Crypto World
The ethics provision arrived. It expires with Trump’s term.
The language that decides crypto’s biggest bill finally exists: a ban on federal officials issuing digital assets, enforced only by the Justice Department, with penalties of $250,000 a day, and a sunset clause dated to the next president’s inauguration. Here is what the text actually does, what it carefully does not, and the vote math it has to survive this week.
Summary
- Senate Republicans released updated CLARITY Act text on Wednesday containing the long-awaited ethics provision: a ban on the president, vice president, members of Congress, and senior federal officials issuing or sponsoring digital assets while in office.
- President Trump personally signed off on the language Monday after months of deadlock, with the White House calling it the most comprehensive ethics provision in history and penalties reaching $250,000 per day.
- The design choices are the story: the ban covers issuing new assets, not holding or profiting from existing ones; enforcement belongs solely to the Justice Department, with state attorneys general expressly barred; and the entire provision sunsets on January 20, 2029, the next president’s inauguration day.
- The two Democrats whose committee votes carried the bill, Senators Alsobrooks and Gallego, oppose the released version, centering their objection on DOJ-only enforcement by a department the president’s former personal lawyer has been picked to run.
- The floor math is unchanged and unforgiving: roughly seven Democratic crossovers needed for 60 votes, a cloture motion required within days, and the August recess closing the window on the most consequential crypto bill Congress has produced.
For a year, the decisive section of the most important crypto legislation in American history did not exist. The CLARITY Act’s market-structure machinery, its asset taxonomy, its DeFi shield, its agency handoffs, was drafted, merged, and printed, while the ten or so pages that would determine whether any of it becomes law, the ethics language governing officials who profit from the industry they regulate, remained a blank space that negotiators talked around. On Wednesday the blank space filled in. Senate Republicans released updated bill text containing the provision President Trump personally accepted two days earlier, and the crypto industry, which has spent months insisting the ethics fight was a sideshow, can now read the main event. The provision bans federal officials, the president included, from issuing digital assets while in office, on penalty of up to $250,000 per day, enforced by the Department of Justice. It is, exactly as the White House advertises, the most comprehensive crypto ethics restriction ever written into American legislation. It is also a document whose three central design choices, what it covers, who enforces it, and when it dies, each preserve what the provision appears to surrender, and the senators whose votes it was written to win noticed all three before the ink dried. What follows is the close read: the text, the trade, and the arithmetic it must survive in the next several days.
What the provision actually says
The released language, provided by lead sponsor Senator Cynthia Lummis, does four things, and precision about each matters more than usual, because the gaps between them are where the politics live.
First, the ban. Federal officials, the president, vice president, and members of Congress among them, are prohibited from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies and other digital assets while in office. The verb is the provision’s load-bearing wall: issuing. An official may not launch a token, sponsor a coin, or put their name to a new digital asset offering during their tenure. The prohibition is real, and its most obvious application is retrospective in spirit: the TRUMP memecoin, launched days before the second inauguration, and World Liberty Financial’s token issuances are exactly the genre of activity the ban describes, and under this language, no sitting official could repeat them.
Second, the enforcement architecture. The Justice Department, through the attorney general, is the provision’s sole enforcer, empowered to act against officials and, notably, against crypto exchanges for violations. State attorneys general, the enforcement channel Democrats spent months demanding, are expressly excluded. This was, according to reporting on the White House’s industry briefing, the administration’s firm line: ethics rules for federal officials, the argument runs, are federal business, enforced through the federal channel, uniformly, everywhere.
Third, the penalties: up to $250,000 per day of violation, a figure designed to read as severe and to compound quickly against any sustained breach.
And fourth, the clause that will be quoted longest: the provision sunsets on January 20, 2029, inauguration day for the next president. The White House fact sheet frames the date with remarkable candor, describing the restriction as a standard President Trump chose to hold himself to, not one Congress imposed on him. The most comprehensive ethics provision in history, by its own terms, applies to precisely one presidency and expires the morning that presidency ends.
What it carefully does not say
Read the provision against the conduct that motivated it and the scope decisions come into focus, because the fit between the two is deliberate and partial.
The Office of Government Ethics disclosure released July 1 showed the president earned roughly $1.4 billion in crypto-related income in 2025, including approximately $580 million connected to World Liberty Financial, the family venture behind the WLFI token and USD1 stablecoin, with Reuters tallying the family’s crypto-linked wealth gain since the return to office above $2 billion. That income stream is the fact pattern Democrats have spent a year describing as disqualifying, Senator Warren’s phrase was brazen financial corruption, and it is worth stating plainly what the new provision does to it: nothing. The ban covers issuing new assets, not holding existing ones, not earning from ventures already launched, not the licensing income from a memecoin already trading, not the float income of a stablecoin already circulating. Every disclosed dollar of the $1.4 billion would have been earned identically under this provision, because the ventures that generate it predate the ban that would now apply. The provision forecloses the sequel while blessing the original, which is either a reasonable prospective compromise or the entire tell, depending on which caucus is reading.
The enforcement design has the same double character. Assigning federal ethics enforcement to the Justice Department is, in one light, simply constitutional hygiene: DOJ enforces federal law against federal officials, as it always has. In the other light, it assigns the policing of the president’s conduct to a department whose leadership the president selects, and the abstraction has a name attached this month: Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal defense lawyer, is his pick to run the department that would hold the sole key to this provision. Democrats’ counter-demand for state attorneys general was never really about federalism; it was about placing enforcement somewhere the restricted party cannot reach, and many state AGs have spent two years litigating against this administration. The White House’s uniform-standard argument and the Democrats’ captured-enforcer argument are both coherent. They are also irreconcilable, which is why this single design choice, more than the ban’s scope or the sunset’s date, is where the released text met its opposition.
And the sunset completes the pattern. A restriction that expires on January 20, 2029, inauguration day for the next president, binds no future president, creates no permanent norm, and, its critics note, converts what was demanded as a structural reform into a personal undertaking with a termination date. The generous reading is legislative realism: sunsets are how contested provisions pass, and a 2029 expiry simply hands the question to the next Congress with a precedent on the books. The ungenerous reading writes itself.
The reception, counted in votes
The provision’s purpose was arithmetic: convert enough of the seven-to-nine needed Democratic crossovers to reach sixty. Its first day produced the opposite motion.
Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Ruben Gallego, the only two Democrats who voted the bill out of committee and therefore the crossover coalition’s indispensable foundation, both announced they oppose the released version. Their stated objection is not the ban’s scope or the sunset; it is the enforcement monopoly. Alsobrooks, who had earlier characterized the emerging deal as an offer too unserious to support, said directly she cannot back legislation with the Justice Department as sole ethics enforcer, and pressed the state-AG demand the released text expressly forecloses. Losing the two committee Democrats on day one means the provision, as written, has so far subtracted from the coalition it was drafted to complete.
Around that core, the map is more textured than the headlines. The three-senator opposition bloc, Murphy, Merkley, Van Hollen, that organized against the merged draft remains opposed, with Warren adjacent. Senator Cortez Masto’s separate objection, that the bill’s Section 604 developer protections would impair illicit-finance enforcement, was not addressed by the revision at all, her office confirmed, meaning the ethics text resolved none of her price. But seven Democrats generally considered pro-crypto issued a joint statement that criticized the current text while conspicuously declining to rule out a deal, which is the signature of a caucus negotiating, not walling. And the administration is running the pressure campaign accordingly: an official’s on-record framing that Democrats who block the bill after the president bent over backward were never serious, Treasury Secretary Bessent’s declaration that Congress stands at the one-yard line, and an industry mobilization pointed at the same handful of offices. The blame architecture for failure is being constructed in parallel with the negotiation for success, which tells you the White House prices both outcomes as live.
Beneath the positioning sits the physics no statement changes. Sixty votes for cloture, twice, against 52 Republican seats after Senator Graham’s death, minus the expected Hawley and Paul defections, with Senator McConnell’s availability uncertain. The bill has sat eligible on the calendar since June 1; a cloture motion must be filed within days for two full Rule XXII sequences to fit before the recess in early August; and every day spent negotiating enforcement language is a day subtracted from a window that was already too small for error. The provision arrived with perhaps a week to convert its critics, and its first 24 hours converted none.
The negotiation’s fossil record
The released text is the sixth known attempt at this provision, and its predecessors explain both why the current design looks the way it does and where the remaining give might be, because each failed version marks a boundary somebody refused to cross.
The maximal Democratic version came first: divestment-grade restrictions barring senior officials and their families from owning or profiting from digital-asset ventures the government regulates, the framework behind Senator Warren’s public demands and the standing bills Democrats introduced through 2025. It never advanced, because it would have required the president’s ventures to unwind, which was always the one outcome the White House would kill the bill to avoid. Senator Van Hollen carried a narrower amendment into the Banking Committee markup in May, and it failed 13 to 11 along party lines, the cleanest recorded measurement of where the committee’s majority stood: no ethics language at all, if the majority chose. Then came the White House’s early counter-doctrine, articulated by crypto adviser Patrick Witt, that any restriction must apply uniformly to all officials rather than targeting the president or his family, a principle that sounds procedural and functions substantively, since uniform prospective rules are precisely the kind that leave existing presidential ventures untouched. A subsequent compromise attempt reportedly built around state attorneys general as enforcers collapsed when Democrats judged the surrounding package inadequate, which is the fossil that matters most now: the state-AG mechanism was, at one point, on the table with the administration’s participation, before it hardened into the red line the current text draws against it.
Read as a sequence, the record shows the negotiation ratcheting in one direction. Divestment gave way to conduct rules; conduct rules narrowed to issuance; enforcement migrated from independent channels toward the department the president staffs; and permanence gave way to a sunset dated to his departure. Each step was the price of keeping the White House at the table, and the final text is what remains after every element the administration found genuinely costly was traded away. That history is the strongest version of the Democratic objection, stronger than any single design critique: the provision is not a compromise between two positions, it is the residue of one position’s serial retreat, and senators asked to bless it are being asked to certify the retreat as sufficient. It is also, simultaneously, the strongest version of the Republican rejoinder: five failed versions prove the alternative to this text was never a stronger text, only no text, and the fossil record of a negotiation is not a menu from which the minority may now reorder. Both arguments will be made on the floor this week, about the same six documents, and the seven senators who decide the outcome have read them all.
The honest reading, both ways
Strip the spin from both camps and two true descriptions of this document coexist, which is precisely why the next week is genuinely uncertain.
The provision is a real concession. No prior Congress has enacted any statutory restriction on a president’s digital-asset conduct; this text would create the first, with the sitting president’s signature, criminalizing the exact behavior, official-sponsored token launches, that defined the current administration’s crypto entanglement. The issuing ban forecloses the next TRUMP coin, the next family stablecoin launch, the next official-adjacent token offering, for this White House and this Congress, under penalties that compound daily. Prospective-only application, federal enforcement, and sunset clauses are not scandals; they are the standard grammar of contested legislation, and Democrats demanding more were always going to be told that the perfect provision attached to a dead bill protects no one. On this reading, the deal is the achievable maximum, and the crossover Democrats’ real choice is this text plus the entire market-structure framework, or nothing plus a talking point.
The provision is also a carefully bounded one. Its scope exempts every existing revenue stream that motivated it; its enforcer answers to its principal subject; its lifespan matches his term. Each boundary was a choice, each choice was the White House’s, and the pattern of the three, together with a fact sheet that openly describes the restriction as self-imposed rather than congressionally required, supports the Democratic suspicion that the document’s function is narrative, a provision comprehensive enough to campaign on and porous enough to cost nothing. On this reading, the state-AG demand is not a detail; it is the only element that would give the text an enforcer outside the subject’s appointment power, which is why it was the one element refused.
Both readings survive contact with the text. The Senate will effectively choose between them by Friday, because the calendar has converted an interpretive question into a scheduling one. Watch three things in sequence: whether the enforcement language moves, since a hybrid mechanism, DOJ primary with any independent backstop, is the visible landing zone between Alsobrooks’s stated floor and the White House’s stated ceiling; whether a cloture motion gets filed, the only signal that leadership’s private count reached sixty; and whether the seven-Democrat statement hardens or softens as the pressure campaign lands. The blank space at the center of American crypto legislation is filled. What remains blank, for a few more days, is whether the words in it were written to pass a bill or to explain why one failed.
Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. It describes draft legislation and a fast-moving negotiation whose text, schedule, and outcome can change at any time. Nothing here predicts any legislative result. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 23, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the new ethics provision actually prohibit?
It bans federal officials, including the president, vice president, and members of Congress, from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies or other digital assets while in office, with violations subject to penalties of up to $250,000 per day. The prohibition targets new token launches and sponsorships of the kind exemplified by official-adjacent memecoin and venture-token issuances, and enforcement can reach both officials and crypto exchanges involved in violations.
Does it affect President Trump’s existing crypto income?
No. The ban covers issuing new assets, not holding or earning from existing ventures. The roughly $1.4 billion in 2025 crypto-related income shown in the July 1 ethics disclosure, including approximately $580 million connected to World Liberty Financial, derives from ventures launched before the provision would take effect, and those income streams, memecoin licensing and stablecoin operations included, continue unaffected under the released text.
Who enforces it, and why is that controversial?
The Justice Department alone, with state attorneys general expressly barred from enforcement. Democrats object that this assigns policing of the president’s conduct to a department whose leadership he selects, sharpened by the fact that Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal defense lawyer, is his pick to run it. The White House argues federal ethics rules require uniform federal enforcement. This single dispute is the stated reason the two committee Democrats oppose the released version.
What is the sunset clause?
The entire provision expires on January 20, 2029, the next president’s inauguration day. The White House fact sheet describes the restriction as a standard Trump chose to hold himself to rather than one Congress imposed, meaning the ban binds only the current presidency and creates no permanent rule. Supporters call sunsets standard legislative compromise; critics call this one the provision’s clearest tell.
Why do Senators Alsobrooks and Gallego matter so much?
They were the only Democrats to vote the bill out of committee, making them the foundation of any crossover coalition. The bill needs roughly seven Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote cloture threshold, and a path to seven that does not run through the two most supportive Democrats is difficult to construct. Both announced opposition to the released version over the DOJ-only enforcement design, meaning the provision initially subtracted from the coalition it was meant to complete.
Could the bill still pass before the recess?
Mechanically yes, barely. A cloture motion would need to be filed within days, since the bill requires two full 60-vote cloture sequences under Senate Rule XXII, each consuming most of a working week, before the recess in early August. Seven pro-crypto Democrats issued a statement criticizing the text without ruling out a deal, and a compromise on enforcement, such as a hybrid mechanism with an independent backstop, is the visible landing zone if one exists.
What happens to the provision if the bill fails?
It dies with the bill, and likely the whole framework slips substantially. Analysts and Senator Lummis have warned that missing this window could shelve market-structure legislation for years, with the current Congress expiring in January 2027. The ethics precedent, the first statutory crypto restriction on a president, would remain an unenacted draft, available to future negotiations but binding no one.
What should crypto market participants take from this?
That the bill’s fate now turns on one design dispute, enforcement, and one calendar, this week’s. The market-structure provisions the industry actually wants, asset classification, the ETP grandfather clause, the DeFi shield, are hostage to the ethics resolution, and prediction markets pricing passage below a coin flip are pricing exactly this standoff. Watch for a filed cloture motion as the definitive signal, and treat all rhetoric before it as negotiation. This is educational analysis, not investment or legal advice.
Bitcoin held near $65,000 in Asia morning hours on Friday, barely moving while nearly $800 billion evaporated from the biggest U.S. technology stocks – a rare stretch of independence for an asset that has tracked the AI trade all month.
The largest cryptocurrency traded at about $65,400, down less than 1% on the day and up 3% on the week. Ether slipped 3% to $1,879, and the rest of the majors leaned red. Dogecoin was the worst of them, down 5% on the day to $0.069 and 4% on the week. XRP fell 2% to $1.11, Solana lost 3% to $76, and Hyperliquid’s HYPE dropped to $58, down 4% over seven sessions. The moves were losses, but modest ones against what was happening in equities.
The Magnificent Seven, a colloquial term for the megacap group that has driven U.S. stocks for three years, fell 4.8% on Thursday and shed $797 billion in market value in their worst day since the tariff selloff of April 2025, according to Bloomberg.
The drop dragged the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.9%, and it left the group 11% below its late-May record, erasing $2 trillion.
Binance has added Across Protocol (ACX), Lisk (LSK) and Stacks (STX) to its Monitoring Tag list after completing its latest project reviews.
Summary
- ACX, LSK and STX now carry Binance’s Monitoring Tag and face regular listing reviews ahead.
- Binance will assess liquidity, development, security, communication and token supply before changing each token’s status.
- STX fell sharply after the announcement, while ACX showed a smaller daily decline on Binance.
The change took effect on July 24, 2026, and places the three tokens under closer checks for volatility, liquidity, development activity and operational risk. The decision does not stop spot trading or related services.
The exchange said Monitoring Tag assets carry higher volatility and risk than other listed tokens. However, the tag does not mean Binance has decided to remove ACX, LSK or STX. The company said the tokens are “at risk of no longer meeting our listing criteria and being delisted” if later reviews find continued concerns.
Binance expands its risk review list
Binance reviews tagged projects at regular intervals. Its assessment covers team commitment, development quality, trading volume, liquidity, network security and smart contract stability. The exchange also checks public communication, responses to due diligence requests and any major changes to token supply or tokenomics.
The review also considers evidence of fraud, negligence or conduct that may harm the wider market. Binance did not give a project-specific reason for adding each token. It also said other services linked to ACX, LSK and STX would remain available, while the new tags would appear shortly after the notice. Binance can later remove the tag or move toward delisting after further checks. The exchange said the process aims to ensure listed assets continue to meet its current compliance standards.
ACX, LSK and STX face market pressure
Market data showed different reactions across the three assets. At the time of writing, Binance listed STX near $0.150, down about 10.4% over 24 hours. ACX traded near $0.041 after a 2.6% decline. Separate market data placed LSK near $0.085 as traders assessed the announcement. Prices may continue to change as trading activity develops.
ACX joined Binance in December 2024 with a Seed Tag and rose about 147% after the listing announcement. More recently, Across Protocol approved a plan that gives holders a route to exchange ACX for equity in a new U.S. company or accept a USDC buyout. Binance did not say whether that restructuring influenced its decision.
Projects continue separate development plans
Lisk has also changed its network structure in recent years. The project moved from its original layer-1 model to the Optimism Superchain. As crypto.news reported, its community later considered whether to burn 100 million LSK, equal to 25% of the planned supply, or place the tokens in a long-term DAO fund.
Stacks, meanwhile, continues to develop Bitcoin-based smart contract products. The network uses STX for fees, smart contract execution and miner rewards. In 2025, digital asset custodian Hex Trust added support for STX and sBTC, expanding institutional access to the Stacks ecosystem.
The Monitoring Tag now makes Binance’s future reviews the main listing test for all three tokens. A project can later lose the tag if the exchange finds that conditions have improved. It can also face delisting if Binance decides it no longer meets the platform’s standards.
Trading remains available, and Binance said other services will not be affected. The exchange plans to update the Monitoring Tag labels after publication. It did not set a date for the next review or give a timetable for a delisting decision.
Binance added Across Protocol (ACX), Lisk (LSK), and Stacks (STX) to its Monitoring Tag on July 24, signaling all three now carry delisting risk on the world’s largest crypto exchange.
The tag marks tokens that show higher volatility and risk than other listed assets. Binance reviews these projects regularly and can delist them if they fail to meet its criteria.
Why the Binance Monitoring Tag Matters
The Monitoring Tag is Binance’s warning system for assets it deems higher risk. It does not remove a token right away.
Instead, it puts projects on notice. Binance weighs team commitment, development activity, trading volume, network stability, and tokenomics changes during each review. Evidence of fraud or negligence can also trigger the tag.
“These tokens are closely monitored, with regular reviews conducted. Keep in mind that tokens with the Monitoring Tag are at risk of no longer meeting our listing criteria and being delisted from the platform,” the exchange said.
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Token Prices Slide Amid Binance Delisting Threat
All three tokens fell sharply after the news before paring some losses. Lisk dropped to $0.074 on Binance, an all-time low.
At press time, LSK traded down 3.85% on the day. Across Protocol slid to an intraday low of $0.035, its weakest level since March.
ACX had recovered to a 1.14% loss by press time. Stacks fell to an intraday low of $0.143, its lowest since late 2020. STX showed the steepest drop of the three, down 7.05% at press time.
The tag does not guarantee removal. Still, it serves as a warning signal. The exchange added it to Beefy.Finance (BIFI) and Measurable Data Token (MDT) in June 2025.
FunToken (FUN) and Orchid (OXT) received it in March 2026. All four were confirmed for delisting from Binance in April 2026, alongside FIO Protocol (FIO) and Wanchain (WAN).
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The post 3 Altcoins Decline as Binance Flags Delisting Risk appeared first on BeInCrypto.
A federal court is set to review whether a $5 million settlement between the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Gemini should be reversed, even as Gemini co-founder Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have directed substantial Bitcoin donations to political groups supporting President Donald Trump. The latest development comes from a new disclosure by the MAGA Inc. Super PAC.
In a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing dated Monday, MAGA Inc. Super PAC reported receiving two Bitcoin contributions exceeding $5 million each on June 19—totaling $10 million in BTC—sent by the Winklevoss-run Gemini Trust Company. The donation timing overlaps with the period when the CFTC and Gemini are seeking to revisit the earlier enforcement outcome in federal court.
Key takeaways
- MAGA Inc. Super PAC’s July FEC report says Gemini Trust Company sent two Bitcoin contributions of more than $5 million each on June 19.
- The payments were made about three weeks after the CFTC and Gemini jointly filed a motion to reverse a January 2025 settlement.
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig previously characterized the original enforcement as politically targeted under the prior administration.
- A CFTC spokesperson told Cointelegraph in June that, if the court grants relief, the $5 million penalty would not be returned to Gemini.
- Separately, lawmakers have pushed the Trump White House to nominate additional CFTC commissioners as the agency prepares to oversee broader crypto-market rules.
Bitcoin donations disclosed amid court fight over Gemini settlement
According to the MAGA Inc. Super PAC report filed with the FEC, Gemini Trust Company made two separate transfers of Bitcoin on June 19. Each contribution was valued at more than $5 million, bringing the disclosed total to $10 million.
The filing indicates the super PAC can use the funds for independent expenditures supporting Trump. That matters because super PAC spending can influence elections indirectly—by funding advertising and other political activities—rather than making direct coordination with candidates.
The June 19 contributions came roughly three weeks after the CFTC and Gemini jointly moved in federal court to revisit a settlement dated to January 2025. In that earlier case, the CFTC alleged Gemini made false or misleading statements. The current joint filing seeks a reversal of that settlement in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
When the CFTC and Gemini filed their joint motion, Cointelegraph reported that CFTC Chair Michael Selig argued at the time that the enforcement during the Biden administration “politically targeted” the Winklevosses. The broader implication is that the dispute is not only about legal interpretation of statements, but also about whether the CFTC’s enforcement posture should be treated as politically motivated.
What’s known about the CFTC-Gemini motion—and what remains unanswered
While the joint motion was filed in May, Cointelegraph reported that no decision has yet been posted to the public docket. That means the court’s view on whether the settlement should be reversed is still pending.
Cointelegraph also said it reached out to the CFTC and Gemini’s counsel, Avi Perry, for comment on the $10 million contribution but did not receive an immediate response. A CFTC spokesperson, however, provided context in June about the penalty outcome: both sides “agreed that the $5 million penalty will not be returned to Gemini” if the court grants the reversal.
This point is important for market watchers because it separates two possible outcomes. Even if the settlement is overturned, the agency’s position (as relayed by a spokesperson) suggests the immediate financial consequence may not change in Gemini’s favor. In other words, the court fight may affect precedent or regulatory record more than it affects the transfer of funds already paid.
The dispute is occurring as crypto regulation in the US continues to evolve—especially around how regulators determine what constitutes improper statements and how they translate market-facing communications into enforcement actions.
Winklevoss political support spans multiple BTC donations
The MAGA Inc. disclosure is the latest entry in a broader pattern of political involvement by the Winklevoss brothers and Gemini leadership.
Cointelegraph reported that both brothers donated $1 million each to Trump’s 2024 election campaign and supported the then-candidate through social media posts. After Trump took office in January 2025, the twins attended a stablecoin payments bill signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act. They also supported American Bitcoin, a crypto mining venture associated with Trump’s sons, and contributed $21 million in Bitcoin to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC, according to earlier coverage.
These actions do not establish any legal relationship to the CFTC-Gemini case on their own. But they do intensify political attention on the timing and dynamics between regulatory enforcement, court strategy, and high-profile political backing—particularly when lawmakers are already debating the degree of independence regulators should maintain.
Concerns from lawmakers and a CFTC shaped by a lone chair
Criticism of the CFTC’s joint approach to reversal has come from members of Congress. Cointelegraph reported that Senator Elizabeth Warren, in a June letter to CFTC Chair Selig, described the joint motion for reversal and other factors as “concerning signs” of a commission influenced by political pressures and aligned interests, rather than governed strictly by rule of law and a duty to protect investors and market integrity.
At the same time, the CFTC’s internal composition remains a central policy issue. Cointelegraph noted that Selig remains the sole commissioner leading the agency, with no additional nominations announced as of Thursday. The CFTC is usually governed by a bipartisan set of five commissioners, so a one-person board structure can shape both enforcement priorities and how quickly the agency can adopt new regulatory approaches.
Many lawmakers have been urging the Trump administration to nominate additional commissioners. That pressure coincides with congressional work on crypto market structure legislation, including the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which—per Cointelegraph’s reporting—is expected to expand the CFTC’s authority in regulating and overseeing digital assets.
With the White House not yet announcing nominations, Selig effectively directs the agency’s agenda for now. That matters to investors and market participants because the CFTC’s leadership and regulatory posture can influence which enforcement theories are pursued, how compliance expectations are interpreted, and what rulemaking momentum looks like in practice.
Separately, Cointelegraph reported that as of June 30, MAGA Inc. had received more than $397 million. That figure underscores the scale of political fundraising activity around the election cycle, even as individual disclosures like the June 19 BTC transfers keep drawing scrutiny to the intersection of crypto wealth, regulation, and politics.
As the court considers whether the Gemini settlement should be reversed, the key watchpoints are whether the docket produces a ruling soon, how the CFTC frames the reversal in legal terms if relief is granted, and whether additional CFTC commissioner nominations are announced—developments that could determine how aggressively the agency’s crypto oversight evolves next.
Japan is moving closer to allowing Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The country’s first product could potentially arrive in 2028 if planned regulatory changes move forward, according to the latest Nikkei report.
The development comes after amendments approved by lawmakers that bring crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, prompting the Financial Services Agency (FSA) to begin revising investment-fund rules so investment trusts and ETFs can directly hold digital assets.
The transition also means that crypto oversight will move away from the Payment Services Act.
Bitcoin ETF Momentum Builds in Japan
Some estimates suggest Japanese Bitcoin ETFs could attract up to JPY 3 trillion by fiscal 2028. However, it is important to note that no such investment vehicle has been cleared for launch. Before any such product reaches the market, Japan must complete further regulatory revisions to permit funds offering exposure to crypto assets. Major financial firms such as SBI Holdings and Nomura are reportedly developing crypto investment products.
Community reaction was quick. One member said that the development is a “quiet policy U-turn” for Japan, which had taken a cautious approach to the industry since the collapse of Mt. Gox. A regulated spot Bitcoin ETF could eventually provide Asian investors with an easier way to gain exposure to the asset and end up influencing other countries in the region, such as South Korea, which often looks to Tokyo when shaping financial policies.
Meanwhile, the new legislation imposes harsher penalties on unregistered crypto operators. The maximum prison term has increased from three years to 10 years, while the highest fine has been raised from 3 million yen ($18,500) to 10 million yen. It also expands disclosure requirements and introduces stricter insider trading rules.
Corporate Adoption
The regulatory push also comes as corporate interest in the asset class continues to grow in Japan. Earlier this month, SBI VC Trade said more companies are adding not just Bitcoin but also XRP to their treasury holdings as the weakening yen encourages businesses to diversify their reserves. The exchange also reported higher adoption of crypto for shareholder benefit programs and growing demand for its institutional services.
Japan remains one of XRP’s strongest markets, with SBI playing a crucial role through its partnership with Ripple on cross-border payments. It recently launched Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin after regulatory approval and has filed for a product that could become the country’s first XRP ETF.
The post Bitcoin ETFs Edge Closer in Japan as Regulators Tighten Crypto Oversight appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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Wall Street Analyst Says AI Spending Arms Race Is at 15% After Tesla and Google Selloff
Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives says the artificial intelligence spending buildout is still in its early stages. He pushed back against Thursday’s selloff in Tesla and Alphabet shares.
Ives made the case on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” Both companies had just posted revenue beats, yet investors punished them for heavier AI capital spending.
“Only 15% of the Way Through”
Ives called the pullback a timing problem, not a valuation problem. Tesla (TSLA) stock fell 14.5% Thursday. Alphabet (GOOGL) slid nearly 7%, even though Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% to $24.8 billion. Ives said:
“This is an arms race that’s playing out and we’re only 15% of the way through.”
He likened the hyperscalers’ spending to early Las Vegas Strip construction. The buildings came first, he argued, and the payoff followed later. That framing runs counter to growing AI bubble fears elsewhere in tech.
Patience Wearing Thin, Not Broken
On Tesla specifically, Ives said investor patience is fading. The AI story, autonomous driving, and Optimus robotics haven’t delivered near-term payoff yet. He called Tesla’s capex spending a “gut check moment” rather than grounds to abandon the thesis.
Ives also weighed in on Musk’s broader corporate structure. He estimates better-than-80% odds that SpaceX eventually acquires Tesla, running ahead of the market. Kalshi’s prediction market currently prices around a 69% chance of a merger before 2028.
Intel reported earnings the same evening. Ives’ framing sets up a real test for next week’s Big Tech reports. Investors will find out soon whether demand data backs his “early innings” call or the market’s more skeptical read wins out.
The post Wall Street Analyst Says AI Spending Arms Race Is at 15% After Tesla and Google Selloff appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Jim Cramer laid out a framework for judging stock market crashes on Mad Money on Thursday. He said most selloffs are mechanical malfunctions worth buying, while only a handful pose real economic threats.
Cramer, the CNBC host who has traded through four decades of market cycles, compared three events to make his case. He cited Black Monday in 1987, the 2010 flash crash and the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
Mechanical Selloffs Look Scarier Than They Are
Cramer pointed to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 508-point drop on October 19, 1987, as his clearest example. That 22.6% single-day plunge became known as Black Monday.
He blamed a flawed hedging strategy called portfolio insurance for turning a bad week into a historic crash. The strategy used futures contracts to try to cap losses automatically.
He reached a similar conclusion about the 2010 flash crash. The Dow fell nearly 1,000 points in about 36 minutes on May 6, 2010. It recovered most of that loss the same day.
Cramer said a nearly identical pattern played out during the market’s sharp opening plunge in August 2015. He blamed futures-market malfunctions, not weakening fundamentals, for both events.
Systemic Crises Demand a Different Read
Cramer called the 2007-2009 financial crisis a different animal entirely. The Dow fell from its October 2007 peak above 14,000 to roughly 6,470 by early March 2009. That marked a decline of more than 54%. The index did not fully recover until 2013.
Cramer, whose own market calls have had mixed results recently, said the difference comes down to real economic damage. He cited failing banks, rising job losses and a Federal Reserve that moved too slowly at first. He credited the Fed’s later shift toward aggressive intervention with helping the market eventually find its footing.
Cramer’s takeaway is straightforward. Investors should check whether a selloff coincides with genuine economic deterioration before assuming the worst. Mechanical declines have historically reversed within months, while systemic ones can take years.
The post Jim Cramer Shares His Framework for Telling a Buyable Crash From a Real One appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Bitcoin may be nearing a more stable trading base, but at least one prominent asset manager says investors shouldn’t pin the next major upside cycle on the same drivers that defined earlier booms. In a new write-up, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan argues that the next bull market will be powered by deeper TradFi-to-crypto integration—specifically by platforms that can bring crypto’s 24/7 trading features into mainstream financial workflows.
Hougan points to Hyperliquid’s widening footprint and Robinhood’s push into crypto infrastructure as two concrete examples. In parallel, Bitwise data cited by Hougan and a separate X post from Bitwise research head Andre Dragosch suggest that “apparent demand” for BTC may be starting to improve after a prolonged period of weakness.
Key takeaways
- Matt Hougan (Bitwise) says the next crypto bull market is more likely to be driven by TradFi integrations than by purely crypto-native catalysts.
- He highlights Hyperliquid’s growing use cases across conventional assets and product expansion as a sign of broader convergence.
- Hougan sees Robinhood-related infrastructure as another bridge that could help “lift” a wide range of crypto assets.
- Bitwise’s framework for “apparent demand” indicates BTC demand may be “re-accelerating,” even as spot demand remains a recurring concern.
Why Bitwise thinks the next cycle starts in TradFi
Hougan framed his positioning thesis around the idea that the market’s next sustained expansion will come from crypto benefits becoming easier to access for traditional investors. In a blog post published Wednesday, he asked how to begin positioning for what he expects to be a new bull market and answered with a pair of entities he believes represent convergence from opposite directions.
“By looking at two entities that are leading this convergence from opposite sides: Hyperliquid and Robinhood.”
The underlying premise is that crypto’s structure—particularly constant markets and instant settlement—creates advantages that traditional finance has historically lacked. For Hougan, the key question is not whether Bitcoin will bottom, but whether new demand channels will be able to scale once mainstream firms and familiar interfaces adopt crypto trading patterns.
On Hyperliquid, Hougan emphasized that the platform’s activity is not confined to crypto pairs. According to his description, nearly half of Hyperliquid’s volume is tied to “conventional assets like oil, silver, and the S&P 500,” and the venue is reportedly expanding into spot commodities, prediction markets, and options.
That mix matters because it signals an appetite for trading experiences that look and feel familiar while still operating with crypto-native mechanics. If those flows continue to grow, Hougan argues that the effect should reach beyond isolated tokens and instead support the broader sector.
The “rising tide” thesis for majors and crypto equities
Hougan also ties his outlook to the competitive pressure from traditional financial players entering the crypto ecosystem through infrastructure and distribution. He referenced Robinhood’s “Chain layer-2 network” as an example of how legacy finance might become more directly connected to crypto market dynamics.
“I suspect the coming bull market will be big enough to lift most of the sector.”
From there, he lays out a portfolio-style approach: he says he remains bullish on major assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, while also expressing optimism about crypto equities. The common thread in his argument is that broadening participation tends to support liquidity across the market, not just the most narrative-driven names.
Hougan’s positioning aligns with his broader tone entering 2026. Earlier this year, he argued that the end of the “crypto winter” could arrive sooner than expected, and he maintained that view while markets continued to work through weakness.
BTC: “apparent demand” shows a possible reversal
While Hougan’s thesis focuses on what could power the next cycle, the day-to-day question for traders is whether Bitcoin’s demand backdrop is stabilizing. Cointelegraph previously reported that many market participants were looking for bottoming signals, but also suggested the bear phase could still have months left depending on how spot demand evolves.
In that context, the spotlight has remained on the question of whether spot buying is returning—particularly on shorter time frames where demand can appear fragile even when longer-term conditions are improving.
However, Bitwise is pointing to a different metric that may be shifting. According to an X post on Thursday by Andre Dragosch, Bitwise’s European head of research, BTC “apparent demand” is “re-accelerating.” Dragosch’s post frames the change as a meaningful departure from the prior slowdown.
What “apparent demand” means: it measures the difference between newly mined BTC and the supply that has remained inactive for at least one year. In effect, it provides a way to infer whether recently produced coins are being absorbed rather than circulating from dormant holdings.
That distinction matters for investors because a sustained improvement in apparent demand can indicate that the market is finding new buyers—even if spot volumes are not yet fully convincing across every trading window. Still, the metric is not identical to spot demand, and it won’t resolve instantly the question of where a bottom will form on price alone.
What to watch next as TradFi integration and demand signals collide
Hougan’s argument implies that even if Bitcoin’s near-term chart shows gradual stabilization, the bigger inflection point will likely depend on how quickly mainstream access and crypto trading mechanics begin to reinforce each other. Hyperliquid’s ability to attract volume tied to conventional assets and its expansion into additional derivatives-style products could provide one path, while Robinhood-related ecosystem development is another.
At the same time, BTC investors appear to be watching for whether the “re-accelerating” apparent demand signal persists beyond a short burst. If apparent demand continues to improve while broader spot demand recovers, the market may be closer to a durable transition than “bottom” headlines alone would suggest.
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans released the proposed text for the CLARITY Act, which has been met with pushback from Democrats regarding ethics provisions.
Crypto-related “wrench attacks” continued through the first half of 2026, with 52 verified incidents worldwide and $124.1 million in recorded financial exposure, according to CertiK.
Summary
- CertiK recorded 52 wrench attacks in H1 2026, with financial exposure reaching $124.1 million worldwide.
- France accounted for 33 verified incidents as Europe became main center of physical crypto attacks.
- Home invasions rose from one to 20 cases, becoming the most common attack type recorded.
The total includes stolen funds, ransom demands, frozen assets and other values tied to documented cases, rather than only money confirmed as lost.
The number of attacks rose 33.3% from 39 cases in H1 2025. Recorded financial exposure rose much faster from about $10.5 million a year earlier. CertiK calculated a 1,079% increase, while average exposure per incident climbed from roughly $270,000 to $2.39 million.
Meanwhile, the first quarter drove most of the increase in attack frequency. CertiK recorded 35 incidents in Q1 2026, compared with 22 during the same period last year. Activity then slowed to 17 verified attacks in the second quarter, matching the Q2 2025 total.
CertiK cautioned that its financial figures are “indicative, not exhaustive.” Some victims do not report attacks, while public records may not show whether ransoms were paid, recovered or frozen. The company therefore treats the $124.1 million figure as recorded exposure rather than confirmed criminal proceeds.
The report also warned against simply doubling the first-half total to predict the full year. A repeat of the H1 pace would put 2026 near 100 verified incidents, but CertiK said the calculation is not a forecast because Q1 and Q2 showed different trends.
France accounts for most verified wrench attacks
Europe recorded 39 of the 52 verified attacks, or 75% of the global total. France alone accounted for 33 incidents in CertiK’s dataset, equal to 63.5% of all verified cases worldwide and 84.6% of Europe’s total. The U.S. recorded four incidents, while Sweden and the UK recorded two each.
The French total may be higher than CertiK’s verified public dataset. The report cited France’s National Directorate of Judicial Police as recording 41 incidents between January and March. CertiK said some cases can be classified as robbery, kidnapping, assault or extortion without a clear crypto label.
As crypto.news previously reported, France has stepped up its response. Prosecutors charged 88 suspects across 12 investigations by late April, while authorities also prepared prevention measures for crypto holders after a rise in kidnappings and home invasions.
Home invasions become the leading attack method
Home invasions showed the sharpest change. CertiK recorded 20 such incidents in H1 2026, up from one in the same period last year. The category accounted for about 41% of first-half attacks. Kidnappings increased from 12 to 16, while torture remained at four cases and murder at one.
Wrench attacks rely on physical force, threats or intimidation to make victims transfer crypto, reveal private keys or unlock wallets. This can bypass digital safeguards because an attacker targets the person controlling the assets rather than the wallet software itself.
Recent cases have also involved relatives and people close to crypto holders.The wife of The Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget was targeted in an attempted kidnapping in France. Other reports have described attackers using fake delivery workers to gain access to victims.
Security spending rises as threats move offline
The increase in physical attacks has pushed some crypto companies to spend more on executive protection. As previously reported by crypto.news, Coinbase spent about $8.7 million on security and protection costs linked to CEO Brian Armstrong in 2025, while Gemini agreed to pay $400,000 per month for executive protection services.
MARA also disclosed $4.3 million in security spending connected to CEO Fred Thiel, including $430,000 for vehicle armoring. These costs have grown as public executives, investors and founders face risks tied to visible crypto wealth and personal information available online.
CertiK advised holders to limit public information connecting their identity, location and routines to crypto ownership. It also recommended separating signing devices from recovery materials, using multi-party controls for large holdings and avoiding setups in which one person can instantly move all assets under pressure.
The firm also urged families to prepare emergency plans and advised high-risk users to keep sensitive accounts off devices used while traveling. For companies, it recommended tighter controls around employee and customer data, along with security reviews for executives, travel and public events.
The H1 report shows that attack frequency slowed after the first quarter, but the financial value connected to known cases remained far above last year’s level. France accounted for most verified cases, while home invasions became the most common attack method in CertiK’s dataset.
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