EU May Plan Bitcoin Mining Crack Down By 2025
The European Commission doesn't like Bitcoin and plans to crack down on mining operations. A recent report includes stricter labeling of digital assets. Moreover, EU regulators may restrict electricity supplies to Bitcoin mining facilities in the bloc.
On January 31, crypto environmentalist and venture capital investor Daniel Batten shared part of a report highlighting the European Commission's plan to restrict crypto.
EU Planning on Bitcoin Ban?
According to the published part of the report, the European Union will pave the way to ban Bitcoin mining by 2025.
“While we sleep, the European Commission is creating a report that plans to label Bitcoin as environmentally harmful, a threat to EU energy security and a safe haven for financial criminals.”
According to the report (unsourced), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are leading the process.
The EC's current position on Bitcoin mining
“Environmentally damaging, labor-wasting, and outdated consensus mechanism.”
It provides additional measures to prevent mining activities. These include carbon taxes and the ability of EU members to shut off power to BTC miners for “energy security” reasons. Additionally, it officially classifies BTC as harmful to the environment.
It also empowers the ECB to issue ESG regulations around institutional investment into Bitcoin. The central bank economically encourages or “prohibits investment in Bitcoin” and related products.
In other words, the European Central Bank could use its power to effectively ban Bitcoin for EU members.
Read more: How to Withdraw Cryptocurrencies: A Step-by-Step Guide
Batten said the founders of the Open Dalog Foundation, Luda Kozlovska and Bota Jardemali, have worked hard. They are reading in every EC document and “they have been fighting this for 18 months,” he said.
He warned that this could be a model for other countries. From the ECB ESMA, which works closely with the EU, said after the report was adopted in the EU, they would “press for it to be standardized in other countries”.
“Like other wars, this one starts in the EU, but it may not end there.”
It added that the European Union's central bank has “peer-reviewed disinformation” resources, legal process expertise and a track record on Bitcoin's environmental impact.
Read more: How to build a mine: a step-by-step guide
The environmental impact FUD has been debunked
Earlier this week, BeinCrypto reported that a United Nations study on Bitcoin mining relied on out-of-date sources and investigated selective biases.
Moreover, Bitcoin's environmental impact FUD has been debunked several times in recent months. Additionally, the percentage of renewable energy used by global BTC mining operations continues to increase.
However, central banks continue to raise red flags against decentralized crypto assets as they continue to push CBDC plans.
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