The Swedish government is seeking the European Union to ban energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining systems like Bitcoin’s.
During a recent debate on legislation to remove Proof of Work mining, EU officials addressed the anticipated ban on Bitcoin trading with their Swedish colleagues, according to papers obtained through a freedom of information request.
Such behaviors, according to officials, cannot be tolerated at a time when all states must urgently reduce their energy consumption in order to combat climate change.
POW To POS (BTC POW To POS)
Unnamed forum members suggested that bitcoin should be encouraged to transition to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) system, as rivals such as Ethereum have done, and that he did not “see the requirement to ‘protect’ the bitcoin community.”
Proof of work is heavily used in cryptocurrency mining, both to verify transactions and to create new coins.
Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions can be done safely without the intervention of a third party thanks to proof of work.
The amount of energy required to perform proof-of-work grows exponentially with each additional miner.
Proof of Stake (POS) is one of a number of novel consensus mechanisms that have been developed to replace proof of work.
Bitcoin Mining Causes ‘Economic Damage’
In early November, Björn Risinger and Erik Thedéen, directors of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, respectively, sent an open letter to the EU warning of the country’s serious economic damage caused by crypto mining.
Energy consumption related with crypto mining in Sweden increased “multi-hundredfold” between April and August 2021. Officials estimate that this equals to the energy consumption of 200,000 households.
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