Sweden insists on banning Proof-of-Work in the EU

The bitcoin exchange rate is confidently approaching the $ 43,000 mark, and it seems that in the observed global chaos, there are more and more people who want to acquire bitcoin. Recently, there has been a real outflow of cryptocurrencies from centralized exchanges and more and more people are starting to trust DEX. But in this review, I would like to talk not about the development of the industry, but about the plans of the European Union to prevent this.

Everyone has probably forgotten that the EU plans to introduce a ban on the operation of the protocol using Proof-of-Work technology, emphasizing that mining and network support pollute the environment very much. Proof-of-Work (PoW) is used when the miner's technical equipment solves complex mathematical problems. For adding a verified block to the blockchain, the miner receives a reward in the form of cryptocurrency. At the same time, a large amount of energy is spent on the entire operation. In March, a new rule that could ban the popular bitcoin cryptocurrency in the European Union was rejected. The European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted by 30 votes to 23 to exclude this provision from the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) project, a comprehensive EU regulation on digital asset management. Six members of the commission abstained from voting.

The provision under consideration at the time required all crypto assets to comply with "the EU's minimum environmental certification standards concerning their consensus mechanism used to verify transactions." For cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, whose turnover in the EU is quite high, the rule suggests a phase-out plan to transfer their consensus mechanism from Proof-of-Work to other methods that consume less energy. Let me remind you that ether already has plans to switch to the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, but it is unlikely that this option will be acceptable for bitcoin since this changes its whole essence.

Yesterday, Sweden and the EU again discussed the ban on Proof-of-Work technology. Documents published by the German website indicate continuing concerns about the environmental impact of this technology and the end has not yet been put on this issue. According to the documents, the Swedish financial regulator and the European Commission discussed the possibility of banning the technology. At a November meeting between Swedish financial and environmental regulators, as well as the European Commission's digital policy unit, a ban on trading in crypto assets such as bitcoin was discussed. Many delegates at this meeting concluded that it would be nice for bitcoin to switch to another proof-of-stake technology, apparently not quite understanding how everything works.

From the documents received by the experts, it follows that the policy of introducing a ban on this issue has not been abandoned, but continues to be worked out in full force. Swedish officials have previously made it clear that they will do everything to ban this technology for environmental reasons.

So far, there are no special "movements" on this issue in the European Commission, but in the future, even if they appear, it is unlikely to seriously affect the bitcoin exchange rate, since even at the time of the March vote, the rate of the first cryptocurrency did not suffer much. If the EU introduces this ban, there will always be those who can circumvent it - it is not a great loss for the community as a whole.

As for the technical picture of bitcoin

Today, the bulls managed to defend a large resistance level of $ 41,220, which they perfectly took control of yesterday. Against this background, the demand for bitcoin has only increased. Investors' fear is gradually decreasing as the world's first cryptocurrency moves to the $ 43,200 area, which confirms the strength of the March bull market, which has not gone anywhere. Yes, the downward correction was quite large, but the bulls coped with the task and broke above $ 41,200. The 200-day average around the $ 48,550 mark already seems not so far away, but active actions around $ 43,200 and $ 45,350 are necessary for the development of the initiative on the part of buyers. The fact that bitcoin is already beginning to gradually enjoy support from major players may soften its fall after today's speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The decline of the American stock market will surely pull bitcoin down with it. In the event of a fall in the trading instrument, only a breakdown of the $41,200 level will fail the trading instrument below the minimum of $39,290, and there you can reach up to $37,500. The bears' furthest target will be the $ 36,000 area.

As for the technical picture of the ether

The focus remains on the new resistance of $ 3,150. A break of this level will quickly return the ether to $ 3,306, and there is a 200-day moving average very close, which passes in the area of $ 3,480. Only the consolidation above will continue the upward trend for the trading instrument. The breakdown of $ 3,480 will serve as a new impulse to reach the levels of $ 3,540 and $ 3,685. In case of a return of pressure on ETH, purchases in the area of large support of $ 2,950 are not excluded. A break in this range will be a reason to go to the lows: $ 2,740 and $ 2,500, where the major players will again begin to actively act.