What next for Bitcoin? EU scraps move that bans PoW cryptos

ambcrypto.com:

The European parliament has been mulling over cryptocurrency regulations for a couple of years now, even as a number of roadblocks have slowed down the process considerably. One such obstacle was removed earlier today, as European Union lawmakers dropped the ban on proof of work mining as an important clause of the Markets in Crypto Assets bill (MiCA).

The recently scrapped section would have made it illegal for any crypto services in the EU to list and deal in coins from blockchain networks that use the energy-intensive proof of work mining mechanism to create new tokens, including top currencies like Bitcoin and Ether. This would have essentially banned Bitcoin and any other currencies that use PoW to secure their network from most of Europe.

While the bill was set to be put to a vote on 28 February, the process was halted indefinitely after opposition erupted over the inclusion of this paragraph focused on PoW. This was revealed by lawmaker Stefan Berger on Twitter last week, who is also spearheading the MiCA bill, and noted that “it is crucial for me that the MiCA report is not misinterpreted as a de facto Bitcoin ban.”

He further noted,

“The discussion about MiCA indicates that individual passages of the draft report can be misinterpreted & understood as a POW ban. It would be fatal if the EU Parliament sent the wrong signal with a vote under these circumstances.”

He had letter referred to this move as “the death sentence for BTC in Europe,” and vowed to steer the discussion in favor of mining.

It turns out that deliberations post this halt worked in Berger’s favor, who highlighted in a tweet earlier today that the said paragraph no longer exists on the draft. However, he also pointed out that the report is yet to be