TL; DR Breakdown
- EU officials want to ban BTC trading
- The officials want to eliminate proof of work mining
- EU officials are yet to make a decision
Officials of the European Union have communicated a likely ban on all trades of Bitcoin in line with the previous proposal of a ban on Proof of Work mining. The media obtained the information under the freedom of information inquest. In a report by Netzpolitik, a German culture outfit, the EU wants the ban on bitcoin trading enforced across all angles to eliminate the excess energy that the operation consumes.
EU officials want to ban proof of work mining
According to the post, one worrying stance came from an environmental official in Sweden, who advises Bitcoin miners to dump proof of work mining. The EU officials advised the community to switch to a more economic friendly Proof of Stake mining system. In the details of the meeting, one official mentioned that one of the reasons Ethereum has been moving towards PoS is its community.
The official mentioned that if the EU requests the same from the Bitcoin community, they could do it. Finally, the official noted that other digital assets need protection in the wider financial market, and Bitcoin is not one of them. Giving life to the argument, another official suggested a shadowban on all assets running on the Proof of Work consensus.
Officials are yet to make a decision
Although some parts of the documents have been redacted, including replies to shouts to ban Bitcoin and other proof of work tokens, this is in line with the decision making that is still ongoing as the officials are yet to conclude. However, they have been a lot of tongues wagging at the news of a potential ban on Bitcoin. Others are also expressing shock that the EU was willing to go in that direction to establish its regulation on proof of work.
In discussing the downside of a potential ban on the assets, the EU officials showed no concern. During the discussion, some of them highlighted that traders already knew of the risks of the market before venturing into it. The officials said there would not be any protective measures to cushion the effect on traders if the decision were to go that way.
This latest report is coming off the back of various environmental groups highlighting the effects of Bitcoin’s energy consumption. In a recent survey by the University of Cambridge, Bitcoin shaves off 139 terawatts of electricity every year. As far back as March, Chris Larsen, in conjunction with Greenpeace, tried to make the market switch consensus and follow Ethereum’s proposed move at the end of the year.
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