The European Union published a report on Bitcoin and the BTC mining industry and its potential implications for three key sectors. The document hints at what many in the crypto space fear: the region is moving to ban Proof-of-Work within its borders.
Bitcoin Legality In Jeopardy?
According to Daniel Batten, a managing partner for CH4 Capital, the European Commission created this report through two institutions: the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The documents target Bitcoin from different angles, including its alleged negative impact on the environment, its “threat” to the region’s energy security, and its capacity to support criminal activities allegedly.
Government officials and institutions have repeated these allegations non-stop since BTC was created. However, the EU appears to be on the brink of taking action by altogether banning Proof-of-Work (PoW).
This situation has been denounced by Batten, other prominent personalities, and non-profit organizations that leverage Bitcoin to operate in parts of the world controlled by authoritarian governments. While the measure will directly affect the European region, Batten believes all crypto will suffer from this new legislation:
ESMA, who work closely with ECB (Euro Central Bank), has signalled that once the report is accepted in EU, they will push for it to become the standard in other nations. Like other wars, this war starts in EU but may not end there.
In that sense, other major economies could follow suit and attempt to ban Bitcoin and BTC mining by illegalizing PoW. To fight back against these regulations, Batten called on the community and encouraged people to avoid the “who cares what happens to those statist in EU” mentality while adding:
The EU Central Banks have the resources, knowledge of legal process, history of peer reviewed misinformation on BTC environmental impact (courtesy of DNB employee Alex de Vries). But we have 2 things on our side they’ll never have
being a movement led by values
the truth
Non Profits Speak In Favor Of Bitcoin
In his podcast, BTC educator Stephan Livera interviewed members of the Open Dialogue Foundation to discuss this issue. Livera interviewed Lyudmyla Kozlovska from the Open Dialogue Foundation and refugee Bota Jardemalie.
Both are some of the individuals who have been pushing back against the EU ban on Proof-Of-Work for over a year. As Batten, Kozlovska encouraged individuals to talk with politicians to show them BTC’s capabilities and use cases.
Kozlovska claims that speaking with politicians behind the stage, who often lack a solid understanding of cryptocurrencies, positively impacts their decisions.
It remains to be seen if the Bitcoin community can overcome this obstacle, but many are reminiscent of China and its ban on BTC. In practice, as many continue to use the cryptocurrency in the country, China failed to enforce the ban fully due to the decentralized nature of BTC. Will the EU suffer a similar fate?
You can’t actually ban bitcoin. You can only ban yourself from using it.
— Yassine Elmandjra (@yassineARK) November 2, 2021
As of this writing, the BTC price trades at $42,500 with some losses on low timeframes.
Chart from Tradingview