TL;DR Breakdown
- Lawmaker wants Spain to be a crypto mining hub after crisis in Kazakhstan.
- Blames Kazakhstan crisis for drop in Bitcoin hashrate.
- Another lawmaker says Spain cannot be Bitcoin mining hub owing to environmental issues.
Member of the Congress of Deputies from the center-right Citizens party, Maria Munoz, proposed that Spain position itself as a Bitcoin Mining Hub for miners.
The lawmaker proposed the creation of a national strategy to attract Bitcoin miners and other crypto-related activities following the protests in Kazakhstan.
Days back, protests in Kazakhstan escalated, which led to an internet blackout within the country and the subsequent drop in Bitcoin’s hashrate.
According to the female lawmaker, the global hash rate plummeted 14% within just two days due to the turmoil in the second-biggest mining hub (Kazakhstan).
The protests in Kazakhstan have repercussions all over the world, also for Bitcoin. We propose that Spain positions itself as a safe destination for investments in cryptocurrencies to develop a flexible, efficient, and safe sector. – She wrote in a Twitter post.
Last year, we proposed creating a National Strategy for Cryptocurrencies and for a high-level forum consisting of industry experts to establish a regulated market that’s also flexible, favorable and safe for the mining and usage of cryptocurrencies, she said further.
Why Spain should position to be a Bitcoin Hub – Munoz
Munoz proposed three questions hypothetically, giving her reasons the country should look into her proposal. She queried whether the government is aware of the impact that the recent drop in the global hashrate had on the cryptocurrency industry in Spain, whether the government plans to attract cryptocurrency miners that might be forced to flee due to internet blackouts in Kazakhstan and whether there is information about how energy efficient the local Bitcoin mining industry is.
However, so far her fight is not going smoothly as Ernest Urtasun, a member of the European Parliament, described her recent initiative as “a bad joke,” claiming that Bitcoin mining is damaging for the environment.
