Baystreet Staff
The European Union (EU) has rejected a proposed rule that would have banned Bitcoin (BTC) and other energy intensive proof of work cryptocurrencies.
However, the EU has adopted new rules designed to protect consumers and make cryptocurrency mining more sustainable.
The European parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee voted on the proposed Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework, the EU’s legislation for governing digital assets.
A last-minute addition to the bill was made over the weekend, which aimed to limit the use of cryptocurrencies that are powered by the energy-intensive process called proof of work. But it was voted down by the parliamentary committee yesterday (March 14).
However, the European parliament did vote in favor of consumer protection and safeguards against market manipulation and financial crimes related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
To reduce the cryptos’ carbon footprint, parliamentarians have asked the European Commission to include cryptocurrency mining in the EU taxonomy (a classification system) for sustainable activities by 2025. Formal negotiations on the draft cryptocurrency framework will now proceed between the European commission, council and parliament.
Many countries such as China and Kazakhstan have banned cryptocurrency mining due to its massive energy consumption, as the countries battle power outages. There was fear that the same type of bans could happen in Europe, although those fears have now dissipated.
