Europe will not ban Bitcoin

Europe has decided not to ban Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies based on Proof-of-Work mechanisms.

The European Union Parliament has rejected a proposed provision that would have limited the use of digital currencies due to their environmental impact. The proposal was part of a broader bill aimed at regulating the mining and trading of digital currencies in the EU.

This is great news for crypto advocates and the blockchain industry, who see the EU decision as an opportunity to advance the cause of crypto assets without government interference.

The latest version of a report on the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, approved by Parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee last September, had included an amendment to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies with a “high consumption of energy”. ”. The recommendation called for all cryptocurrency transactions with fiat currencies to be banned and vice versa.

The author of the amendment, Jakob von Weizsäcker, expressed concern that Bitcoin mining could increase global warming. Cryptocurrency mining requires computers to solve complex mathematical problems to create new units of currency and secure your network. Bitcoin currently has a market capitalization of $750 billion.

“I am convinced that this madness needs to be put to a quick end,” he said at the time.

However, the plenary session of the European Parliament yesterday voted against this proposal by 34 votes against and 24 votes in favor.

The committee also voted 17 to 8 against a second amendment that would have required cryptocurrency miners and other users of the PoW mechanism to be licensed before they could operate in the EU.

Monday’s vote came after the EU Parliament last month approved another proposal to regulate cryptocurrencies in the region. That proposal, however, did not include any amendments that would limit the use of PoW-based digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum .

If passed, the MiCA regulation would have given the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) the power to impose restrictions on crypto assets if they pose “potential risks” or “threats” to investors, market integrity, the orderly operation, price formation, or transferability of securities. The regulation also requires crypto exchanges and custodians serving customers in Europe to be regulated.