The Market in Crypto Assets bill will provide a cryptocurrency regulatory framework across Europe. Last week, a vote was delayed regarding a language concern related to “environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms.” This part of the sentence was removed.
Proof-Of-Work Still Not Illegal
The European lawmakers removed the section of a pending crypto regulation bill that would have made any proof-of-work mining illegal.
The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill was supposed to get voted on Monday, February 28. However, it was delayed as many parliament members complained about the paragraph related to the PoW mechanism.
It was confirmed that the paragraph in question was completely removed and that the voting had to be rescheduled.
Overall, MiCA could reshape the cryptocurrency market in Europe. MiCA would require that the European Central Bank establishes equal rules for all crypto-asset service providers and issuers at the EU level. This is something that many other countries, such as the US, still struggle to create.
However, the paragraph in question got the attention of cryptocurrency supporters. It noted that by 2025, no crypto-asset could be generated, sold, or traded within the EU if they used “environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms.” Instead, all cryptocurrency assets would have to satisfy minimum environmental sustainability standards.
Opponents then argued that this would basically be a ban on Bitcoin and Ethereum mining across Europe and make it impossible for custodians to keep PoW coins for their clients.