EU: Bitcoin mining is completely legal

According to a notice on the European Parliament's official website, Gabriel responded to the question submitted to the parliament.
Electricity consumption is growing
Gabriel pointed out that the EU Digital Economy and Society Committee is aware of the concerns that the growing electricity consumption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a whole brings to social development.
The issue is particularly relevant in the case of Bitcoin mining, where activity is concentrated in China. Although two-thirds of mining takes place in China, according to some forecasts, activity in other regions has increased.
The statement points out that there is currently no legal basis to prohibit or restrict energy consumption within the EU. However, given that electricity consumption is an economic activity, it is subject to EU regulations applicable to energy efficiency, the electricity sector and greenhouse gas emissions. The EU Emissions Trading System covers greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector.
The statement noted that cryptocurrency mining can bring high valuations to cryptocurrencies. Increasing electricity consumption and costs could increase the value of cryptocurrencies and slow down the growing market demand.
Mining is legal
The commission has not taken any steps to track cryptocurrency mining, as it is not illegal, but will examine its impact on energy demand.
Gabriel’s statement further noted that it is critical that many of the promising applications of blockchain technology do not require huge amounts of electricity.
In January, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told the World Economic Forum that bitcoin mining was too energy-intensive. Many analysts and environmentalists have raised alarms about the industry’s electricity use, and she said bitcoin mining had become a “big problem” given the global response to climate change.
Explore blockchain technology
The European Commission announced plans to establish an EU Blockchain Observatory last year in response to the European Parliament's vision to strengthen technical expertise and regulatory capacity. The project will include an observatory and a forum to collect relevant data on distributed ledger technology and blockchain technology. Its goal is to build a knowledge resource for forward-looking blockchain topics and develop use cases across the EU.
Another objective is to assist the European Community (EC) in defining the role of governments in encouraging such innovative technologies and the formulation of relevant policies.