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	Good Wednesday morning. This is Billy Bambrough with the day's biggest bitcoin and crypto news.


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24-hour crypto market snapshot

$42,169

$3,118

$1.43

$80.63

Stuck in a rut 😑


	Cryptocurrency prices have continued to tread water over the last 24 hours even as Wall Street's main indexes fell sharply yesterday. The bitcoin price is flat at just over $42,000, the same place it's been since a sudden sell-off in early January. Ethereum is meanwhile holding above $3,000 per ether, down almost 2% since this time yesterday. Cardano, one of ethereum's biggest rivals, is leading the major market lower with a 4% slide after racking up double-digit percentage gains over the last couple of weeks. Most the remaining crypto top ten, as measured by CoinMarketCap, are down a similar amount, however, recent winner Terra's luna is continuing to break the mould, up 6%. Now listen to this: Canada’s ‘bitcoin widow’ speaks

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E.U. regulator calls for crypto mining ban ⛏️



	A bitcoin mining farm in France UIG via Getty Images


	Working hard or hardly working: A senior European Union financial regulator has called for the trading bloc to enact a ban on bitcoin's proof-of-work (PoW) mining mechanism, arguing regulators should try to nudge the crypto industry towards the less energy-intensive proof-of-stake (PoS). Erik Thedéen, vice-chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority, told the Financial Times that bitcoin mining had become a "national issue" for his native country Sweden. He also warned that PoW cryptocurrencies threaten the E.U.'s ability to meet its climate change goals. Prove it: "The solution is to ban proof-of-work," Thedéen said. "Proof-of-stake has a significantly lower energy profile." The proof-of-work mining model, used by bitcoin, ethereum and many other big blockchains, requires directing energy-intensive computers toward the network in order to solve complex mathematical problems in reward for new coins. This records transactions and secures the network against the likes of so-called 51% attacks. Proof-of-stake mining is far less energy-intensive, allowing transactions to be recorded on a blockchain by users based on how much investment—or "stake"—they have in the network. Ethereum has long planned to migrate to PoS mining model and could do as soon as this year. Many of ethereum's biggest rivals already use the PoS model. Ban wave: A crackdown on cryptocurrencies and an outright ban on crypto mining in China last year has helped popularize the idea governments and regulators could outlaw blockchain-based technologies. The China ban scattered crypto miners based there around the world. Last year, Iran announced a four-month crypto mining ban because it said it found mining was draining more than two gigawatts from the country's grid each day. ICYMI: Bitcoin mining is being banned in countries across the globe—and threatening the future of crypto By the numbers: Crypto mining is thought to account for 0.6% of the world’s total energy consumption and burns more electricity annually than Norway, according to data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. China's mining ban means bitcoin mining is now dominated by the U.S. (with a 35.4% share), Kazakhstan (18.1%) and Russia (11.23%), according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Crisis of conscience: Earlier this month, the Southeast European country Kosovo banned the mining of cryptocurrencies in an attempt to curb electricity use as it grapples with an energy crisis caused by soaring global prices. Meanwhile, Swedish authorities raised the possibility of banning crypto mining in November last year, flagging the rising amount of renewable energy being devoted to cryptocurrencies and warning "the social benefit of crypto assets is questionable." "[We call for] the E.U. to consider an E.U.-level ban on the energy-intensive mining method proof of work," the Swedish financial regulator said at the time. Now read this: Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse

Making NFTs easy 💳


	💸 Payments giant Mastercard will allow users to buy blockchain-based digital collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Coinbase’s upcoming NFT marketplace. 🗣️ "Coinbase was basically an on-ramp for crypto for many, many users," Prakash Hariramani, Coinbase senior product director for payments and commerce, said in a statement. "Millions of people were able to access bitcoin for the first time by using Coinbase. So we want to do the same thing for NFTs with Mastercard by solving the pain points—to make it as easy as possible to buy an NFT and make sure it’s the best consumer experience." 📉 Coinbase, which announced its planned NFT marketplace in October but has yet to launch the platform, has seen its stock price sink over the last few months as crypto prices slide and investors fret the latest crypto hype cycle may be coming to an end. Now read this: Congress treats bitcoin like stacks of cash

BitMex eyes European expansion 🌍


	💶 Executives at BitMex, the crypto derivatives pioneering exchange that was led by controversial cofounder Arthur Hayes until his arrest, are planning on buying a 268-year-old German bank as part of plans to expand into Europe. 🥨 The deal, still pending regulatory approval, would see BXM Operations AG, a company founded by BitMex CEO Alexander Höptner and CFO Stephan Lutz, purchase Bankhaus von der Heydt for an undisclosed amount. The bank operates across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 💬 "Through combining the regulated digital assets expertise of Bankhaus von der Heydt with the crypto innovation and scale of BitMEX, I believe we can create a regulated crypto products powerhouse in the heart of Europe," Höptner said in a statement.

	Billy Bambrough
	Forbes Senior Contributor

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business. I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.

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