EU Parliament Scraps Proof-of-Work Ban Following Backlash: Report
The language had sparked enough of an outcry that a Monday vote on the bill's passage was indefinitely delayed.
Mar 1, 2022 at 5:44 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/YO7IHUDJ6RHSPEDOC6MBZOCBPQ.jpg)
(Walter Zerla/Getty)
Sandali Handagama is a CoinDesk reporter with a focus on crypto regulation and policy. She does not own any crypto.
German crypto news outlet BTC-ECHO reported a new version of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation removes controversial wording that would have banned cryptos like bitcoin (BTC) that rely on the proof-of- work blockchain-based algorithm.
- CoinDesk reported last week that European Union parliamentarians had proposed rules to prohibit crypto services reliant on environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms like proof-of-work starting in January 2025. CoinDesk later reported the parliament had indefinitely postponed the Feb. 28 vote after the proposal sparked a sizable outcry.
- "It is crucial for me that the MiCA report is not interpreted as a de facto ban on bitcoin," Stefan Berger, the member of the European parliament in charge of shepherding through the legislation, told CoinDesk at the time.
- On Tuesday Berger confirmed to the BTC-ECHO that the language banning proof-of-work had been eliminated.
- The deletion should presumably allow for a vote on the bill to go forward. For now, Berger says talks have resumed, but no date has been set.
UPDATE (March 1, 2022, 21:15 UTC): Adds a statement.
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Sandali Handagama is a CoinDesk reporter with a focus on crypto regulation and policy. She does not own any crypto.
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Sandali Handagama is a CoinDesk reporter with a focus on crypto regulation and policy. She does not own any crypto.
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