{"id":14482,"date":"2021-11-18T23:54:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T23:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/norway-mulls-backing-swedens-call-for-euro-ban-on-crypto-mining\/"},"modified":"2021-11-18T23:54:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T23:54:05","slug":"norway-mulls-backing-swedens-call-for-euro-ban-on-crypto-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/norway-mulls-backing-swedens-call-for-euro-ban-on-crypto-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway Mulls Backing Sweden\u2019s Call for Euro Ban on Crypto Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government in Norway is considering ways to limit the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and may support Swedish proposals to that end, including a European ban on proof-of-work mining. The European Commission has revealed it is already working to promote a transition to \u201cmore sustainable\u201d protocols. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Extensive Use of Renewable Energy for Mining Is Hard to Justify, Norway Minister Says<\/h2>\n

Authorities in Norway are mulling over potential policy measures to deal with the effects of crypto mining on the environment, the country\u2019s minister responsible for local government and regional development has indicated. As part of the review, the Norwegian government intends to look into solutions recently put forward by Swedish regulators and work for common European rules. Speaking to Euronews Next, Minister Bj\u00f8rn Arild Gram also stated:<\/p>\n

Although crypto mining and its underlying technology might represent some possible benefits in the long run, it is difficult to justify the extensive use of renewable energy today.<\/p>\n

Both countries, along with another Nordic nation, Iceland, have in the past few years become popular destinations for cryptocurrency miners. The region boasts abundant renewable energy resources and maintains relatively low electricity rates. According to Eurostat data for the first half of 2021, Norway offered the cheapest electricity for non-household consumers in the European Economic Area (EEA<\/a>), with over 90% of its energy coming from hydroelectric power generation.<\/p>\n

Bj\u00f8rn Gram\u2019s statement comes after the directors of Sweden\u2019s financial services and environmental protection agencies called for<\/a> imposing a ban on proof-of-work mining across the European Union, after a multifold increase of energy usage by bitcoin miners in the country this year. \u201cSweden needs the renewable energy targeted by crypto asset producers for the climate transition of our essential services, and increased use by miners threatens our ability to meet the Paris Agreement,\u201d the officials warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, we want our renewable energy to be used in a way that creates value and that supports the transition to a climate neutral society,\u201d Minister Gram elaborated. His comments are part of a heated discussion in Norway regarding the use of renewable energy to power digital coin minting after Oslo introduced tax breaks for data centers in 2016. The country\u2019s new environment minister, Espen Barth Eide, has in the past expressed concerns over Norway becoming the \u201cworld\u2019s Bitcoin mine\u201d at the expense of its own power-intensive industries.<\/p>\n

European Commission Urges Crypto Miners to Move Away From Proof-of-Work Concept<\/h2>\n

Regional Development Minister Bj\u00f8rn Gram did not provide any specific details regarding the regulatory policies the Norwegian government is currently considering. But if Norway decides to follow in the footsteps of Sweden, it may result in a crackdown on crypto mining operations that require significant amounts of energy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC), which would be responsible for enforcing crypto regulations in the EU, has admitted that it\u2019s already encouraging the crypto mining industry to \u201cmigrate applications\u201d from energy-intensive proof-of-work blockchains to less demanding protocols like proof-of-stake and hybrid consensus models, Euronews Next revealed. A spokesperson for the executive body told the publication that the EC is working to promote \u201cmore sustainable forms of blockchain technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission, the representative added, has \u201cambitious emission reduction targets\u201d and promotes the advancement of less energy-intensive blockchain technologies through funding for startups and direct development of a public sector blockchain network. Although the Paris Climate Agreement, referred to by Swedish regulators, does not ban crypto mining, Brussels is aware of developments in jurisdictions like China<\/a> and will discuss the matter with EU member states, the official added.<\/p>\n

Do you think Norway, Sweden, and the EU will impose restrictions on energy-intensive crypto mining? Share your expectations in the comments section below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bitcoin News
\nMining, ban, Bitcoin Miners, Bitcoin mining, Carbon, Climate, Crypto, crypto miners, crypto mining, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Electricity, electricity rates, emissions, Energy, energy resources, environment, EU, Europe, european, European Union, Hydroelectric, Iceland, Measures, Miners, mining, Norway, policies, power, Renewable Energy, restrictions, Sweden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government in Norway is considering ways to limit the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and may support Swedish proposals to that end, including a European ban on proof-of-work mining. The European Commission has revealed it is already working to promote a transition to \u201cmore sustainable\u201d protocols. Extensive Use of Renewable Energy for Mining Is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-news","category-coin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}