MiCA Amendments Proposed Last Minute Revive Threat of EU Ban on Bitcoin, Report Reveals

Changes to the EU’s MiCA proposal to control crypto markets, urged shortly earlier than a vote on the package deal, point out a bitcoin ban continues to be a chance. Despite lately eradicating wording that will have prohibited cash with energy-intensive mining, some members of the European Parliament at the moment are focusing on “unsustainable” cryptocurrencies.

New MiCA Paragraphs Call for Subjecting Cryptocurrencies to ‘Sustainability Standards’

A textual content banning the providing of providers for cryptocurrencies counting on the proof-of-work (PoW) mining methodology was lately deleted from Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) draft laws. The controversial provision had sparked adverse reactions from the crypto trade and group.

However, makes an attempt to successfully ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin within the EU have continued. Amendments to MiCA proposed on Friday, days earlier than the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) votes on the package deal, purpose to limit cryptos categorized as “unsustainable.”

PoW mining is just not particularly talked about this time however the finish result’s prone to be the identical, the German crypto information outlet BTC Echo reported. “Crypto belongings shall be topic to minimal environmental sustainability requirements with respect to their consensus mechanism used for validating transactions, earlier than being issued, provided or admitted to buying and selling within the Union,” the brand new provision reads.

Such cryptocurrencies, in line with the authors of the amendments, shall be compliant with sustainability necessities. If the proposal is backed by ECON on Monday, when the committee is scheduled to vote on MiCA, bitcoin-related providers will probably be de facto excluded from the scope of regulated actions. Patrick Hansen, head of technique and progress at Unstoppable Finance, tweeted:

1/8 Bad information for #bitcoin & #cryptocurrency within the EU 🚨

The POW-ban has mainly made its method again into the draft of the European Parliament that will probably be voted on within the committee on Monday.

I simply learn the most recent draft. A fast replace 👇@balajis @_pgauthier @BrianBrooksUS

— Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) March 12, 2022

The penalties of a constructive vote can be devastating, the report notes. A whole ban on cryptocurrencies based mostly on the proof-of-work idea would paralyze the digital belongings market within the EU and encourage the circumvention of legal guidelines, weaken client protections and in the end pressure many companies within the trade to maneuver out of the Union.

Officials and regulators from a number of member states, together with Germany, have prior to now few months referred to as for a European ban on the power-hungry PoW mining, citing environmental causes. Sweden insisted on such a measure, warning that the growing use of renewable vitality to mint bitcoin comes on the expense of local weather neutrality targets in different sectors. Non-EU international locations like Norway have been considering backing its stance.

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