin, Europe, kilowatts: a proven model beyond borders

France is not inventing anything. It is catching up. In Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and even Pakistan, mining has already taken root where surplus electricity was looking for buyers. The proposal’s arguments abundantly cite these foreign cases.

In Texas, mining farms interconnect to the ERCOT network to shut down within minutes during demand peaks. In Finland, a 2 MW farm heats 11,000 homes through the heat released by the machines. In Norway, similar facilities warm aquaculture greenhouses. These examples are here, visible, audited.

As Clara Chappaz, the French Minister of Digital Affairs, points out:

The use of energy surplus to mine Bitcoin is a good example of a debate that has been hijacked by an extreme fringe of the political spectrum, while it is a real issue.

This debate, seemingly technical, becomes political as soon as it concerns energy sovereignty, EDF’s debt, and reindustrialization. At this time, France does not yet have its large national mining farm. But that could well change.

When Bitcoin heats up ideas: towards a French-style crypto infrastructure?

The ambitions go beyond speculation. The bill envisions heat recovery, reindustrialization of wastelands, local development, energy sovereignty, and the birth of a new industrial sector.

It is a complete reversal of logic: from consumers of poorly sold electricity to producers of digital value.

Some figures to remember:

• 1 gigawatt allocated to Bitcoin mining = 100 to 150 million $ per year, according to the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (ADAN);
• 70% of French electricity comes from nuclear: stable, predictable, decarbonized;
• 5 years of experimentation, governed by decree from the Council of State;
• 3 seconds: average shutdown or startup time of a mining rig, in response to grid voltage;
• 1 decree expected to define eligibility criteria and secure the operation.

Even the cautious Minister of Digital Affairs opens a door: “We must examine this without ideology, asking the right questions“.

The question remains whether the State will dare to flip the switch. Abandoned sites wait, kilowatts are there, foreign players are knocking at the door.

“Bitcoin made in France” is already on everyone’s lips. In Normandy, negotiations are well advanced with the Sultanate of Oman to establish the first industrial mining farm there. The Flamanville EPR and the future Penly power plant would supply the energy. A page may be turning for French crypto.