The European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee decided against prohibiting enterprises in the European Union from holding proof-of-work-based assets. Instead, a proposal by European Parliament member Stefan Berger on crypto-assets is approved.
Committee Rejects Proof-of-Work Bitcoin Ban
The European Union’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee approved the final text of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MICA) proposal on Monday. The commission is requesting that the European Commission submit an alternative legislative proposal by January 2025 to “consider including any crypto-asset mining activities that contribute significantly to climate change mitigation and adaptation in the EU sustainable finance taxonomy.”
Earlier this week, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) voted on the proposed Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. This bill includes a de-facto ban on proof-of-work, an optional last-minute addition.
Patrick Hansen, head of the strategy at Unstoppable Finance, reported that the committee voted against the proposed proof-of-work ban. As he explained in a series of tweets on Monday:
The ECON committee of the EU Parliament just voted against the de-facto POW-ban … Big relief & political success for the bitcoin & crypto community in the EU.
According to him, 23 people voted in support of the POW prohibition amendment, 30 people voted against it, and six people abstained. Hansen confirmed that the final votes on the complete MiCA draught were 31 in favor, 4 against, and 23 abstentions.
“We are relieved that the Parliament voted against the ban of proof-of-work-based assets for EU enterprises,” Unstoppable Finance tweeted.
Lawyer Jake Chervinsky said before the vote that MiCA’s POW prohibition seemed to be a pretext for a bitcoin ban. “Make no mistake: if they succeed in banning POW, they’ll move on to POS [proof-of-stake] and every other Sybil resistant mechanism after that,” he threatened.
The amendment reads: “By 1 January 2025, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament and to the Council, as appropriate, a legislative proposal to amend Regulation (EU) 2020/852, in accordance with Article 10 of that Regulation, with a view to including in the EU sustainable finance taxonomy any crypto-asset mining activities that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
After the POW-ban votes, Berger tweeted that MiCA had won the first stage. He went on to say that by voting in favor of his plan, EU lawmakers had cleared the path for future crypto legislation.
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