Why might Bitcoin soon become illegal in Europe?

The European Data Protection Committee (EDPB) recently integrated the Bitcoin public key into the scope of the GDPR, turning each transaction into a legal issue. Without formally banning the cryptocurrency, this approach creates a difficult gray area to navigate.

  • The European Data Protection Committee equates Bitcoin public keys with personal data, subjecting each transaction to the restrictions of the GDPR.

  • The impossibility of deleting data on the blockchain directly conflicts with the right to be forgotten required by the GDPR.#BinanceAlphaAlert

  • Without legal adaptation, bitcoin may effectively become illegal in Europe, despite the absence of a formal ban.#TradeOfTheWeek

A decision by the EDPB with feared consequences for bitcoin

The EDPB decided that a public key is personal data if it can identify, even indirectly, a natural person. This definition subjects any Bitcoin address to data protection obligations. In practice, each transaction is subject to European law.#BTC走势分析

Next, the committee states that technical impossibility cannot be invoked to justify non-compliance with the GDPR. Thus, the immutability of bitcoin cannot justify the absence of the right to erasure. The GDPR requires data suppression, but the blockchain does not provide it.#CryptoComeback

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Finally, the guidelines hypothetically mention the need to delete data, even if it involves radical measures. Some commentators interpret this as the possibility, in the absence of a technical solution, to make bitcoin inaccessible, or even consider its elimination.$BTC

This hypothesis illustrates the paradox between the demands of European law and the very nature of bitcoin.