European Parliament Committee Rejects Bitcoin Ban

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has reportedly rejected a bill that aimed to ban Bitcoin (BTC) in the European Union. According to Patrick Hansen, the Head of Growth and Strategy at Unstoppable DeFi, 32 members of the Parliament voted against, and 24 were in favour.

The report noted that the majority of MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP), the European Conservatives and Reformists (ERC), Renew Europe (Renew) and Identity and Democracy (ID) voted against it. In contrast, a minority of MEPs from Greens, S&D and GUE mainly voted in favor.

“Big relief & political success for the bitcoin & crypto community in the EU,” Hansen said. However, he added that the MICA regulation would likely no longer address mining but instead add the issue to the EU sustainable finance taxonomy.

Next in the Parliament is that during the so-called 'trilogues' between the EU Commission/Parliament/Council, the MiCA draft will be negotiated. The law will go into effect after their final agreement (in a couple of months). However, companies will have a six-month transition period to comply with the requirements.

Amendment Approved

Stefan Berger proposed an alternative amendment that does not restrict Bitcoin mining, which was approved by the MEPs.

“Any chances left for the POW-ban? The groups that lost the vote have one last option. They could veto a fast-track procedure of MiCA through the trilogues & bring the discussion to the plenary of the Parliament. They need 1/10 of the votes of the EP to do so, which they have,” Hansen pointed out. He added: “That would bring the discussion around POW into the high-level policy arena. As we can’t predict how that would play out, it should be prevented. Even if it doesn’t change the vote on POW, it would unnecessarily delay the regulation for at least a couple of months.”