New York just became the first US state to impose a statewide moratorium on new data centers. Governor Hochul signed an executive order pausing state environmental permits for hyperscale facilities drawing 50 megawatts or more for up to a year. The order covers new discretionary permits that haven't already been deemed complete. Hochul framed it as a response to the AI computing boom threatening to hike electricity bills and drain energy and water supplies. But the moratorium is just the start. Hochul is also pushing to repeal sales tax exemptions for large data centers, create a fund that makes data centers pay into the state's aging power grid, and publish a framework that lets local governments negotiate direct payments and infrastructure funding from developers. A $19.4 billion data center proposed in Genesee County is among the projects that could get caught by the order. State lawmakers already passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act in June, which goes even further by covering facilities above 20 megawatts. Hochul hasn't signed it yet but used the executive order as a faster path to act now. New York is the first state to go this far, but the trend is spreading. Dozens of cities and counties have passed their own data center restrictions, and Arizona signed a three-year moratorium on new sales tax breaks for the facilities last month.

Ben McKenzie is on Capitol Hill lobbying senators against the CLARITY Act. You can't make this up.

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Maelstrom just added Tadge Dryja as the 6th recipient of their Bitcoin Grant Program. (tdryja) co-invented the Lightning Network, created Discreet Log Contracts, and authored Utreexo. He will be focused on research to harden bitcoin for a post-quantum era. Dryja is one of the most accomplished open-source bitcoin developers working today. Maelstrom's grants range from $50K to $150K per year, paid monthly in BTC or stablecoins. He joins five other developers on the roster.

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Rogan goes off on how the education system was literally designed to produce compliant workers, not curious humans. If AI removes the need for that, we need to completely rethink what school is for.

Bostrom calls wage labor "slavery light," you sell a third of your waking life just to pay for necessities.

Rogan pushes back on the "AI takes all jobs" panic: "Do you have to have a job? Isn't that a human invention?"

Sacramento, CA, is now inspecting residents' curbside trash and recycling bins to ensure compliance with state sorting laws. City crews will check proper separation of garbage, recyclables, and organics.

China's Supreme People's Procuratorate just published a framework for prosecuting crypto money laundering that should have everyone paying attention. The proposal would allow Chinese courts to presume criminal intent for using a mixer, a privacy coin, or an anonymous wallet, unless the suspect provides "reasonable counter-evidence." Using privacy tools shifts the burden of proof onto you. This isn't just about criminals. The framework would treat on-chain data and blockchain analytics reports as admissible evidence, allow prosecutors to build cases from circumstantial evidence as long as it forms "a coherent chain," and push for blockchain forensic analysis to become standard in crypto-related investigations. China charged over 3,000 people with crypto-related money laundering in 2024 alone. This framework would make it significantly easier to charge more. There's also a deeply ironic component. Because China banned crypto trading, authorities who seize tokens have no legal way to cash them out, leaving billions in limbo. Local governments have been quietly selling seized crypto through private firms in offshore markets. The proposal now calls for a national platform to custody and liquidate confiscated crypto through "compliant channels." The state bans you from using it, seizes it, then sells it themselves. This matters beyond China. These surveillance frameworks have a way of spreading. The EU's DAC8 directive already requires automatic reporting of client transactions across 27 member states. Governments want full visibility into every transaction, and the use of privacy tools is increasingly treated as evidence of guilt. Bitcoin was built to be permissionless and censorship-resistant. Proposals like this are exactly why those properties matter.

"They think it's too late. It's done a 100x so it's too late. They don't put in the time to understand it." - Adem Bilican Retail chases whatever the neighbor made money on.

"They don't earn enough to finance their lives. Rent is going up, insurance is going up, coffee costs double what it did three years ago." - Adem Bilican The European middle class is getting squeezed so hard they don't have the bandwidth for Bitcoin.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh: America will be richer and more productive if the current AI cycle follows the positive trends of past technology revolutions.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh told Congress on Tuesday that AI is "the most significant change in our economy in my adult lifetime." "It's a huge opportunity, but it also comes with risks and challenges."

Fed Chair Warsh says AI investment is growing so fast it will soon "just be called investment," with high-tech spending up nearly 25% in Q1 driven by data center construction and AI demand.

Fed Chair Warsh tells Congress the Fed has "no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation" and calls inflation "a choice" determined by monetary policy.

Senator Lummis on Clarity Act ethics rules: "We can't just legislate for one person… This needs to be something that will withstand the test of time." Then reminds everyone Congress let Pelosi trade stocks while in office.

Student loan severe delinquency rates went from 0% to 25% in a matter of months after the COVID-era payment pause ended. Exposed how many borrowers were only 'current' because they weren't required to pay.

The Top 10 S&P 500 stocks now make up 43% of the index while the bottom 250 account for just 8%. Market concentration hasn't been this extreme in modern history.

The White House's top crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, is taking a months-long military leave to begin Army National Guard JAG training. He wraps up next Friday and reports July 27. The timing matters. The Clarity Act is entering its most critical stretch with Senate Republicans racing to bring it to the floor before August recess, widely seen as the last realistic window to pass the bill this Congress. Witt has been the administration's chief negotiator, brokering compromises on stablecoin yield, navigating the ethics provision fight, and working with law enforcement groups on the most contested parts of the bill. The biggest bottleneck remains the ethics provisions around Trump's crypto interests. His 2025 disclosures showed over $1 billion in personal crypto income. That conflict is what's keeping Democrats from the table, and you need 7 of them to clear the filibuster. Section 604 is still under attack. That's the developer protection provision that would prevent open-source software developers from being treated as money transmitters. Law enforcement groups, prosecutors, and 160 former intelligence officials have all pushed to gut or kill it. It's arguably the most important section in the entire bill for anyone building freedom tech. Witt's deputy Harry Jung steps in and has been in the room for most of the negotiations. But losing the lead negotiator right now with the August recess clock ticking raises a real question about whether this actually gets across the finish line, and if it does, whether Section 604 survives intact.