In its MiCA guidelines, the European Parliament wanted to ban proof-of-work-based crypto services due to “environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms”. This would affect cryptocurrencies that rely on proof of work to verify transactions like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.
According to the committee’s draft, non-environmentally sustainable crypto-assets should not be allowed to be issued or traded in the EU from 1 January 2025. Cryptocurrencies, the document said, could hinder the efforts of the European Union and the whole world to achieve climate and sustainability goals. However, the possession of such currencies should still be allowed. The initiative for the “Bitcoin ban” had come from the SPD, Green and Left parties.
The vote was scheduled for 28 February. Now it has been postponed indefinitely at the request of the Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Stefan Berger (CDU). Through further negotiations with the parliamentary groups, an appropriate legal framework for crypto-assets is to be worked out. However, a ban on proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is rather unlikely.