In the event of an energy shortage, the European Union is ready to follow China’s path in regulating bitcoin mining.
According to the European Commission (EC), it held consultations with 27 European Union countries and developed a common position on cryptocurrency mining in the event of an energy shortage in the region. As noted in the EC, in such a situation, the EU countries will be ready to take action that will lead to the disconnection of cryptocurrency miners, working in the 27 countries of the European Union.
Thus, Brussels intends to follow the pattern of action, which was applied last summer by Beijing, when the Chinese authorities introduced a ban on Bitcoin mining, because then the growth rate of energy demand in the country has significantly exceeded the growth of its supply.
In addition, the EC separately noted that their position is the need to abolish various benefits at the country level, if they are applied, for those companies that mine cryptocurrencies, functioning on the basis of consensus Proof-of-Work, that is, in particular bitcoins.
At the European Commission, as well as Formerly The U.S. White House was concerned about the impact of cryptocurrency mining on the environment and expressed the need to establish a system to monitor this aspect of miners’ activities. At the same time, the EC positively perceived the departure of Ethereum from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake consensus-based operation as a result of the Merge update.