France put Sorare and CYLIMIT inside a three-year Web3 gaming experiment

A player pays, chance affects the result and the reward can be sold. That combination has spent years testing the boundary between gaming and gambling. France now has a separate name and framework for it: JONUM, or games involving monetisable digital items. The rules are running as a three-year experiment under the supervision of the Autorité nationale des jeux.

The ANJ's current public list contains two declared companies, CYLIMIT and SORARE. Their appearance confirms that a declaration file was completed through the JONUM process. It does not mean the regulator has certified every product feature or promised that a future change will remain compliant.

A JONUM winner must receive at least one monetisable digital item. That can be an NFT used in the game or a game token that can be traded. The framework can also permit limited physical rewards and qualifying cryptoassets. It draws a hard line at winnings in legal tender: a player cannot receive euros as a JONUM prize.

The limits are specific. Physical rewards are capped at €1,000 per player, per game and calendar year. Certain cryptoasset rewards are capped across participants at 20% of that game's annual revenue and at €25,000 per player for the game. Those thresholds make the reward ledger part of compliance, not merely a game-economy setting.

Companies must declare before offering JONUM in France. The file covers ownership, management, game mechanics, reward allocation, technical architecture, blockchain use and relevant security audits. If the file is complete, the ANJ issues a receipt within the statutory process. The regulator is explicit that this receipt does not prejudge compliance.

That distinction gives the framework speed without surrendering oversight. A product can enter after a completeness review, but its actual mechanics remain testable. A material change must be reported, and the ANJ can examine player, event and financial data, including crypto transactions that must be traceable on an explorer the authority can use.

The rules require progression and interaction. Permitted categories include action, breeding, fantasy sports, adventure, management and racing games. Adults only may play. Customers must set seven-day spending and time limits when opening an account, and operators must provide self-exclusion and prevention messages.

France has therefore not created a loophole where any tokenised casino can relabel itself as Web3. It has built a narrower experimental lane with product-shape, reward and harm-prevention requirements. The next important evidence will be an enforcement decision or a broader declared-company list. That is where the practical boundary between an innovative game and unlicensed gambling will become visible.

The category also forces a useful separation between ownership and reward. A digital item may have a resale market, but the company cannot simply buy it back as a disguised cash prize. The rules place the trade between players or through eligible markets, while financial-crime controls follow the value when it moves through crypto infrastructure.