Proof-of-Hypocrisy: Securities Regulator Calls for Bitcoin Mining Ban in EU, Promotes PoS
A leading EU financial regulator wants the union to “ban” proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining and force tokens into proof-of-stake (PoS) paradigms, while the EU itself and the traditional finance sector are reportedly less environment-friendly than Bitcoin (BTC) when it comes to electricity consumption.
The comments came from Erik Thedéen, the Vice-Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority, the chair of sustainable finance for the International Organization of Securities Commissions, and the Director-General of Sweden’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), who was speaking to the Financial Times. Thedéen redoubled previous claims that Bitcoin mining has now become a “national issue” in Sweden.
Thedéen’s remarks echoed those made in a joint statement from the FSA and thenation’s Environmental Protection Agency last year, when the bodies claimed that only a total ban on PoW mining could help the country meet its Paris Agreement goals – despite a rebuttal of this claim from the nation’s state-owned power provider.
Thedéen was quoted as stating:
“The solution is to ban proof-of-work. Proof-of-stake has a significantly lower energy profile. We need to have a discussion about shifting the industry to a more efficient technology.”
(Learn more: 'Fiat-Like' Proof-of-Stake Chains Favor Centralization & Rich Players)
He also stated that BTC mining should not be allowed to eat up large portions of the nation’s renewable power supply.
Last year, Eric Wall, Chief Investment Officer at crypto hedge fund Arcane Assets, took aim at the “armchair googling” activities of Thedéen’s “poorly researched” claims.
Thedéen claimed that he was not in favor of a “wholesale ban” on crypto, however, as “the financial industry and a lot of large
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