EU reaches agreement on ‘landmark’ crypto rules

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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EU reaches agreement on ‘landmark’ crypto rules

Landmark Markets in Cryptoassets directive will set common rules across bloc
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com

The European Union (EU) has reached a provisional agreement on a landmark set of rules that will bring cryptoassets under the supervision of the European body that regulates securities markets.

Dubbed the Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) directive, the key legislation will apply broadly to the crypto sector, setting common rules across all 27 member states. It marks the first time globally that lawmakers have attempted to supervise the sector on such a scale.

Under the rules, all cryptoasset service providers — including exchanges like Coinbase and Binance as well as hedge funds trading in crypto — will have to be authorised by relevant national authorities in each jurisdiction and also the European Securities and Markets Authority before they can operate.

The EU aims to have the legislation, which will now be passed to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament before a plenary vote, in force by 2024.
 
Rasputin said:
Bitcoin mining operations will now have to disclose their energy use and prominently display information online about their environmental and climate impact. I think a lot of people will be surprised how much energy is needed to produce nothing.
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Point me to the thread where you've expressed your outrage at the environmental disaster that gold mining is. And before you say but that's useful, the overwhelming majority of gold sits in vaults gathering dust. Industrial use only accounts for a small fraction of its use.

Meanwhile, you'd be much happier to see more energy than we ever need escape the grid and remain unutilised as is happening half the time at every power plant on the planet. And lets not mention the ability of Bitcoin mining to reduce c02 emissions by making a productive use out of flared gas on remote oilfields. Or the erratic renewable wind/solar projects that can be subsidised by co-locating a Bitcoin mining farm to use that excess energy that's so often produced when the grid doesn't need it. Better not to do that - and use taxpayers money to subsidise renewables instead.
 
tecate said:
Point me to the thread where you've expressed your outrage at the environmental disaster that gold mining is. And before you say but that's useful, the overwhelming majority of gold sits in vaults gathering dust. Industrial use only accounts for a small fraction of its use.

Meanwhile, you'd be much happier to see more energy than we ever need escape the grid and remain unutilised as is happening half the time at every power plant on the planet. And lets not mention the ability of Bitcoin mining to reduce c02 emissions by making a productive use out of flared gas on remote oilfields. Or the erratic renewable wind/solar projects that can be subsidised by co-locating a Bitcoin mining farm to use that excess energy that's so often produced when the grid doesn't need it. Better not to do that - and use taxpayers money to subsidise renewables instead.
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Whataboutery much?

Honestly, there is no way to put a shine on the energy waste that is crypto currency mining.
 
newirishman said:
Whataboutery much?
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That's a cop out and a lazy response. It's more than reasonable to point out that matters related to crypto/Bitcoin are not being dealt with equitably - in this case energy use.


newirishman said:
Honestly, there is no way to put a shine on the energy waste that is crypto currency mining.
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Well you can't put any 'shine' on its energy use as per the examples I provided you with - when you just blatantly ignore them. It's just symptomatic of a lack of pragmatism in your attitude towards Bitcoin. Imagine that even in the cases where I've demonstrated that Bitcoin mining can assist in reducing c02 emissions or in subsidizing and making renewable power plants viable, you don't have the objectivity to at least acknowledge in those cases that at a minimum you wouldn't have an objection even if you disagree with the idea of Bitcoin itself. Says it all.

And beyond all of that you can scream bloody blue murder about Bitcoin mining - you could even petition the EU to blanket ban it and even if successful, it will make no earthly difference. Bitcoin mining will continue somewhere in the world at a given time.
 
Rasputin said:
Bitcoin mining operations will now have to disclose their energy use and prominently display information online about their environmental and climate impact. I think a lot of people will be surprised how much energy is needed to produce nothing.
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Criminals won't mind..
 
tecate said:
And lets not mention the ability of Bitcoin mining to reduce c02 emissions by making a productive use out of flared gas on remote oilfields. Or the erratic renewable wind/solar projects that can be subsidised by co-locating a Bitcoin mining farm to use that excess energy that's so often produced when the grid doesn't need it.
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Sounds promising, but will it be enough to meet more than the energy usage of the entire country of Argentina?
 
Firefly said:
Sounds promising, but will it be enough to meet more than the energy usage of the entire country of Argentina?
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lol...and how many countries worth of energy is squandered at power plants every day of the week, Firefly? Lets not report on that - better that its squandered than those pesky crypto degens getting their hands on it.
Bitcoin miners will lose their shirts if they can't capture the cheapest energy on the planet. With fossil fuels having been hiked up in price over recent months, that drives more and more miners towards renewables - in an industry that was already much greener than any other user of energy. But why should we dwell on those little details, right? ;)
 
tecate said:
Bitcoin miners will lose their shirts if they can't capture the cheapest energy on the planet. With fossil fuels having been hiked up in price over recent months, that drives more and more miners towards renewables - in an industry that was already much greener than any other user of energy.
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Can you provide a source for this please?
 
letitroll said:
. Eventually you just run out of the gullible.
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I disagree with the sentiment of your comment that the cryto market requires only 'the gullible" to exist, but aside from that even the statement is false, "people born yesterday" are a renewable resource.
 
DazedInPontoon said:
I disagree with the sentiment of your comment that the cryto market requires only 'the gullible" to exist, but aside from that even the statement is false, "people born yesterday" are a renewable resource.
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For sure. Digital natives in the proper sense (unlike anyone who participates on this board) are all that are coming after us. And in many ways, they will interact with crypto without actively pursuing crypto - via GameFi, NFTs and the Metaverse, etc. - to the point where a tokenised world is second nature (which it certainly isn't to anyone participating on this board).

I don't think that some participants to this discussion want to recognise that within the sector, plenty welcome the clearing out of bad actors and bad practices. It's an error to tar and feather the complete sector based on the worst cases. There are genuine folks actively working within this industry. It will be driven forward and whilst the backdrop to this bear market has new challenges that may leave crypto peeps walking on broken glass for a time, the builders in this space will do what they did last bear market - and continue to develop projects towards greater use case.
 
I find this EU response all a bit disingenuous and counterproductive. If they think bitcoin is utterly worthless as the Chinese (and I ) do, just say so and launch an educational campaign targeted at those under 35s who see it as the asset of choice. Maybe even ban it. But this trying to attack it by making it fit some KYC regs or by outing its carbon footprint is all such hypocritical waste of space - in fact it gives it credibility. MiCA indeed. What about a MIPS - Markets in Ponzi Schemes.
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Bitcoin has a price because some folk think there will be a massive killing to be had. For the vast majority of these FOMO folk a bit of KYC or a large carbon footprint doesn't matter a fig.
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I agree with comrade marmalade (o_O - second time today, this is weird)....please do ban Bitcoin in Europe and launch an "educational campaign" in line with the thinking of the CCP. (And I kid you not - the CCP has launched an "educational campaign" - unfortunately, I can't find a link to it right now).
 
I think it's around 180k people globally turn 18 (or whatever age you consider 'coming of age') every *day*. Of the number coming of age, there's a certain amount that will be interested in crypto. I don't expect this to change, even if the percentage of those people is higher in bull markets than it is in crypto-winter.

On the other side of it, how many are leaving the crypto demographic. Well since the demographic is typically young we can assume the number leaving via death or illness is quite low. Some will leave for other reasons they'll get bored, or have a bad experience or whatever. But I expect the net gain to continue.

I consider this a part of where I've been going right in my analysis. I liken it to how the video gamer demographic grew gradually over decades to the extent that the industry now dwarves the movie/TV/music industries. It wasn't because people over 25 started playing games en mass, they were never going to. It was a matter of waiting until their whole generation got replaced by gamers.
 
And on top of all of that, the assumption is being made by those on the 'crypto will fail' side of the discussion that the only interest in Bitcoin/crypto is 'number go up'. I'm currently travelling in Latin America - and checked in to an Airbnb earlier in the week where the host - an eCommerce professional - takes payment in Bitcoin for services he offers to clients worldwide. Comrade marmalade's friends at the Chinese Politburo must be winning in their fight against Bitcoin though - because when it came to Chinese clients, it seems they favoured USDT. Who knew? (you might want to raise this at the next CCP Ard Fheis Duke - as USDT is also against the rules).

The previous week, I paid some legal fees in Bitcoin in this region.

Having received payment intermittently in crypto over recent years, I - alongside 250 other souls that contract to the same company - now receive monthly payments in Bitcoin. Whilst admittedly we're still at an early stage in getting crypto into the hands of the Latin masses, in my circle out here, everyone has some positive touchpoint or other with digital currency. Meanwhile, Nubank - a Latin take on Revolut - has just enabled Bitcoin buy/sell/hold facility for its 50 million customers. But there's nothing to see here at all.
 
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