The European Union’s (EU) ‘Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation‘ (MiCA) controversial proposal which would have prompted Bitcoin’s (BTC) de facto ban across the EU has been quashed. This is great news for the cryptocurrency community, and a big step forward for digital currencies in general.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted on Monday against the proposal that would have limited the use of cryptocurrencies that require high-energy processes like Proof-of-Work (POW).
According to a tweet posted by Unstoppable Finance‘s Patrick Hansen, the EU Parliament decided to vote 32-24 against the ban on POW mechanisms underlying cryptos like BTC and Ethereum’s Ether (ETH).
BREAKING: The ECON committee of the EU Parliament just voted against the de-facto POW-ban: 32 against, 24 in favor.
Big relief & political success for the bitcoin & crypto community in the EU💪💪
Will share a breakdown of the vote and what’s next here in this thread. #Bitcoin
— Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) March 14, 2022
Hansen went on to describe the result of the proposal, which was met with a heavy backlash from the crypto industry when first introduced, as a “big relief and political success for the Bitcoin and crypto community in the EU.”
But we are not out of the woods yet. MiCA rapporteur Stefan Berger called the vote a first-stage win for MiCA as those parlamentarians who voted for the ban could re-start a discussion in a plenary session of the European Parliament if they have support from a tenth of MEPs.
[via coindesk] “First stage win at #MiCA in committee! By accepting my proposal, members have paved the way for future-oriented crypto regulation. It is now a matter of accepting the report as a whole in the final vote & sending out a strong signal for innovation.”Erster Etappensieg bei #MiCA im Ausschuss! Mit der Annahme meines Vorschlags haben die Mitglieder den Weg geebnet für eine zukunftsorientierte Krypto-Regulierung. Nun gilt es, den Bericht auch als Ganzes in Schlussabstimmung anzunehmen & starkes Signal für Innovation zu setzen.
— Stefan Berger (@DrStefanBerger) March 14, 2022
With the rise in popularity of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s controversy over its energy consumption and environmental impact has intensified. Some argue that Bitcoin is a massive energy hog that is destroying the environment, while others claim that its energy consumption is negligible in comparison to other forms of payment.
According to the latest BMC report, Bitcoin accounted for only 0.38% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2021.
Price Action
BTC traded 0.97% lower at $38,624 at press time.
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