European Parliament to vote on crypto regulation with no Bitcoin ban

The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) will vote on the final version of the cryptocurrency regulation bill on 14 March 2022.

Today I submitted the final MiCA draft. The ECON Committee will vote on this here on 14 March 2022 ➡️ Thread #MiCA

— Stefan Berger (@DrStefanBerger) March 7, 2022

According to the MiCA rapporteur Stefan Berger, the bill excludes formulations that could be interpreted as a possible ban on Bitcoin.

Further discussions concerning the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm have been moved by the lawmakers to the EU’s sustainable finance initiative — the Taxonomy, clarified Berger.

“With MiCA, the European Union can set global standards, so we urge all participants to back the presented project and vote ‘for’. A firm backing of MiCA will send a strong signal from the EU Parliament to a technologically neutral and innovative financial sector,” said the deputy.

Berger noted that the proposed bill would create “legal certainty and reliable supervisory structures in the field of crypto assets”.

ECON had planned to consider the document on 28 February, but the vote was postponed at Berger’s request because of ambiguous wording.

“For me, as rapporteur, it is crucial that MiCA is not misinterpreted as a de-facto Bitcoin ban” — he wrote at the time.

The EU Parliament’s vote on #MiCA has been postponed at my request and will not take place on 28 February. As rapporteur, it is central to me that the MiCA report is not misinterpreted as a de-facto #Bitcoin ban @btcecho 1/4

— Stefan Berger (@DrStefanBerger) February 25, 2022

After ECON’s approval, discussion of MiCA will continue at the level of the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

As noted in January, a proposal to ban Bitcoin mining in the EU and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies was floated by the leadership of one financial regulator.