The EU Rejects Bitcoin-Restricting Provisions

The EU’s much-debated MiCA rule is going ahead, but without the PoW prohibition.

There has been much debate about the EU’s planned MiCA legislation, particularly the wording aimed at prohibiting proof-of-work cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The legislation is now progressing, but without these sections.

The European Union’s (EU) planned Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation package has chosen not to forward a contentious clause aimed at restricting the use of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies owing to worries about their energy usage.

Prior to initiating trilogue conversations between the parliament, the council, and the commission, EU legislators attempted to find an agreement on how to best regulate the cryptocurrency industry. The present draught of MiCA does not contain a clause prohibiting the use of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Stefan Berger, the German politician in charge of the MiCA legislation, tweeted on Friday that his proposed mandate to exclude a POW prohibition is unchallenged and that the EU has shown “creative strength.”

Berger said that the period for contesting the mandate expired at midnight on Thursday and that the MiCA trilogue would begin next week.

The parliament also considered non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised finance (DeFi). The debate is on whether they should be included in the MiCA package and whether EU authorities should be tasked with supervising the crypto area.

On March 14th, the European Parliament voted 30-23 against adopting specific wording prohibiting proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. Those who lost need a tenth of the votes in the House of Commons to block a fast-track mechanism for resurrecting the proof-of-work prohibition via the trilogues.

As previously reported by CryptoPotato, according to August 2021 estimates from Cambridge University, Europe accounts for around 12-14 percent of overall BTC mining hash power. Due to the fact that Ireland and Germany account for the lion’s share of that sum, worldwide hash rates are unlikely to be affected.

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