The SEC just sent its proposed custody-rule changes to the White House. That matters because the rules governing how investment advisers safeguard client assets may finally be rewritten to account for Bitcoin. The proposal is now under OIRA review. The problem is structural. The SEC’s custody framework was built around conventional assets. Investment advisers have asked how they can hold Bitcoin for clients while complying with those rules. The SEC now says the framework needs modernization. “Custody” sounds simple. Legally, it means an adviser has possession or control of client assets. The proposed rulemaking would address how that concept applies when the asset is Bitcoin rather than a conventional security. The SEC’s stated objective is not simply to loosen custody rules. It says the proposal would clarify custody requirements while removing provisions it considers outdated where they no longer provide needed investor protection. That distinction matters. The proposal is not law. OIRA review is part of the federal regulatory process. The SEC would still need to formally propose the rule and complete the required rulemaking process before anything becomes binding. For advisers, the practical question is becoming clearer: Can custody law recognize Bitcoin’s actual custody architecture without forcing it into rules designed for entirely different assets? That is the question this rulemaking is trying to answer. And custody is only one piece of the legal picture. The rules around Bitcoin are moving across agencies, legislation, enforcement and tax. Keeping track of each change separately is how important details get missed. That’s exactly what I built The Bitcoin Act for. A free newsletter focused on Bitcoin law, regulation and policy. If you want the legal signal without the noise: →

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The Bitcoin Act is the first newsletter covering Bitcoin regulation, sovereignty, and legal developments — and rewards you with 21 sats every iss...

Mathematics > Politics

Treasury just put a Bitcoin address on the Iran sanctions list. Same week: 11 families of 9/11 victims are challenging the DOJ’s right to keep 11,000+ BTC seized from a trafficking ring, claiming the coins trace to an Iran-China network the government left out of its case. Today’s issue also covers: → the $667K wrench-attack laundering trail ZachXBT just cracked → Illinois getting sued a second time over its 0.2% broker tax → every country moving on Bitcoin rules this week — Pakistan, Russia, Nigeria, and more Link in bio.

Bitcoin is the only crypto that matters. Everything else is noise.

Bitcoin doesn’t care. 🧡

Trump just told the Senate to pass a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act. His real objection: the ethics language would stop him and his family from issuing tokens. Today’s issue of The Bitcoin Act breaks it down, plus: → 885,000 phone numbers targeted in a fake wallet-app scam → how many warning letters one government just sent to bitcoin holders over unpaid tax → every legal + bitcoin event on the calendar this week Link in bio.

Divorce papers incoming but my stack stays intact! 😂

The White House hosted crypto executives this week and pushed Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. What did actually move: the SEC proposed its first crypto-specific fundraising rule in the agency’s 90-year history. Tomorrow’s issue: → What the experts are actually saying about this week’s biggest legal developments, beyond the headlines → Numbers of the Week: the odds, the dollar figures, and the deadlines actually shaping policy → Every Bitcoin + law date on next week’s calendar Opening tomorrow’s issue the second it lands? Drop a 🧡 below.

The more they try to control it, the more it scatters! 🧡

Bitcoin understanding it’s literally the only uncorrelated asset left in a collapsing financial system. 👇

Building The Bitcoin Act in public and this keeps hitting me: I’d rather have a few hundred real Bitcoiners who open every issue and actually reply… than 50k silent scrollers who just like and move on. Big audiences are fiat vanity. 
Tight circles of people who give a fuck are Bitcoin. Signal over noise. Always. Who else is choosing the small, locked-in community over the numbers game? 👇

Me knowing exactly where every sat is, and that nobody can take it from me👇

The CLARITY Act is back on the clock. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt says he is “optimistic and bullish” ahead of the Senate’s planned Sept. 15 cloture vote. But two major fights remain: stablecoin rewards and Trump-related ethics rules. 2/7 Why Sept. 15 matters: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has scheduled a cloture vote on the CLARITY Act. That is a procedural vote to advance the bill, not a final vote to make it law. The bill still has a long road after that. 3/7 The stablecoin fight looked settled. Sens. Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks negotiated a compromise limiting rewards for simply holding stablecoins while preserving certain transaction-based rewards. Now Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott says the issue is back. 4/7 That distinction matters. The legal question is not simply: “Can stablecoins earn rewards?” It is whether a reward is effectively the same as paying interest on a bank deposit. That line could have major consequences for crypto platforms, banks and users. 5/7 Then there is the ethics fight. Democrats want stronger restrictions addressing Trump and other public officials’ crypto conflicts. The proposal would restrict public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, while still allowing investment. The details remain contested. 6/7 The bigger legal picture: CLARITY would establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and define responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC. But until Congress passes it and the president signs it, none of this is settled law. That distinction matters. 7/7 So here is the real September question: Can lawmakers resolve stablecoin rewards and crypto ethics while finding the votes needed to move the bill? Patrick Witt is bullish. The legislation still has to survive Congress. For bi-weekly, plain-English analysis of the laws shaping Bitcoin and crypto, subscribe to The Bitcoin Act:

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Real talk, did you buy Bitcoin as an investment or as insurance against the system? 👇

A police letter could freeze your exchange account for 10 days. No judge. No notice. No conviction required to keep your coins after. California moved SB 1208 to the Assembly floor: probable cause seizure, forfeiture without a charge. Issue #73 is out. Also inside: → Norway's pension fund quietly hit 11,549 BTC → The OFAC list your custodian checks before you can even touch a payment → Why September 15 matters more than Wednesday's White House meeting Does your state have a law like California's? Tell me below. 👇

Bitcoin is dead" has been declared over 400 times now. How many times have you personally seen this headline? 👇

Regulation headlines = kitten energy. Stacking sats through all of it = tiger energy.

France's tax agency just leaked the names, home addresses and declared income of 678,437 people. The state collected that data by law, then lost it. In the country that leads the world in wrench attacks. Your KYC form is not a safety measure. It is a list. And lists get stolen. Issue #72 of The Bitcoin Act is live. Also inside: 🗽 New York's Republican candidate for governor is running on abolishing the BitLicense 🇮🇪 Ireland's new AML strategy adds checks on transfers involving privately held wallets 🏛️ Trump and the CFTC chair meet industry executives Wednesday to open federal market-rule talks Two issues a week. Free. Link in the first reply. Serious question for the room: should tax agencies be allowed to hold holdings data at all? 👇

Up or down, still smiling, still stacking. Who else is built like this? 🟠

Trump is meeting crypto executives at the White House on Wednesday. CFTC Chair Michael Selig will be there too. And this is happening just ONE day before the CFTC’s first major Innovation Advisory Committee meeting, while the CLARITY Act is stalled in the Senate. Most people will watch the headlines. I’m watching the legal power being built underneath them. Tomorrow’s The Bitcoin Act breaks down what this actually means for Bitcoin, what the people closest to these issues are saying, the key legal numbers from this week, and the events next week that could matter. There are a lot of them. If you care about Bitcoin beyond the price, this is the stuff you need to see before it becomes obvious. And yes, just like every week: The first person to open tomorrow’s issue gets 2,100 sats. Be early. ₿