Erik Thedéen, Member of the Management Board of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) finds that EU regulators should encourage the crypto industry to use crypto mining that is less energy-consuming.
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During an interview with Financial Times, Thedéen said that he finds the solution in prohibiting the main way of BTC mining, Proof-of-Work.
According to the executive, BTC mining has turned into a national problem for his native country Sweden. He added that crypto posed a risk to the realization of the goals of the Paris agreement. Erik Thedéen said that he wasn’t advocating an overall crypto ban. However, he said that there are environmental, social, and governance responsibilities for those institutions involved in the crypto industry.
Sweden has a large share of green energy due to water supply and biomass. In Thedéen’s opinion it would be ironic if it would be used for mining bitcoin.
Earlier, in November, Swedish authorities said that crypto assets using energy-incentive mining should be banned. The fin. regulator mentioned that while crypto producers are looking forward to using more green energy, the country needs to use environmentally friendly power sources for the climate transition of core services.
Based on the estimations by The University of Cambridge and Digiconomist, Bitcoin and Ether use two times more energy than Sweden uses in one year. Ether is the process of switching to Proof-of-Stake mining.
Sweden urged the EU to consider an European Union-level ban on PoW mining, saying there are other ways to mine digital assets.