The draft Law of Markets for cryptographic assets (MiCA), which has been under discussion since 2020, will finally not include article 2a that proposed to limit digital mining and the use of cryptocurrencies based on the proof-of-work mechanism ( PoW), like Bitcoin.
However, MPs who raise energy concerns can still appeal and have it reviewed by a tripartite commission.
Those disputed by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament they voted 32 to 24 against the final version of the bill of the European Union that sought to limit the mining of cryptocurrencies, as CriptoNoticias reported earlier.
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The next step has been a new voting process to approve the document that establishes a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry. This legislation establishes a licensing regime throughout the continent and a single regulation for the Member States.
The most widely accepted proposal was filed by the deputy Stefan Berger, who raises include cryptocurrencies in the scope of action of another European environmental regulationknown as Sustainable Financial Taxonomy.
The Taxonomy regulation, which has been in force since the middle of last year, establishes criteria to classify an economic or investment activity as environmentally sustainable.
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Once approved in a new voting process, the draft MiCA Law will be submitted to a subsequent discussion, or tripartite dialogue. The Parliament, the Council representing the 27 member states, and the Commission of the European Union participate in it.
Two months after its approval, the law is expected to enter into force, which could be in the middle of this year.
However, companies will have a transition period of 6 months to comply with the requirements, commented on Twitter Patrick Hansen, a member of the community who has closely followed the entire process carried out by Europe to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin mining may still be banned in Europe
Despite the fact that the majority of the members of the European Parliament voted against the article that limited Bitcoin mining, the activity can still be prohibited in Europe. This is because voters in favor of the ban have one last option, as they could try to make your proposal gain strength through tripartite dialogue to take the discussion to the plenary of Parliament.
To do so, they need 10% of the votes of the European Parliament, which they already have. That would bring the PoW discussion into the high-level political arena. Since we cannot predict how it would play out, that is something that should be avoided. Even if it doesn’t change the vote on PoW, it would unnecessarily delay regulation for at least a couple more months.
Patrick Hansen, Strategy Lead for the DeFi Unstoppable Finance project.
Hansen adds that even outside of MiCA regulation, the discussion about regulating Bitcoin proof-of-work, or mining, is far from over. He believes that the debate will return in the framework of the implementation of the rules to include digital mining in the sustainability taxonomy regulation or when the European Union intends to regulate data centers, as it has already done warned before.
