Laws move slower than markets. But they hit harder. This is issue #62 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:

🏛️ CLARITY Act Text Imminent
A merged Senate draft could drop next week, still without Democratic buy-in. Your self-custody and developer protections survive — or don't — in that text.

🇮🇳 India Still Leans Prohibition
The Reserve Bank of India keeps pushing to ban Bitcoin and other tokens over tax evasion, despite 39 million domestic investors.

🇫🇷 Bull Bitcoin Sues Over DAC8
Francis Pouliot challenged the EU's tax-reporting directive before France's top administrative court.

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Jesse Hamilton (policy reporter, CoinDesk) said Senate insiders expect a merged CLARITY Act draft — the market-structure bill covering Bitcoin — as soon as next week, still lacking Democratic buy-in.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged Senate leaders to preserve Section 604 of the CLARITY Act, which shields non-custodial developers — coders who never hold users' funds — from money-transmitter prosecution risk.

The Reserve Bank of India (India's central bank) still favors prohibiting Bitcoin and other tokens, arguing prohibition best curbs tax evasion and capital outflows despite 39 million domestic investors.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute (US policy think tank) moved to intervene — join as a defendant — in New York's lawsuit claiming 39,069 dormant self-custodied wallets are legally "abandoned" property.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) pushed back on Sen. Elizabeth Warren, arguing the CLARITY Act's Sections 303 and 305 enable new Iran sanctions and stop illicit funds reaching North Korea.

Michael Selig (Chair, Commodity Futures Trading Commission) warned Congress that regulators will end up "writing all the rules" for Bitcoin and the broader market if the CLARITY Act stalls.

Francis Pouliot (CEO, Bull Bitcoin) launched a challenge before France's Conseil d'État — its top administrative court — arguing DAC8, the EU tax-reporting directive, creates a surveillance database endangering users' physical safety.

Custodia Bank (Caitlin Long's Wyoming-chartered bank serving Bitcoin firms) urged the US Supreme Court to review the Federal Reserve's denial of its payment-system access.

Stand with Crypto (industry advocacy group) claimed, citing data from Bitcoin firm River, that 65% of US House members are pro-Bitcoin, with pro-Bitcoin majorities across both parties.

Liam Byrne (Labour MP, UK) advanced amendments permanently banning political donations in Bitcoin and other tokens, arguing anonymous, untraceable donations threaten the integrity of UK democracy.

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🚫 10 days – Trump refused to sign the ROAD to Housing Act, but after 10 days of presidential silence, the Constitution made it law anyway — banning a Fed CBDC. The Block

🇷🇺 $4,000 – Russia's final bill caps retail Bitcoin purchases at roughly $4,000 per year; it drops mandatory wallet-address reporting, but withdrawals to self-custody remain banned. Bitcoin.com

💰 $189 million – Industry PACs have spent $189 million on the 2026 midterms to push the CLARITY Act, the bill that would codify self-custody and developer protections. Cointelegraph

🏛️ 3-2 – New Hampshire's Executive Council voted 3-2 to reject a $100M Bitcoin-collateralized bond, which would have been backed by $160M of CleanSpark's BTC held at BitGo. The Block

🇸🇻 1 consulate – El Salvador opened an honorary consulate in Lugano, Switzerland, formalizing its Bitcoin diplomacy with the country; 25 Salvadoran students have already trained there through Plan ₿. Bitcoin News

🇺🇸 Monday, July 13 — Senate returns from recess, Washington DC — Roughly 20 working days remain before August recess: the last realistic 2026 window for the CLARITY Act, the bill codifying Bitcoin's commodity status and self-custody rights.

📄 Expected week of July 13 — Merged CLARITY Act text drops — A unified Senate Banking/Agriculture draft is anticipated. Read the self-custody and developer-protection language first; that's where horse-trading could smuggle in surveillance provisions.

🎓 July 13–17 — First Maryland Blockchain Conference, Baltimore — Broader-industry event, but Day 4 targets regulators and legislative staff — the people who'll interpret whatever rules eventually govern your stack.

⚡ Thursday, July 16 — Strong Grids, Stronger America, PubKey DC — Marty Bent (TFTC), American Bitcoin, and Cipher panelists on mining and grid policy — the energy-politics front where mining's legal treatment gets shaped.

🇬🇧 Friday, July 17 — FCA framework webinar, UK — The regulator's first live walkthrough of rules (in force October 2027) covering trading platforms and custodians. Early warning on where UK custody rules head versus the US.

🏛️ Friday, July 17 — CLARITY Act field hearing, House Financial Services Committee, New York — Livestreamed hearing on H.R. 3633. The clearest scheduled public signal on the bill's standing before any Senate floor vote.

⏰ Saturday, July 18 — GENIUS Act rulemaking deadline — A hard statutory deadline: regulators must issue stablecoin licensing, custody, and AML (anti-money-laundering) rules. Not Bitcoin — but a preview of how Treasury writes surveillance rules.

🇭🇰 Now to July 2027 — Hong Kong SFC authentication deadline — Trading platforms get 12 months to adopt phishing-resistant logins (passkeys, hardware keys), banning SMS codes. A custodial-security benchmark — and another reminder exchanges hold your data.

"He who says ‘state’ means coercion and compulsion. He who says: There should be a law concerning this matter, means: The armed men of the government should force people to do what they do not want to do, or not to do what they like." — Ludwig von Mises

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