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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.

(Walter Zerla/Getty)
(Walter Zerla/Getty)

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.
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UPDATE (March 1, 2022, 21:15 UTC): Adds a statement.

Sandali Handagama

Sandali Handagama is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for policy and regulations, EMEA. She is an alumna of Columbia University's graduate school of journalism and has contributed to a variety of publications including The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Nation and Popular Science. Sandali doesn't own any crypto and she tweets as @iamsandali

Sandali Handagama