Laws move slower than markets. But they hit harder. This is issue #74 of The Bitcoin Act — your Tuesday and Sunday briefing on the legal and regulatory moves that actually shape Bitcoin.

Now for today’s top stories:

🏦 Lummis warns on debanking
Lummis says never again to Chokepoint 2.0, when banks allegedly cut off Bitcoin firms.

⚖️ CLARITY Act hangs on ethics
Gallego says the bill passes only if the White House tightens rules on officials issuing tokens.

🛠️ CFTC will write rules alone
Selig has directed staff to build a market framework without Congress.

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Summer Mersinger (CEO, Blockchain Association) said Trump's White House event energized supporters before the Senate's September 15 vote on the CLARITY Act, the bill creating federal rules for crypto markets.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) warned against returning to "Chokepoint 2.0," the alleged pressuring of banks into cutting off crypto firms, Bitcoin companies included, from financial services.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said Congress can still pass the CLARITY Act, but only if the White House accepts stronger ethics language barring officials and spouses from issuing tokens.

Michael Selig (Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission) warned that if the CLARITY Act stalls, his agency will use existing authority to write its own rules for crypto asset markets.

Ji Hun Kim (CEO, Crypto Council for Innovation) argues Illinois's new 0.2% tax on firms transacting or storing digital assets is unconstitutional because no equivalent levy applies to traditional assets.

Tony Yazbeck (co-founder, The Bitcoin Way) recommends Panama as a Plan B jurisdiction, distinguishing residency, tax residency, and citizenship, and mapping three residency routes that minimize required physical presence.

Geoff Vetter (spokesman, Fairshake, a pro-crypto political action committee) claimed the group's Florida attack ads were accurate despite using mocked-up Miami Herald headlines the newspaper says misrepresented its stories.

Patrick Witt (Executive Director, President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, White House) said regulators can protect consumers without stifling innovation, praising the CFTC and SEC chairs' plans for the coming months.

Donald Trump (US President) urged the Senate to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act, objecting that proposed ethics provisions restricting officials' token issuance single him out.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee) said the Clarity Act will become law, the only questions are how and when.

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📱 885,000 – Attackers behind the Operation Asterix campaign targeted 885,000 phone numbers, pushing victims toward fake Ledger and Trezor apps built to harvest seed phrases. Cointelegraph

📬 81,172 – HM Revenue & Customs sent 81,172 warning letters, emails and text messages to cryptocurrency holders in the 2025–26 financial year over suspected underpayment of tax. BBC

₿ $6 million – The Department of Justice charged 17 Iranians whose alleged campaign included extorting Home Box Office for roughly $6 million in Bitcoin. Bitcoin Magazine

📄 $75 million – The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rule would let token issuers raise up to $75 million every twelve months without full registration. Bitcoin Magazine

🗳️ August 21 – On August 21 the California Senate amended and advanced AB 2409, restricting public officials from issuing meme coins​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. LegiScan

🇺🇿 August 24-26 — Silk Road Finance and Technology Forum 2026, Tashkent, Uzbekistan — Central Asian regulators, including Uzbekistan's central bank governor, debate tokenization, stablecoins and cross-border payment rails. Early read on how a fast-liberalizing region will treat custody.

🇧🇴 August 26-27 — BLOCKCHAIN2040 2026, FEXPOCRUZ, Santa Cruz, Bolivia — banks, governments and fintechs from 15+ countries meet on regulatory alignment across Latin America. Relevant if you are scouting the region as a Plan B jurisdiction.

🇸🇬 August 26 — Fintech Revolution Summit Singapore 2026, Orchard Hotel — a half-day session with Standard Chartered and Banque de France's Asia-Pacific chief on digital payments and open banking. Signals how Asian supervisors think about account access.

🇭🇰 August 27-28 — Bitcoin for Corporations Symposium, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre — corporate Bitcoin treasury strategy, capital raising, institutional maturity and capital markets, with Dylan LeClair among the speakers.

🇭🇰 August 27-28 — Bitcoin 2026 Hong Kong, same venue — Balaji Srinivasan and Adam Back headline, with a scheduled panel on Hong Kong's role in global Bitcoin regulation and a session on financial sovereignty.

🇬🇧 August 29-30 — BTheChange 2026, University of Glasgow — Dennis Porter of the Satoshi Action Fund, which drafts US state-level Bitcoin bills, plus on-chain analyst James Check. Two days on sound money and self-custody.

🇪🇺 Still open, closing September 30 at 23:59 CEST — European Commission MiCA review consultation, extended from August 31 — Brussels is asking whether staking, lending and borrowing need standalone rules. Any answer reshapes what European custodians can legally offer.

🇺🇸 All week — The final days before the September 15 CLARITY Act vote are approaching, with negotiations currently underway. The window to reach a deal before the vote is tight.

"Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom." — Friedrich A. Hayek

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