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The vice president of the European Securities and Markets Authority calls for a ban on proof-of-work (PoW) mining in Europe. Proof of Stake (PoS) seems more appropriate to you.
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Proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining should be banned in the European Union (EU), according to European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Vice President Erik Thedéen.
Thedéen said that EU regulators should push the crypto industry towards less energy-consuming proof-of-stake (PoS) mining in an interview with the Financial Times.
“The solution is to ban proof of work”, He said. “Proof-of-stake has a significantly lower energy profile.”
He is not the only one to say this, the important thing about his statements is that he is being made by such a high-ranking official. For several years, a comparison has been made between both types of mining, showing that the pow consumes too much energy, even more than that of many countries. In fact, we reported earlier this month that the United States Congress itself is preparing a hearing to discuss the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
An October 2021 report from the University of Cambridge shows that the United States – and not China due to bans – is the country to be crowned the world’s largest Bitcoin mining power.
According to that same report, the European Union does not currently represent a particularly important part of the proof-of-work mining industry. the mining of Bitcoin it is currently dominated by the US (35.4% share), Kazakhstan (18.1%) and Russia (11.23%).
However, with China’s mining ban last year, there may be concerns among European regulators that more miners will seek to stay in Europe.
PoW vs. POS
The proof-of-work (PoW) model involves miners using dozens of powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems in order to record transactions on the blockchain and be rewarded with new coins. The two largest cryptocurrencies in the world, Bitcoin Y EtherThey use this model.
For its part, proof-of-stake (PoS) mining requires less power in that users earn the right to record transactions based on the amount of investment, or “stake,” they have in the network. Ether has plans to migrate to a proof-of-stake model later this year (an announcement that has been delayed).
Sources: Financial Times, Coindesk, archive
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