Europe goes ahead in the regulation on Cryptocurrencies.

The Economic Committee of the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) on March 14. The fear of banning Bitcoin or proof-of-work cryptocurrencies seems to have dissipated for the time being.

After parliamentarians in Europe put on hold a sweeping bill to regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to tweak unpopular language, it was unclear when they would pick it up again.
Stefan Berger, the main proponent of the Directive on Crypto Asset Markets, today announced that the bill will be put to a vote in the European Parliament’s Economic Committee on March 14.

Berger, who chairs the commission, had withdrawn the MiCA from the Feb. 28 vote so he and others could redraw the bill’s wording after opponents balked at a section requiring blockchains of proof of work (POW), such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, meet “minimum standards of environmental sustainability” in order to be minted, exchanged or used in the European Union, the measure would affect both users and exchanges, custody services and operators of wallets.

The legislator suggested that it could “be misconstrued as a ban [on proof-of-work].” Ultimately, the entire passage was removed, although concerns remain in some quarters about the environmental impact of Bitcoin, which purposefully uses large amounts of electricity to secure the network.

What remains of the bill originally proposed in September 2020 remains a sizable package of regulations spanning stablecoins and cryptocurrency services. According to its authors, one of the main objectives of MiCA is “to ensure that the regulatory framework for financial services in the EU is friendly to innovation and does not pose obstacles to the application of new technologies.”

United States wants to follow Europe

On the other hand, American crypto asset platforms and service providers along with some politicians have called on the federal government to also create a framework for cryptocurrencies, so that the US fintech sector is no less attractive than the European one. This same Monday, Bloomberg reported that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, was going to sign an executive order for “this week” that would order federal agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Premiums, which will be coordinated in terms of cryptocurrency regulations.