Welcome to issue #46 of The Bitcoin Act, where every Tuesday and Sunday we track the legal and regulatory moves that actually shape Bitcoin, cutting through noise, narratives, and theater.

Now for today’s top stories:

₿ U.S. CLARITY Act: 40% odds 
Analyst Jaret Seiberg of TD Cowen raised the CLARITY Act's chances of becoming law to 40%.

🇿🇦 South Africa moves against Bitcoin
David Ansara, CEO of the Free Market Foundation, warns South Africa's draft regulations threaten Bitcoin ownership and self-custody.

🇳🇱 Netherlands unrealized gains tax collapsing
Senator Martin van Rooijen says he expects the Dutch Senate to reject the Box 3 wealth tax.

Jaret Seiberg (analyst, TD Cowen) raised odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law to 40% from one-in-three following Thursday's bipartisan 15-9 committee vote, citing clear Democratic interest in backing the bill.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, Massachusetts) warned the CLARITY Act will damage the economy, saying in committee: “When this blows up the economy, I hope everybody remembers”.

David Ansara (CEO, Free Market Foundation) warned South Africa's crypto draft regulations threaten Bitcoin ownership, self-custody, the right to hold your own private keys, and financial freedom through forced disclosures, warrantless seizures, and punitive penalties.

Senator Martin van Rooijen (50PLUS Party, Netherlands Senate) said he expects the Dutch Senate to reject the Box 3 overhaul, a reform to the existing wealth tax that would introduce a new annual 36% levy on unrealized investment gains, urging the government to withdraw it first.

Mark Palmer (analyst, Benchmark) warns that the CLARITY Act needs 60 Senate votes to clear a filibuster, and that the two Democratic committee votes it received fall well short of that threshold.

The Fraternal Order of Police (a U.S. law enforcement union) formally opposed a CLARITY Act provision that would exempt non-controlling Bitcoin developers from money-transfer licensing rules, arguing the exemption would help criminal actors evade prosecution.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (Republican, Wyoming) argued that the absence of a regulatory framework is what creates the risks critics cite, and said the CLARITY Act would reduce those risks by establishing clear jurisdictional rules for the SEC and CFTC.

Matt Odell and Marty Bent (co-hosts, Rabbit Hole Recap) argued that, in negotiations over the CLARITY Act, Republicans are willing to remove developer protections to get some Democrats on board. They said that without developer protections the bill offers nothing meaningful, and therefore it should be killed entirely.

Cody Carbone (CEO, The Digital Chamber, a digital asset industry trade group) said his team entered Thursday’s markup “feeling somewhat defeated” after Wednesday talks collapsed, until a last-minute deal revived the bill just minutes before the hearing.

Coin Center (a nonprofit digital currency policy research organization) reported that CLARITY Act provisions shielding Bitcoin developers who don't hold user funds from financial licensing requirements survived the Senate Banking Committee markup intact.

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🇵🇱 July 2026 – Poland passed a law implementing the EU’s MiCA framework ahead of the July deadline, which requires member states to comply or risk domestic crypto firms losing the ability to operate across the EU. The Block

☠️ $11,400,000,000 – FBI's 2025 figure for cryptocurrency fraud losses globally, the backdrop to Myanmar's new bill proposing death penalty for forcing victims into scam centers. The Block

⚖️ $344,149,759 – U.S. terrorism victims asked a Manhattan federal judge to order Tether to turn over more than $344 million in frozen USDT held in wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to enforce court judgments. The Block

🏦 27 – Number of EU and EEA countries B2C2 can now serve after becoming the first global OTC liquidity provider licensed under the EU's MiCA framework. The Block

📊 2,000+ – Total purchases in President Trump's Q1 disclosure, which included Coinbase, Strategy, and MARA Holdings stock among digital asset-related transactions. The Block

🏦 May 18 (Monday) — FDIC GENIUS Act Response Deadline — Washington, D.C. — Hard deadline for digital asset organizations to submit regulatory comments on FDIC rulemaking governing how GENIUS Act stablecoin issuers apply for federal oversight.

🖥️ May 19 (Tuesday) — Global Digital Asset Compliance 2026 Forum — Virtual — Industry event focused on translating MiCA and U.S. digital asset legislation into bank-grade compliance operations; relevant for any Bitcoin business operating across jurisdictions.

🇬🇧 May 19–20 (Tuesday–Wednesday) — OMFIF Digital Money Summit 2026 — London — Central bank and policymaker summit debating cross-border digital money architecture, wholesale CBDCs, and stablecoin frameworks; watch for signals on how institutions view Bitcoin settlement.

₿ May 22 (Friday) — Bitcoin Pizza Day — Worldwide — Annual commemoration of the first commercial Bitcoin transaction: 10,000 BTC exchanged for two pizzas on May 22, 2010, by Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz.

🇺🇸 May 22–23 (Friday–Saturday) — Bitcoin Is For Everyone Conference — Portland, Oregon — Troy Cross (Bitcoin Policy Institute Fellow, Chief Editor of The Nakamoto Project) and Win Ko Ko Aung (Human Rights Foundation) among speakers; focuses on Bitcoin access and rights. 

🇮🇪 Saturday May 23, 3:30–4:00 PM — Bitcoin Ireland Conference 2026 — Ireland — Bitcoin Policy Panel with Dave Bradley, Johannes Schmith, Morgan, and Dr. Niall Burke; watch for European Bitcoin policy analysis.

🇮🇪 Sunday May 24, 3:20–3:40 PM — Bitcoin Ireland Conference 2026 — Ireland — Robin Thatcher speaks on Bitcoin tax policy; watch for guidance relevant to European Bitcoin holders and businesses. 

“The conception of freedom under the law... rests on the contention that when we obey laws, in the sense of general abstract rules laid down irrespective of their application to us, we are not subject to another man’s will and are therefore free.” — Friedrich Hayek

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