Laws move slower than markets. But they hit harder. This is issue #77 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:

🎲 Ex-Regulators Push Perps Rules
Former CFTC and SEC officials want US rules for perpetual futures, leveraged Bitcoin bets.

🪙 California Targets Memecoins
Lawmakers passed AB 2409, which would bar platforms from selling memecoins issued by public officials.

⚖️ California Advances Seizure Bill
SB 1208 passed August 28, not yet enacted. Police could have an exchange freeze your coins for 10 days without telling you.

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Former regulators including ex-CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo filed a comment letter, reported August 31, urging the SEC and CFTC to write risk-based rules for perpetual futures, leveraged bets on Bitcoin's price with no expiry date.

Kalshi sponsored the letter's drafting. Nothing is binding. Kalshi puts offshore perpetuals volume above $90 trillion in 2025. Onshoring means KYC'd US venues offering leveraged paper Bitcoin, not coins you control. Trade perps if you want, but never with sats you intend to hodl, and keep the stack cold.

Crypto in America

California's legislature unanimously passed AB 2409 on August 26 (Senate 40-0, Assembly concurrence 78-0). It awaits Newsom's decision by September 30. If signed, platforms could not offer Californians memecoins issued on or after January 1, 2027 by, or in partnership with, a federal public official or a state or local public officer.

The point is ethics, not markets: for now, officials who write the rules can sell tokens to the people those rules govern. Same test applies to the CLARITY Act's ethics addendum. Ask your senators' offices where they stand.

LegiScan

SB 1208 passed California's legislature on August 28, when the Senate concurred in the Assembly's amendments 39-0 and sent it to be engrossed and enrolled. It has not been enacted.

The bill would let police ask an exchange to freeze your coins for 10 days before obtaining a warrant, without notifying you. If your coins are seized, you would have 30 days from service to file a verified claim under penalty of perjury, backed by admissible evidence.

LegiScan

🇷🇺 Russia Opens Regulated Trading
Russia's crypto framework took effect September 1. The central bank has proposed Bitcoin, Ether and USDT as the only retail-tradable assets, capped at 300,000 rubles yearly per intermediary. Sberbank forecasts $46 billion first-year volume.

🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi Buys In
WSJ reported UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon's vehicle holds 49% of WLTC Holdings, the entity behind World Liberty's proposed US trust bank, which won preliminary OCC approval August 14. A Trump entity holds 38%.

🔦 Chainalysis Maps Abuse Networks
Chainalysis ran Operation Lighthouse with Binance, Coinbase and police including Europol. Investigators reviewed more than 29,000 crypto addresses and identifiers and generated over 14,000 leads on child-abuse networks in 125 countries.

🏦 Treasury Cuts Egyptian Bank
FinCEN proposed August 28 to strip Banque Misr's five UAE branches of correspondent accounts, the arrangements that give foreign banks dollar access, citing $1.8 billion moved by 103 suspected Iranian fronts.

🏛️ BIS Rejects Stablecoins
BIS chief Pablo Hernández de Cos told Jackson Hole on August 28 that stablecoins do not work credibly as payment at scale, backing tokenised bank deposits instead. A BIS study found issuer rules diverge sharply.

🇮🇪 Ireland Shuts Out Crypto
Ireland's finance ministry published its retail investment roadmap August 31. The tax-advantaged Investment Account launching 2027 covers shares, bonds and ETFs; crypto assets and derivatives are excluded.

🇯🇵 Japan Seeks Easier Stablecoin Filings
Japan's FSA asked in its fiscal 2027 tax reform request to scrap per-beneficiary filings for trust-type stablecoins, whose holder changes with every transfer. If lawmakers approve, it applies from April 2027.

🇩🇪 Berlin Refuses Bitcoin Ransom
Rhysida, a ransomware gang that steals files and then demands payment, says it took 5.79 terabytes from Berlin's city government. It wants 30 bitcoin or it auctions them. Mayor Kai Wegner refused.

🇬🇧 UK Gateway Opens
The FCA's authorisation window opens September 30 and runs to February 28, 2027. UK exchanges, custodians, stablecoin issuers and staking firms must apply; the mandatory regime starts October 25, 2027.

🇧🇪 Belgium Unmasks Pirate Sites
Belgium's anti-piracy unit ordered domain sellers, including Hostinger, to identify who runs illegal sports streaming sites: names, bank details, and any wallet addresses used to pay for the domains. The companies are barred from warning their customers.

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: Why exchanges demand your ID and your source of funds, and how to stay ahead of it

When a platform freezes your withdrawal and asks where your money came from, that is not the exchange being nosy. It is the Bank Secrecy Act, which makes exchanges money services businesses required to identify customers, keep records, and report suspicious activity.

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

📊 CLARITY Act signed into law in 2026? — 14% chance Polymarket

📊 Which Senators will vote for the CLARITY Act? Rand Paul — 46% Polymarket

📊 Will Trump cut corporate taxes before 2027? — 13% chance Polymarket

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