EU’s MiCA Vote Today Could Ban Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrencies

The latest draft of the European Union’s (EU) Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) report still contains a provision that could limit the usage of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. The proposed crypto legislation or the MiCA framework is set to be voted by a European Parliament committee on Monday. New Amendments on EU Crypto Legislation A previous draft of the MiCA framework contained a provision that proposed a prohibition of cryptocurrencies that relies on environmentally unsustainable proof-of-work consensus mechanisms starting from January 2025. The provisions were ultimately stripped, but according to statements made over the weekend, a more ‘watered-down provision’ appears to have been included once again. A compromised version, also dubbed ‘v9’ states that “Crypto-assets shall be subject to minimum environmental sustainability standards with respect to their consensus mechanism used for validating transactions, before being issued, offered or admitted to trading in the Union.” “Crypto-assets that are issued, offered or admitted to trading in the Union before [please insert the date of entry into force of this Regulation] shall set up and maintain a phased rollout plan to ensure compliance with such requirements,” the text also states. It also says that energy-intensive crypto assets that are already in use in the EU before the legislation comes into effect, will have to “set up and maintain a phased rollout plan to ensure com...