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Europe doesn't have a large scale crypto mining industry. Energy prices aren't competitive enough there for it to be viable.

Europe's hashrate could disappear overnight and barely anyone would notice.

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It would be a good statement and might set off a chain reaction for other countries. At any rate, a country that isn't very dependent on crypto mining would be a good place to start the bans.

> At any rate, a country that isn't very dependent on crypto mining would be a good place to start the bans.

Is there any country that's dependent on crypto mining? I think you may have meant the inverse--a country that crypto mining isn't dependent on (like it was on China... until China banned it a few years ago).

The chain reaction is that other miners get more profitable when EU bans it in their jurisdiction. Then some small countries with cheap energy will invite new miners to come in and tax them.

And an easy solution will be to prohibit exchange of proof-of-work coins, first in Europe and then, maybe ecologically-minded California would join.

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