While bitcoin and cryptocurrency is legal to use in EU, the union may be moving towards something more strict and restrictive. There have been plenty news concerning EU's bans. Recently, it has been reported that they are planning on implementing anti money laundering rules which includes the banning of anonymous cryptocurrency accounts. They will also not be allowing privacy preserving cryptocurrencies like Monero. Article 79 of the AMLR establishes strict prohibitions on anonymous accounts [...]. Credit institutions, financial institutions, and crypto-asset service providers are prohibited from maintaining anonymous accounts, All of this will be implemented in 2026. Basically saying that they will only allow centralized crypto platforms and even then, they would have to go through very strict registration process. They implemented MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) as a framework to oversee regulatory decisions over crypto back in 2023. Under this framework it says, crypto-asset service providers need an authorisation to operate in the EU. They have to respect strong requirements to protect consumers’ wallets and will be held liable if they lose investors’ crypto-assets.

Now I am seeing speculation of whether will EU ban bitcoin or not? The EDPB ruled that a public key is personal data if it can identify, even indirectly, a natural person. This definition subjects every Bitcoin address to data protection obligations. In practice, every transaction is constrained by European law.EU might not explicitly ban bitcoin but they might be dropping incredibly strict rules on top of it making the use of crypto in their region a whole lot unattractive. If they indeed continue to be restrictive when it comes to crypto, what do you think could be the consequences especially when a lot of other countries are openly embracing bitcoin? Do you think that EU is doing the right thing or will they just go back on their words after seeing other countries get ahead with bitcoin?