Laws move slower than markets. But they hit harder. This is issue #82 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:

🇪🇺 Lagarde Targets Dollar Stablecoins
The ECB president reportedly pressured Greece to stall Binance's MiCA permit, fearing dollar stablecoins would weaken the digital euro project.

🇺🇸 Lummis Fires Back on CLARITY
Sen. Cynthia Lummis says Democrats voted against the CLARITY Act even though it included their own demand.

⚖️ Peirce: Software Isn't an Intermediary
Hester Peirce argues permissionless smart contracts, self-executing code for peer-to-peer trading, fall outside securities law.

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Kevin O'Leary (Shark Tank investor) expects the CLARITY Act back by mid-2027, arguing a House bill setting tax rules for staking and mining forces Congress to set market rules.

Strategy (Michael Saylor's Bitcoin treasury company) argues Bitcoin already has US legal clarity: the CFTC treats it as a commodity, the IRS as property, and the SEC approved Bitcoin ETFs.

Christine Lagarde (President, European Central Bank) reportedly intervened to delay Binance's MiCA license, the EU-wide exchange permit, fearing dollar stablecoins would undercut the digital euro, the WSJ reported.

Paul Atkins (SEC Chair) stated the SEC's new "innovation exemption," a five-year carve-out letting token versions of US stocks trade onchain, responds to Congress failing to advance the CLARITY Act.

Francis Pouliot (CEO, Bull Bitcoin) warns DAC8, the EU rule pooling users' physical addresses and transactions in a tax database, risks kidnappings; France's Council of State refused an emergency halt.

Susie Violet Ward (Director and co-founder, Bitcoin Policy UK) argues KYC, the identity checks services require, collects far more personal data than needed, creating troves that can later enable extortion.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) pushed back on Senate Democrats for voting against the CLARITY Act despite it meeting their demand that exchanges delist tokens whose issuers break disclosure rules.

Kenneth Worthington (JPMorgan analyst) said the CLARITY Act is "not fully dead," since a pending motion to reconsider allows a new Senate vote, though the window is "extremely narrow."

Hester Peirce (SEC Commissioner) argues investors need no SEC exemption to use permissionless smart contracts, self-executing code for peer-to-peer trading, because securities law targets trusted intermediaries, not software.

Patrick Witt (Executive Director, President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, White House) called the Senate's CLARITY Act vote "a failure of American leadership," warning markets may follow Brussels or Beijing rules.

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🏛️ 2 – The CFTC sent its draft crypto rules to the White House. They still need 2 commission votes to take effect. CFTC staff also cleared wallet apps to link users to derivatives markets without registering as brokers. CoinDesk

🚫 5 – The US Treasury sanctioned 5 targets, including Iranian exchange BitBank, accused of sending hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The Block

🟠 20 years – A House committee voted 28–21 to write Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. Government Bitcoin would have to be held for at least 20 years. Congress.gov

🧾 38 to 5 – A House committee backed the first federal Bitcoin tax rules. Fees of $10 or less would go untaxed. Mining and staking rewards would be ordinary income. House Ways and Means Committee

🚨 3 – French Gendarmerie identified 3 prisoners who allegedly organized kidnappings of coin holders from their cells, using social media and an outside accomplice. Cryptoast

🇺🇸 All week, closing October 20 – SEC comment window on "Regulation Crypto Assets" – The SEC's proposed token rulebook, published August 21 in the Federal Register, is open for public comment.

🇪🇺 Still open, closing September 30 – European Commission MiCA review consultation – Final stretch to weigh in on MiCA, the EU's licensing rulebook for exchanges and custodians. Custody, staking, lending and stablecoins are all under review.

🇪🇺 Still open, closing October 27 – ECB digital euro merchant call – The European Central Bank is recruiting online merchants for its digital euro pilot. Critics flag privacy and a €3,000 holding cap.

🇺🇸 Tuesday, September 22 – CoinDesk Policy & Regulation 2026, Convene Hamilton Square, Washington, D.C. – A one-day conference where lawmakers, regulators and crypto legal teams discuss the CLARITY Act, crypto tax reform and sanctions.

🇬🇧 Tuesday, September 22 – FCA authorisation webinar – The Financial Conduct Authority explains how exchanges and custodians apply for a UK license under its new regime.

🇺🇸 Tuesday–Wednesday, September 22–23 – Freedom Tech DC 2026, Washington, D.C. – The Bitcoin Policy Institute's annual summit lands right after the CLARITY Act stalled. "Freedom tech" means tools like self-custody wallets and private payments. Listen for where lawmakers stand on protecting them.

🇺🇸 Wednesday–Thursday, September 23–24 – Midwest Bitcoin Summit 2026, Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio – 3,000+ attendees expected, with Hester Peirce and state lawmakers from Illinois, Indiana and Michigan on the speaker list.

🇫🇮 Friday–Saturday, September 25–26 – BTCHEL 2026, Cable Factory, Helsinki – The Nordics' main Bitcoin-focused conference hosts Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot, who is fighting in French courts against DAC8.

"One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results." — Milton Friedman

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