Laws move slower than markets. But they hit harder. This is issue #87 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:

🏛️ Trump Backs Data Center Dividends
Trump floated data center dividends for host towns, echoing a Bitcoin Policy Institute proposal.

📈 Deals Boom Without CLARITY
Industry deals hit a record $9.7 billion in 2026's first half without the CLARITY Act. Agencies are filling the gap with reversible rules.

🗳️ Election Clock on Tax Bills
A House committee advanced a Bitcoin tax bill 38-5 and Daines filed one in the Senate. Neither is law; unsigned bills die in January.

After meeting about 40 tech leaders at the White House, President Trump said data center builders should share gains with host towns, including dividends for residents. No bill, order or funding mechanism exists yet.

A Bitcoin think tank now has its ideas in the President's mouth on compute and power, the same local fights Bitcoin miners face. BPI's model tops out at $8,900 a year per rural household.

Bitcoin Policy Institute on X

Disclosed crypto M&A hit a record $9.7 billion in the first half of 2026, before the Senate blocked CLARITY on Sept. 15. Bankers told CoinDesk they still expect acquisitions where agencies have already set rules. Passage this year looks unlikely, so the binding rules remain agency guidance a later administration can revise.

Passage this year now looks unlikely, so Bitcoin's rules come from agencies, which can reverse course under the next administration. The SEC's Oct. 1 custody proposal targets how investment firms hold client coins, not keys you hold yourself.

CoinDesk

Americans vote on Nov. 3. Polls point to Democrats flipping the House; the Senate is a tossup. Bitcoin tax bills are moving: House Ways and Means, the House's tax-writing committee, advanced one 38-5, and Steve Daines introduced a Senate bill last week. Neither is law.

Any Bitcoin tax bill not signed by early January dies with this Congress, and the next one starts over. Until then, every spend or swap of sats stays a taxable event under current IRS rules.

CoinDesk

🇬🇧 The "Bitcoin Account" Jab
UK Chancellor John Healey called Reform leader Nigel Farage "Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account." Farage has pledged to cut capital gains tax on crypto and create a Bank of England Bitcoin reserve.

🚫 Hamas Network Sanctioned
The US Treasury sanctioned two France-based fundraisers, their two charities and a Gaza-based Hamas commander on Oct. 2. The network raised over $2 million since 2020, sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto.

🇨🇭 FINMA Eases Data Sharing
FINMA, Switzerland's regulator, is consulting until Nov. 27 on rules for banks and other supervised firms sending non-public data straight to foreign authorities.

🌍 States Outpace People
About 8% of countries now buy or hold Bitcoin, versus an estimated 5% of people, says analyst Willy Woo. The US leads, all from seizures.

🌐 Wallet Rules Go Global
The Bitcoin Policy Institute's international team says global standards reach Bitcoin users everywhere, policymakers must separate Bitcoin from other tokens, and curbing self-hosted wallets, ones you control yourself, risks a two-tier system.

📵 India Pulls Bitchat
Jack Dorsey says India's government had Bitchat, the offline Bluetooth messenger, removed from the App Store. In July, India ordered GitHub to delete its code after Delhi protesters used it during internet blackouts.

🇸🇻 Not a State Wallet
El Salvador's Bitcoin Office says the state won't operate any wallet since Chivo's sale, rejecting reports on Sivar, a stablecoin remittance app. Developer Modveon cites a five-year contract with a public agency.

🧊 Tether Freezes Iran Funds
Tether says it helped US authorities freeze nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT in 2026. The two batches it detailed, $344 million in April and $130 million in July, total about $474 million.

🇪🇺 Digital Euro Talks
EU institutions are in trilogue on the digital euro, the ECB's planned state currency. Parliament wants merchants no worse off on fees; the Council proposes fee caps based on comparable payments.

🇯🇵 Japan Freezes Russian Assets
Japan froze assets of 33 Russian entities and nine individuals on Oct. 2 and restricted services to 35 vessels. Payments and capital transactions with listed parties now require permission under Japan's Foreign Exchange Act.

Every week I answer one real question about Bitcoin law, regulation, or policy that affects your life as a stacker. No fluff. Just signal.

This week: Who actually regulates Bitcoin in the US, the UK, Switzerland and India?

None of these countries regulates Bitcoin itself; they regulate the firms that touch it. Self-custody sits outside every licensing regime below, though tax rules still apply.

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

📊 Indiana enacts data center moratorium by December 31, 2026? — 4% Polymarket

📊 Will Mamdani pass the 2% Millionaire Tax before 2027? — 3% Polymarket

📊 Trump eliminates capital gains tax on crypto by December 31, 2026? — 2% Polymarket

New: be one of the first 10 to open this newsletter and claim 210 sats! Learn interesting things and get paid for being quick! 👇

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” — Milton Friedman

Share The Bitcoin Act. Unlock the files.

Every rank opens one chapter of a five-part series on the legal history of money, from the day America banned gold to the headline Satoshi wrote into block zero.

1 referral: Pleb. Executive Order 6102.
3 referrals: Node Runner. The Confiscation Files.
5 referrals: Cypherpunk. Code Is Speech.
10 referrals: Sovereign. The Debasement Files.
21 referrals: Satoshi's Circle. The Genesis Block, Read as a Legal Document.

You've referred {{rp_num_referrals}} so far.

Your link: {{rp_refer_url}}