Committee rejects proof-of-work ban

Monday’s vote by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs was on the Markets in Crypto Assets framework. The bill includes a de facto ban on proof of work, and a last minute addition.

Patrick Hansen, Unstoppable Finance’s head of strategy, stated that the committee voted against the proof-of-work ban. In a series tweets, he explained Monday.

Just recently, the ECON committee of EU Parliament voted against de-facto POW ban… Huge relief and political success for bitcoin & crypto community within the EU.

He said that 23 people voted for the amendment to the POW ban, while 30 voted against it. Six others abstained. Hansen clarified the MiCA draft’s final votes, stating that 31 voted for, 4 against and 23 abstentions.

Unstoppable Finance tweeted “We are relieved to see that the Parliament voted against a ban on proof-of-work assets for EU companies.”

Jake Chervinsky, a lawyer, noted that MiCA’s POW ban looked like “a pretext” for a Bitcoin ban.

Alternative Amendments to Crypto Assets

Hansen also stated that Stefan Berger, a member of the European Parliament, supported an alternative amendment.

The amendment states: “By January 2025, Commission shall present to European Parliament and Council, as applicable, a legislative proposition to amend Regulation (EU), 2020/852 in accordance to Article 10 of that Regulation with a view incorporating in the EU sustainable financing taxonomy all crypto asset mining activities that significantly contribute to climate change mitigation or adaptation.”

Berger tweeted that after the POW ban votes, this was a first-stage victory for MiCA. He said that EU parliament members had accepted his proposal and paved the way to future crypto regulation.

Hansen answered the question of whether proof-of-work bans are still possible.

One last option is available to the groups that were defeated in the vote. They can veto the fast-track MiCA procedure through the trilogues and bring the discussion to a plenary session of the Parliament. To do this, they need to have 1/10th of the votes in the EP.

He stated that, “Even if this MiCA regulation is not in effect, the discussion about POW regulation will continue.”