Welcome to issue #45 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:

⚖️ Clarity Act Votes Thursday — Real Fight Starts After
Senate Banking Committee markup vote this Thursday. The committee vote is only the first step, the real battle will be securing 60 votes on the Senate floor.

📋 What the Clarity Act Means for Your Stack
It would classify Bitcoin as a commodity under the CFTC, legally protect self-custody and prevent developers from being classified as money transmitters.

🔓 They're Breaking Into Homes for Hardware Wallets
20-year-old sentenced to 6.5 years for physically stealing hardware wallets as part of a $250M Bitcoin theft ring.

The Senate Banking Committee votes Thursday on the Clarity Act. Back in January, Coinbase killed the first version at the last minute because Washington wanted to heavily restrict stablecoin rewards. Since then, senators, the White House, exchanges, and banking lobbyists have been in nonstop negotiations. Earlier this month, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks reached a compromise: firms can’t pay passive “bank-like” yield just for parking stablecoins, but they can offer transaction-based rewards tied to actual activity. Coinbase accepted the deal. The banks didn’t. This week, the American Bankers Association launched a full panic campaign, privately urging bank CEOs to pressure senators to stop the bill, warning it could pull deposits out of the banking system.

Meanwhile, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is scheduled to meet Senate Republicans on Wednesday, one day before the Senate Banking Committee markup vote. That committee, led by Senator Tim Scott, is the first gatekeeper: senators on the committee will debate amendments, negotiate final wording, and vote on whether the Clarity Act advances out of committee. If it passes, the Banking Committee version then gets combined with the Agriculture Committee version before heading to the full Senate floor. That’s where the real fight begins because Republicans still need at least seven Democrats to reach the 60 votes required to break a filibuster. Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand and Angela Alsobrooks are demanding ethics provisions tied to Trump family Bitcoin business interests before backing the bill, while Elizabeth Warren is attacking the proposal over anti-money laundering and DeFi concerns.

The Block

The Senate Banking Committee released the full 309-page Clarity Act on Monday, and several parts directly impact Bitcoin users. The bill classifies Bitcoin as a commodity under the CFTC instead of the SEC, which is generally seen as a more crypto-friendly regulator. It also includes the “Keep Your Coins Act,” which would prevent federal agencies from restricting the use of self-custody wallets. The proposal says that if a crypto exchange goes bankrupt, your Bitcoin legally remains your property, not the exchange’s, and exchanges must clearly disclose that before holding customer funds. The bill also protects developers building Bitcoin and crypto software from being treated as money transmitters. If passed, the rules would take effect 360 days later.

Two things that don't change for you today: nothing is law yet and self-custody remains your only sovereign option regardless of what Congress does. If this passes, it locks in legal protections. If it stalls, the gray zone continues. Either way, hold your own keys.

Senate

Marlon Ferro, 20, from Santa Ana, California, was sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison for helping run a $250 million Bitcoin theft ring. The group first used phishing scams and hacked online accounts to target victims, but when that failed, Ferro allegedly broke into homes to steal hardware wallets directly, including one case in Texas where he stole 100 Bitcoin. Prosecutors said the stolen crypto funded luxury cars worth $3.8 million and nightclub parties costing more than $500,000.

Your threat model is physical now, not just digital. Never talk about your stack publicly. Your hardware wallet location should be known by no one outside your immediate family. Use a passphrase, a stolen device without it is useless. Consider a decoy wallet with a small amount of sats. Silence is your first line of defense.

Bitcoin.com

🇧🇹 Bhutan Fast-Tracks Crypto Licensing
Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City launched a fast-track approval system for regulated Bitcoin firms, giving them quicker licenses and built-in banking access, along with major tax incentives like 0% corporate and capital gains tax for eligible companies.

🇦🇺 Australia Doubling Bitcoin Tax
Australia wants to change tax rules on crypto profits. Long-term Bitcoin and crypto investors could end up paying more taxes on gains.

🌍 Australia Seizes $4.2M in Bitcoin
Australian police seized more than $4 million in Bitcoin linked to darknet drug and money laundering activity. Two men were charged in the investigation.

🏦 Basel Rules Kill Bank Bitcoin Products
Global banking regulators introduced strict rules forcing banks to fully back Bitcoin holdings with cash reserves. This could make Bitcoin services more expensive for banks to offer.

🇰🇷 South Korea Confirms 22% Bitcoin Tax in January
South Korea confirmed a 22% tax on crypto profits above a certain amount starting next year, despite growing political opposition.

🇬🇧 Bitcoin Policy UK Enters New Chapter
Bitcoin Policy UK announced co-founder Freddie New is leaving to focus on Bitcoin Lightning Network projects. The organization said its Bitcoin policy work will continue.

🇫🇷 France Jails Two Men in Crypto Fraud Scheme
A father and son in France received five-year prison sentences for a fraud scheme that moved more than €400,000 into crypto platforms.

🇪🇺 Taurus Gets MiFID License for Tokenized Securities
Crypto firm Taurus received a European license allowing it to offer tokenized stocks, bonds, and other digital financial products across the EU.

🇫🇷 Coinhouse Gets MiCA — Goes Pan-European
French Bitcoin platform Coinhouse received official EU approval under MiCA regulations, allowing it to expand Bitcoin services across Europe.

🇹🇼 Taiwan Anchor Indicted for Taking Crypto From China to Bribe Soldiers
Taiwan charged a news anchor accused of taking crypto payments from Chinese agents to spread propaganda and help leak military information.

Every week I drop one concrete, actionable answer to a legal or political question that actually affects your life as a Bitcoiner, focused on a specific, real-world action you can take. No theory. No fluff. Just the move.

This week: How to protect yourself from wrench attacks?

A wrench attack is simple: someone knows you hold Bitcoin and physically forces you to hand it over. No need to hack you. Just a threat, a wrench, and your address. It's happening more. France has seen several high-profile cases, a Ledger executive's father was kidnapped in Paris, crypto founders have been targeted in Lyon and the Paris suburbs. Brazil, UK, and Southeast Asia are also active threat zones. The common denominator: visible wealth, loose lips, or data leaks.

Your concrete moves: 

1. Never disclose your stack. Not online, not at dinner, not to your accountant. The attack surface is always a human who knows you hold Bitcoin. 

2. Use a passphrase. Your hardware wallet has a PIN. Add a BIP39 passphrase on top, this creates a completely separate wallet. Your "decoy" wallet holds a small amount of sats. Under duress, you hand over the PIN. Your real stack is behind the passphrase. No one can prove it exists.

3. Know the legal landscape. Switzerland currently requires Bitcoin holdings to be declared in your annual wealth tax statement, that data sits in government systems that can be hacked or leaked. France considered a similar mandatory declaration law this year, it did not pass. The risk: government databases of Bitcoin holders are a ready-made target list for physical attackers. Watch which countries pass these laws.

4. Geographic awareness. France is statistically one of the highest-risk countries for Bitcoin physical attacks in Europe. If you're French and publicly known in the Bitcoin space, your home address is your biggest vulnerability. Consider a PO box for public correspondence. Never link your real address to your Bitcoin identity online.

5. Multisig for large stacks. If you hold significant sats, a 2-of-3 multisig setup means no single location holds enough to access your Bitcoin. Even under duress, you genuinely cannot hand over the full stack alone.

Got a legal or regulatory question you want answered next Tuesday? Hit reply and send it.

📊Clarity Act signed into law in 2026 — 69% Polymarket

📊 Clarity Act signed before August — 69% Kalshi

📊 Trump pardons Samourai Wallet dev before Dec 31, 2026 — 27.75% Predyx

📊 Democrats win the U.S. House in 2026 — 92% Predyx

📊 U.S. national Bitcoin reserve in 2026 — 25% Predyx

The first people to open and read this newsletter can claim 21 sats! Learn interesting things and earn sats while you’re at it! 👇

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