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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/us-house-passes-bitcoin-crypto-market-structure-bill-the-clarity-act
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/bitcoin-standard-treasury-to-go-public-with-30021-btc-in-spac-merger
https://decrypt.co/330683/e-bike-maker-shares-soar-135-percent-500-million-bitcoin-treasury-plan
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/russias-sberbank-plans-to-launch-bitcoin-and-crypto-custody-services
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Good morning. From high up in the Rocky Rocky Mountains, this is your host David Bennett with the Bitcoin and news program. It's a podcast where I give you all the Bitcoin news. It's all the news that you can use and a whole lot more. We got Trump. I I guess he's just gonna executive order the ability for four zero one k's to, oh, I get into Bitcoin. And then where what else we got? We got we got yeah. The genius act passed. The Genius Act passed along with, I might add, the Clarity Act and the anti CBDC bill passed. We're gonna talk all about that one.
And then and then that Adam Back led Bitcoin Treasury company, I got I've got a full blown story on that one. Yesterday, it was just a kind of a rumor mill going on, but it's actually gonna happen. Another company has got it gotten into the Bitcoin treasury plan business, and their stock just skyrocketed. And then the largest Russian bank is going to launch, Bitcoin and custody services. But first first, I wanna talk to you a little bit about where I am right now because and and I'm just gonna mention it because of what I saw yesterday. I saw and have been seeing more dead dead wood, but completely accessible because people are taking down trees.
There's, like, you know, there's a lot of beetle strike up here in in the mountains, and so there's a lot of people that are having to to cut down some trees in their yards. Not not I'm not even talking about going up into the forest like with Forest Walker. I'm talking about just the sheer amount of wood that I saw hauled off yesterday. I could have been making biochar, like, for three three straight weeks. I just at the feedstock is free. My neighbor is having to take an entire truckload. And I when I mean truckload, I mean, like, a huge gooseneck trailer load. Probably it probably holds about a yard, you know, three foot by three foot by three foot of of just straight up material.
That's a lot of material. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is a lot of material. Has to take it and pay money as a tipping fee to throw it in a hole along with a whole bunch of other stuff where they will eventually douse it in diesel, light it on fire, and let it burn to ash. And it's just stupid. It's just the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I could be making biochar out of that stuff. And I was talking to my neighbor about it, and he goes, well, what's stopping you? And I'm like, I don't know, man. There's something wrong with me, I guess. But it can happen.
It can happen, man. I I I I could find myself up here permanently one of these days just making biochar out of the crap people have to pay to throw in a hole and light on fire. Okay. So president Trump, as I've promised, has is planning to open four zero one k's to Bitcoin, crypto, gold, and private equity. This is, I guess, according to the Financial Times, but this report is written by Oscar Ziranga Perez out of Bitcoin magazine. So Financial Times reported today that the orange man, president Trump, is preparing to sign an executive order, an executive order no less, that would allow four zero one k retirement plans to invest in alternative assets such as gold, private equity, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Quote, Donald Trump is preparing to open the 9,000,000,000,000 now $9,000,000,000,000, that's trillion with a t, United States retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans' savings are managed reported the Financial Times. And according to the Financial Times, the order is expected this week this week and will direct federal regulators to remove all barriers preventing four zero one k plans from including these nontraditional investments in managed funds. Now this this includes assets, metals, private loans, infrastructure deals, corporate buyout funds, etcetera, etcetera. Quote, president Trump is committed to restoring prosperity for everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future, said the White House in a statement to the Financial Times, further, quote, no decisions should be deemed official, however, unless they come from president Trump himself, end quote.
Trump's move builds on his administration's earlier efforts to ease Bitcoin and crypto regulations in May. The Department of Labor reversed a rule that discouraged Bitcoin and other crypto in retirement plans. Trump has also supported recent Bitcoin and other crypto related bills passed by the house and credited the industry with helping him win the twenty twenty four election. The executive order could benefit major private investments firms such as Blackstone, Apollo, and BlackRock according to the Financial Times, which have all pinned much of their future growth on investing money on behalf of retirement savers. Quote, Blackstone has struck a partnership with Vanguard, while Apollo and Partners Group are among firms that will offer investments to empower a large four zero one k plan sponsor.
Empower is actually the name of the sponsor company. Okay? So BlackRock, though, has already begun working with Great Gray Trust, a third party manager of retirement savings plans, stated the Financial Times. Okay. So this is actually huge. If if he does it, I mean, you know, orange man says things, and and every once in a while, he'll he'll execute on them, but I, we'll we'll have to see. But if he does do it, that's kinda that's kinda huge because that in conjunction with what's coming up next, the genius act, is extra huge.
Let's get through this. Jesse Coughlin coined Telegraph, Genius Act heads to Trump's desk and hears what will change. President Donald Trump is one signature away from enacting a bill to regulate stablecoins that will dictate how issuers of the tokens must be regulated to serve The US market. The US House passed three crypto bills on Thursday, including the Genius Act, a bachronym. What the hell is a bachronym? Okay. I guess they're saying an acronym, including the Genius Act, an acronym for guiding and establishing national innovation for US Stablecoins Act. Now the bill originated from the senate, so it only now needs Trump's signature to become law, which is expected to take place at 02:30PM today in Washington DC during a signing ceremony according to reporter Eleanor Tarrant.
The law will come into effect eighteen months after oh, shit. Eighteen months after Trump signs it or one hundred and twenty days after the so called primary federal payment stablecoin regulators, including the Treasury and Federal Reserve, issue final regulations implementing the Genius Act. Logan Payne, a crypto focused lawyer at Winston and Strachan, told Cointelegraph that the Genius Act creates an incentive for stablecoin issuers to seek a banking license. He said a new stablecoin license under the Genius Act limits a company's activities to, quote, purely stablecoin issuance, but most stablecoin issuers do much more than that. Quote, pretty much every stablecoin issuer inside The United States issuing under US law right now engages in activities outside of the scope of that license, Payne said.
Even if an issuer gets a Genius Act approved license, Payne said that they still need state level money transmission licenses to operate nationally. That creates an incentive for Stablecoin issuers to apply for a National Trust Bank charter with the office of the comptroller of the currency like Circle and Cripple have done. I god, I hate Cripple. Quote, which allows for them to engage in stablecoin issuance plus a wider range of activities, but without having to get state to state licenses, he said. A contentious part of the bill, to some crypto users is a section that bans stablecoin issuers, both foreign and regulated under US laws, from giving holders and users any interest or yield.
Yield offerings are one of the biggest marketing devices for stablecoins to pull in users. Some offer yields natively for holders, while others like Circle's USDC reward those holding the stablecoin on exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken, quote, I would be unsurprised to see a lot of those arrangements change or be modified moving forward, Payne said. Payne also said that the Genius Act could inject uncertainty into decentralized finance over how platforms are to handle stablecoins. Quote, how the Genius Act will impact DeFi is intentionally a bit unaddressed at now well, for now at least, he said. Quote, there's still going to be a lot of uncertainty.
But in a general policy environment, if it continues, we'll start to have some of the answers being given over time. Paine said, quote, additional legislation and then also regulation that fills in some of the gaps that will address DeFi will come over the next few years. One is the Clarity Act, a bill that classifies types of digital assets which authorities will regulate, which the house passed on the senate on Thursday. So like I said, the Clarity Act definitely got passed along with the Genius Act. But the Genius Act says, permitted stablecoin issuers have to back their tokens one to one with reserves of US Dollars or other monetary products such as treasury bills. What have I been saying for weeks and months and months now?
Stablecoins are going to export United States debt issuance. That's how that's how it's going to work. That wasn't I don't think that that was planned when people like Tether's ginned up their first stablecoin. I don't think that was in the cards. But I guarantee you The United States is looking at stablecoins as a vehicle to save the dollar. And it's gonna work for a while, maybe even for for the next ten years. Who knows? But, well, let's move on. Three years after this bill is signed, it will outlaw any stablecoins that don't come come from an approved issuer from being offered in The United States. It will also be illegal for foreign issued stablecoins to be offered in The United States unless the issuer of that stablecoin can and will comply with the bill's legal requirements.
The bill gives a host of carve outs for foreign stablecoin users, including the treasury, if the treasury determines that the country in which they're based has a comparable regulatory regime. If that's the case, foreign issuers can serve The US market if they successfully register with the OCC, the office of the comptroller of the currency, which will answer within thirty days and hold sufficient reserves in a US financial institution to cover their United States customers. The bill also allows for multiple types of regulated entities such as banks, credit unions, and non banks to issue stablecoins and create a dual federal and state legal framework to police them.
These entities, depending on their type, will be regulated by either the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury, or the federal reserve. Notably, entities can choose to be regulated at the state level if they don't have over $10,000,000,000 in issued stablecoins, but a state does not have to create a stablecoin regulator. So there you go. That's what the Genius Act is gonna do. And given that there's now clarity with not only the Genius Act, but the the actual Clarity Act passing, along with Trump threatening to sign an executive order to allow Bitcoin to be directly purchased by four zero one k's, I I I just I I don't see how we I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't I don't wanna jinx anything, but I'm really bullish on this.
The declared in the Genius Act is now going to allow all the people that have been waiting on the sidelines, and I mean, in institutions. All the people in institutions have been waiting on the sidelines because they won't. They didn't wanna touch Bitcoin at all because there was just regulatory uncertainty. There's so much regulatory certainty at this point. I just all these people are gonna they have no reason to sit on the sidelines anymore. So I don't know, man. Be prepared. And you can be prepared with Leathermint wallets. Go get a wallet at the leathermint.com.
That's the leathermint,all1word,.com. Use code Bitcoin and for a 10% off on all purchases at the leathermint.com. The wallets are awesome. But you know what else he's got? He made a Bitcoin standard. The the Bitcoin standard book. Right? The Bitcoin standard written by was that Safe? Yeah. Safe, Dean. But he bound it in leather. It's a it's a leather bound the Bitcoin standard book. It's hand built. So go pick one up because you're gonna get a great book, and it's also gonna be like a collector's item. The Bitcoin standard hand hand built leather cover for this thing is just I mean, it just looks awesome. He did a great job on this. He also has some of the best wallets I've ever seen.
All of his goods, you can get 10% off if you use Bitcoin and as the coupon code at the leathermint.com. Go to the leathermint.com. Get yourself a belt, watch band, wallet, book. I mean, he's he's got it all. He's got it all. Now onto the Clarity Act. Now, again, we're gonna talk about this we we got finished with the Genius Act. Let's talk about the Clarity Act because the US House has passed Bitcoin crypto market structure bill, also known as the Clarity Act. This is from Oscar Perez at Bitcoin Magazine. The United States House of Representatives have officially passed the Clarity Act by a vote of 294 to 134, a major step toward creating a clear regulatory framework for digital commodities like Bitcoin.
Quote, the Clarity Act helps us get there by adding consumer protection into law and setting clear guidelines for digital asset managers, stated congressman John Rose. Quote, it also establishes guardrails for federal agencies who have too often stepped outside their statutory authority in recent years, especially with cryptocurrencies. The the bill offers modern solutions to a modern financial sector that grows in popularity and relevance by the hour, end quote. The legislation aims to define and divide regulatory oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, establishing clear rules in a complex digital asset market.
With the final house vote now complete, the bill will advance to the senate. Okay. So it still has to go to the senate for further consideration. Quote, this bill helps a strong pro growth framework that gives innovators certainty that will bring digital assets back to The United States, said congressman Addison McDowell, quote, a key step to making America the crypto capital of the world. If it is passed by the senate, the Clarity Act would mark a significant milestone in the federal government's approach to Bitcoin and crypto regulation, which aims to support innovation while addressing regulatory uncertainty that has long challenged the industry.
At present, there is no established market structure to protect consumers or provide clear rules of the road for businesses and innovators, stated congressman Don Davis. Quote, it's a wild, wild west. Congress must deliver market structure legislation that brings clarity. Millions of Americans are holding cryptocurrency, using it in financial transactions, or using other digital tokens as part of new innovative technologies and services. There must be consumer protections, and The United States must lead, said congressman Don Davis. So there you go. A little bit of suit speak there for you right before we run the numbers.
Futures and commodities from CNBC. I got West Texas Intermediate crude up over a point to $68.32. Britney is up just under one full point to $70 and 2 dimes. Natural gas, it bucking the trend again today. It looks like it's up 2.17% to $3.61 per thousand cubic feet. Gasoline is up a quarter of a point to $2.17 a gallon. Shiny metal rocks are doing very well today. Gold is up point 6% to thirty three sixty six. Silver is up point 84%. Platinum is up 1.7. Copper is up a half, and palladium is up 3.87%. Most of ag, is in the green today. Biggest winner is chocolate.
Let's see. Yeah. Chocolate, 4.79%. The only one in the red today is coffee. It's down half a point. Meanwhile, live cattle is unchanged, lean hogs unchanged, and feeder cattle is unchanged. I don't know. That seems like it's probably a glitch in the system. The Dow is up a quarter of a point as is the S and P. Nasdaq is up point 12%, and the S and P Mini is up just under one half of a point. Bitcoin is at a $118,780. That is a let's see. What's a my screen on Clark Moody's dashboard has changed because I'm on a different computer, so I gotta look for it. There is, you can get 35.3 ounces of shiny metal rocks with your one Bitcoin of which there are 19,893,813 and 1 third of.
And let's see. Where is where's my other stuff? Good lord. I can't find it. Oh, well. We'll just move on to the mempool, which looks like it has about 10 blocks carrying 100 and or no. 14,000, transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of 1 satoshi per v byte. Low priority is gonna get you in also at 1 satoshis per v byte. Hash rate has fallen just a little bit. We are at 898.2 exahashes per second. Now from yesterday's Bitcoin and episode, high country Bitcoin, I got Psyduck with 734. Sats says Psyduck. Progressively worse with a row of eights. 8,888 sat says, here's the missing sat that didn't go through with the boost. Okay. So that was from yesterday, I guess.
Let's see. Yeah. I didn't I didn't get any boost from yesterday's show. It was probably because it just got up too late. Who knows? But listen. Hold on. I guess I wanna check something here. Abilitic. We'll let it go. Okay. So let's move on to part two of the news that you can use. Bitcoin standard treasury to go public with 30,021 BTC in a SPAC merger. This is Jenna Montgomery from Bitcoin Magazine. Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company has announced a definitive agreement to go public through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald, Upa, u u p o h.
I maybe that mean oh, hold on. Yeah. Sorry. There there was a spot on my screen, and it covered up the fact that it's that word is upon. Upon completion, BSTR, Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, will launch with 30,021 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, positioning it as the fourth largest public Bitcoin treasury in the world. Wow. Starting out at number four, the new equity will be led by doctor Adam Bak, CEO and founder cofounder of Blockstream, and Sean Bill, an institutional investor known for driving one of the first Bitcoin allocations by a United States public pension fund. Quote, as a long time Bitcoin advocate, Kantor is incredibly proud to partner with doctor Bak, one of Bitcoin's leading luminaries to launch BSTR, said Brandon Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Kantor Equity Partners Incorporated and chairman of Kantor Fitzgerald Limited Partners.
This historic transaction marks yet another step towards the integration of the Bitcoin economy and traditional finance. The deal includes up to 1,500,000,000.0 in pipe or private investment in public equity financing, the largest ever announced in conjunction with the Bitcoin Treasury special purpose acquisition company merger, and it comprises $400,000,000 in common equity, up to 750,000,000 in convertible notes, up to 350,000,000 in convertible preferred stock, 5,021 Bitcoin from in kind to pipe contributions, 25,000 Bitcoin from founding shareholders advised by Blockstream Capital, and up to $200,000,000 from CEPO subject to redemptions.
Quote, Bitcoin was created as sound money, and BSTR is being created to bring that same integrity to modern capital markets, said doctor Back, quote, by securing both fiat and Bitcoin funding on day one, including the first convertible preferred round announced in conjunction with the Bitcoin Treasury SPAC merger, we are putting unprecedented firepower behind a single mission, maximizing, Bitcoin ownership per share while accelerating real world Bitcoin adoption. I'm grateful for the trust of the Bitcoin OG community and for the unwavering support of Cantor Fitzgerald.
This announcement lines up with the July 15 report stating that Cantor Fitzgerald was nearing a $4,000,000,000 deal with Adam Back, and today's announcement confirms those details with Bak contributing up to 30,000 Bitcoin valued at over $3,000,000,000 in exchange for equity in the newly renamed BSTR Holdings. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Proceeds will be used to acquire additional Bitcoin and build Bitcoin native capital markets and advisory solutions.
So there you go. There there there you go. Alright. So let's move on to Ebike makers shares soar a 135% on a $500,000,000 Bitcoin treasury plan, Liz Napolitano writing for decrypt.co. Shares of electric vehicle maker Volcon soared a 135% on Thursday after the company announced that it would raise $500,000,000 to kick start a Bitcoin treasury, joining a growing number of firms building BTC treasuries as a major component of their corporate strategy. The firm has entered into an agreement to sell 50,142 well, hold. No. Wrong. I'm sorry. 50,142,851 shares of its common stock at $10 per share through a private placement according to the statement, and the firm will use 95% of the roughly $500,000,000,000 it raises to buy Bitcoin, quote, in an era of accelerating monetary debasement, holding Bitcoin on our balance sheet represents a strategic move to safeguard shareholder value and align with the digital future, Volcan co CEO John Kim said on Thursday.
The deal comes as a slew of public companies are adding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to improve their financials. The company reported a net loss. I knew it was coming. The company reported a net loss of more than $45,000,000 in 2024. Volcan share prices dropped more than 35% this year. Michael Saylor's software firm, Strategy, which began buying Bitcoin or rather buying billions of dollars in Bitcoin in 2020, popularized the playbook. And then they go on to talk about a couple of other companies. So let's see here.
Volcan is a Texas based designer, developer, and seller of electric off road power sport vehicles. Its products product line includes the Brat, a motorcycle like vehicle for city folks and the Grunt ebike for hunters and nature dwellers. So they've lost a shit ton of money. They make electric vehicles. I I don't know, man. Again, it sounds like a hail Mary. And there's two kinds of companies. There's companies that have a revenue stream, and there's companies that don't. And those companies, more often than not, are starting to get into Bitcoin as the only way that they're gonna be able to survive. It it makes me a little nervous, but I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. Because in Russia, Sberbank plans to launch Bitcoin and crypto custody services. Oscar Perez from Bitcoin magazine, Sberbank or Cyberbank. I don't know how to pronounce it, but s b e r bank. So you pronounce it however the hell you want to. Russia's largest lender plans to offer custody services for cryptocurrency assets aiming to lead the country's digital asset infrastructure as demand for Bitcoin and crypto services grows.
The move comes as Russia's central bank has softened its stance on digital assets recently supporting legislation that allows businesses to use Bitcoin and crypto in international trade to bypass Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its conflict in Ukraine. The executive director of Spur Bank, an an Anatoly Pronin, he he said the bank submitted proposals to the central bank regarding the regulation of Bitcoin and crypto assets. He noted that more banks globally are starting to offer custody services, and SperBank wants to ensure Russia isn't left behind. Probably a good idea. Pronin explained that the bank's proposals would regulate Bitcoin and crypto assets similarly to traditional bank assets and would act as a custodian guaranteeing the security of tokens and providing safeguards against hacking and unauthorized access.
Assets could also be frozen, uh-huh, if law enforcement suspects illegal activity. So there you go. Russia's largest lender, Bitcoin custody. Domino's are just fallen all over the place. Again, I'm incredibly bullish. Anything can happen, but I'm just incredibly bullish in all this. So, there's really not much else to say. That that is the last news story that I got for you today. I do hope that you guys are gonna have an excellent weekend, and I will see you on the other side.
Good morning. From high up in the Rocky Rocky Mountains, this is your host David Bennett with the Bitcoin and news program. It's a podcast where I give you all the Bitcoin news. It's all the news that you can use and a whole lot more. We got Trump. I I guess he's just gonna executive order the ability for four zero one k's to, oh, I get into Bitcoin. And then where what else we got? We got we got yeah. The genius act passed. The Genius Act passed along with, I might add, the Clarity Act and the anti CBDC bill passed. We're gonna talk all about that one.
And then and then that Adam Back led Bitcoin Treasury company, I got I've got a full blown story on that one. Yesterday, it was just a kind of a rumor mill going on, but it's actually gonna happen. Another company has got it gotten into the Bitcoin treasury plan business, and their stock just skyrocketed. And then the largest Russian bank is going to launch, Bitcoin and custody services. But first first, I wanna talk to you a little bit about where I am right now because and and I'm just gonna mention it because of what I saw yesterday. I saw and have been seeing more dead dead wood, but completely accessible because people are taking down trees.
There's, like, you know, there's a lot of beetle strike up here in in the mountains, and so there's a lot of people that are having to to cut down some trees in their yards. Not not I'm not even talking about going up into the forest like with Forest Walker. I'm talking about just the sheer amount of wood that I saw hauled off yesterday. I could have been making biochar, like, for three three straight weeks. I just at the feedstock is free. My neighbor is having to take an entire truckload. And I when I mean truckload, I mean, like, a huge gooseneck trailer load. Probably it probably holds about a yard, you know, three foot by three foot by three foot of of just straight up material.
That's a lot of material. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is a lot of material. Has to take it and pay money as a tipping fee to throw it in a hole along with a whole bunch of other stuff where they will eventually douse it in diesel, light it on fire, and let it burn to ash. And it's just stupid. It's just the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I could be making biochar out of that stuff. And I was talking to my neighbor about it, and he goes, well, what's stopping you? And I'm like, I don't know, man. There's something wrong with me, I guess. But it can happen.
It can happen, man. I I I I could find myself up here permanently one of these days just making biochar out of the crap people have to pay to throw in a hole and light on fire. Okay. So president Trump, as I've promised, has is planning to open four zero one k's to Bitcoin, crypto, gold, and private equity. This is, I guess, according to the Financial Times, but this report is written by Oscar Ziranga Perez out of Bitcoin magazine. So Financial Times reported today that the orange man, president Trump, is preparing to sign an executive order, an executive order no less, that would allow four zero one k retirement plans to invest in alternative assets such as gold, private equity, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Quote, Donald Trump is preparing to open the 9,000,000,000,000 now $9,000,000,000,000, that's trillion with a t, United States retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans' savings are managed reported the Financial Times. And according to the Financial Times, the order is expected this week this week and will direct federal regulators to remove all barriers preventing four zero one k plans from including these nontraditional investments in managed funds. Now this this includes assets, metals, private loans, infrastructure deals, corporate buyout funds, etcetera, etcetera. Quote, president Trump is committed to restoring prosperity for everyday Americans and safeguarding their economic future, said the White House in a statement to the Financial Times, further, quote, no decisions should be deemed official, however, unless they come from president Trump himself, end quote.
Trump's move builds on his administration's earlier efforts to ease Bitcoin and crypto regulations in May. The Department of Labor reversed a rule that discouraged Bitcoin and other crypto in retirement plans. Trump has also supported recent Bitcoin and other crypto related bills passed by the house and credited the industry with helping him win the twenty twenty four election. The executive order could benefit major private investments firms such as Blackstone, Apollo, and BlackRock according to the Financial Times, which have all pinned much of their future growth on investing money on behalf of retirement savers. Quote, Blackstone has struck a partnership with Vanguard, while Apollo and Partners Group are among firms that will offer investments to empower a large four zero one k plan sponsor.
Empower is actually the name of the sponsor company. Okay? So BlackRock, though, has already begun working with Great Gray Trust, a third party manager of retirement savings plans, stated the Financial Times. Okay. So this is actually huge. If if he does it, I mean, you know, orange man says things, and and every once in a while, he'll he'll execute on them, but I, we'll we'll have to see. But if he does do it, that's kinda that's kinda huge because that in conjunction with what's coming up next, the genius act, is extra huge.
Let's get through this. Jesse Coughlin coined Telegraph, Genius Act heads to Trump's desk and hears what will change. President Donald Trump is one signature away from enacting a bill to regulate stablecoins that will dictate how issuers of the tokens must be regulated to serve The US market. The US House passed three crypto bills on Thursday, including the Genius Act, a bachronym. What the hell is a bachronym? Okay. I guess they're saying an acronym, including the Genius Act, an acronym for guiding and establishing national innovation for US Stablecoins Act. Now the bill originated from the senate, so it only now needs Trump's signature to become law, which is expected to take place at 02:30PM today in Washington DC during a signing ceremony according to reporter Eleanor Tarrant.
The law will come into effect eighteen months after oh, shit. Eighteen months after Trump signs it or one hundred and twenty days after the so called primary federal payment stablecoin regulators, including the Treasury and Federal Reserve, issue final regulations implementing the Genius Act. Logan Payne, a crypto focused lawyer at Winston and Strachan, told Cointelegraph that the Genius Act creates an incentive for stablecoin issuers to seek a banking license. He said a new stablecoin license under the Genius Act limits a company's activities to, quote, purely stablecoin issuance, but most stablecoin issuers do much more than that. Quote, pretty much every stablecoin issuer inside The United States issuing under US law right now engages in activities outside of the scope of that license, Payne said.
Even if an issuer gets a Genius Act approved license, Payne said that they still need state level money transmission licenses to operate nationally. That creates an incentive for Stablecoin issuers to apply for a National Trust Bank charter with the office of the comptroller of the currency like Circle and Cripple have done. I god, I hate Cripple. Quote, which allows for them to engage in stablecoin issuance plus a wider range of activities, but without having to get state to state licenses, he said. A contentious part of the bill, to some crypto users is a section that bans stablecoin issuers, both foreign and regulated under US laws, from giving holders and users any interest or yield.
Yield offerings are one of the biggest marketing devices for stablecoins to pull in users. Some offer yields natively for holders, while others like Circle's USDC reward those holding the stablecoin on exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken, quote, I would be unsurprised to see a lot of those arrangements change or be modified moving forward, Payne said. Payne also said that the Genius Act could inject uncertainty into decentralized finance over how platforms are to handle stablecoins. Quote, how the Genius Act will impact DeFi is intentionally a bit unaddressed at now well, for now at least, he said. Quote, there's still going to be a lot of uncertainty.
But in a general policy environment, if it continues, we'll start to have some of the answers being given over time. Paine said, quote, additional legislation and then also regulation that fills in some of the gaps that will address DeFi will come over the next few years. One is the Clarity Act, a bill that classifies types of digital assets which authorities will regulate, which the house passed on the senate on Thursday. So like I said, the Clarity Act definitely got passed along with the Genius Act. But the Genius Act says, permitted stablecoin issuers have to back their tokens one to one with reserves of US Dollars or other monetary products such as treasury bills. What have I been saying for weeks and months and months now?
Stablecoins are going to export United States debt issuance. That's how that's how it's going to work. That wasn't I don't think that that was planned when people like Tether's ginned up their first stablecoin. I don't think that was in the cards. But I guarantee you The United States is looking at stablecoins as a vehicle to save the dollar. And it's gonna work for a while, maybe even for for the next ten years. Who knows? But, well, let's move on. Three years after this bill is signed, it will outlaw any stablecoins that don't come come from an approved issuer from being offered in The United States. It will also be illegal for foreign issued stablecoins to be offered in The United States unless the issuer of that stablecoin can and will comply with the bill's legal requirements.
The bill gives a host of carve outs for foreign stablecoin users, including the treasury, if the treasury determines that the country in which they're based has a comparable regulatory regime. If that's the case, foreign issuers can serve The US market if they successfully register with the OCC, the office of the comptroller of the currency, which will answer within thirty days and hold sufficient reserves in a US financial institution to cover their United States customers. The bill also allows for multiple types of regulated entities such as banks, credit unions, and non banks to issue stablecoins and create a dual federal and state legal framework to police them.
These entities, depending on their type, will be regulated by either the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Treasury, or the federal reserve. Notably, entities can choose to be regulated at the state level if they don't have over $10,000,000,000 in issued stablecoins, but a state does not have to create a stablecoin regulator. So there you go. That's what the Genius Act is gonna do. And given that there's now clarity with not only the Genius Act, but the the actual Clarity Act passing, along with Trump threatening to sign an executive order to allow Bitcoin to be directly purchased by four zero one k's, I I I just I I don't see how we I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't I don't wanna jinx anything, but I'm really bullish on this.
The declared in the Genius Act is now going to allow all the people that have been waiting on the sidelines, and I mean, in institutions. All the people in institutions have been waiting on the sidelines because they won't. They didn't wanna touch Bitcoin at all because there was just regulatory uncertainty. There's so much regulatory certainty at this point. I just all these people are gonna they have no reason to sit on the sidelines anymore. So I don't know, man. Be prepared. And you can be prepared with Leathermint wallets. Go get a wallet at the leathermint.com.
That's the leathermint,all1word,.com. Use code Bitcoin and for a 10% off on all purchases at the leathermint.com. The wallets are awesome. But you know what else he's got? He made a Bitcoin standard. The the Bitcoin standard book. Right? The Bitcoin standard written by was that Safe? Yeah. Safe, Dean. But he bound it in leather. It's a it's a leather bound the Bitcoin standard book. It's hand built. So go pick one up because you're gonna get a great book, and it's also gonna be like a collector's item. The Bitcoin standard hand hand built leather cover for this thing is just I mean, it just looks awesome. He did a great job on this. He also has some of the best wallets I've ever seen.
All of his goods, you can get 10% off if you use Bitcoin and as the coupon code at the leathermint.com. Go to the leathermint.com. Get yourself a belt, watch band, wallet, book. I mean, he's he's got it all. He's got it all. Now onto the Clarity Act. Now, again, we're gonna talk about this we we got finished with the Genius Act. Let's talk about the Clarity Act because the US House has passed Bitcoin crypto market structure bill, also known as the Clarity Act. This is from Oscar Perez at Bitcoin Magazine. The United States House of Representatives have officially passed the Clarity Act by a vote of 294 to 134, a major step toward creating a clear regulatory framework for digital commodities like Bitcoin.
Quote, the Clarity Act helps us get there by adding consumer protection into law and setting clear guidelines for digital asset managers, stated congressman John Rose. Quote, it also establishes guardrails for federal agencies who have too often stepped outside their statutory authority in recent years, especially with cryptocurrencies. The the bill offers modern solutions to a modern financial sector that grows in popularity and relevance by the hour, end quote. The legislation aims to define and divide regulatory oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, establishing clear rules in a complex digital asset market.
With the final house vote now complete, the bill will advance to the senate. Okay. So it still has to go to the senate for further consideration. Quote, this bill helps a strong pro growth framework that gives innovators certainty that will bring digital assets back to The United States, said congressman Addison McDowell, quote, a key step to making America the crypto capital of the world. If it is passed by the senate, the Clarity Act would mark a significant milestone in the federal government's approach to Bitcoin and crypto regulation, which aims to support innovation while addressing regulatory uncertainty that has long challenged the industry.
At present, there is no established market structure to protect consumers or provide clear rules of the road for businesses and innovators, stated congressman Don Davis. Quote, it's a wild, wild west. Congress must deliver market structure legislation that brings clarity. Millions of Americans are holding cryptocurrency, using it in financial transactions, or using other digital tokens as part of new innovative technologies and services. There must be consumer protections, and The United States must lead, said congressman Don Davis. So there you go. A little bit of suit speak there for you right before we run the numbers.
Futures and commodities from CNBC. I got West Texas Intermediate crude up over a point to $68.32. Britney is up just under one full point to $70 and 2 dimes. Natural gas, it bucking the trend again today. It looks like it's up 2.17% to $3.61 per thousand cubic feet. Gasoline is up a quarter of a point to $2.17 a gallon. Shiny metal rocks are doing very well today. Gold is up point 6% to thirty three sixty six. Silver is up point 84%. Platinum is up 1.7. Copper is up a half, and palladium is up 3.87%. Most of ag, is in the green today. Biggest winner is chocolate.
Let's see. Yeah. Chocolate, 4.79%. The only one in the red today is coffee. It's down half a point. Meanwhile, live cattle is unchanged, lean hogs unchanged, and feeder cattle is unchanged. I don't know. That seems like it's probably a glitch in the system. The Dow is up a quarter of a point as is the S and P. Nasdaq is up point 12%, and the S and P Mini is up just under one half of a point. Bitcoin is at a $118,780. That is a let's see. What's a my screen on Clark Moody's dashboard has changed because I'm on a different computer, so I gotta look for it. There is, you can get 35.3 ounces of shiny metal rocks with your one Bitcoin of which there are 19,893,813 and 1 third of.
And let's see. Where is where's my other stuff? Good lord. I can't find it. Oh, well. We'll just move on to the mempool, which looks like it has about 10 blocks carrying 100 and or no. 14,000, transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of 1 satoshi per v byte. Low priority is gonna get you in also at 1 satoshis per v byte. Hash rate has fallen just a little bit. We are at 898.2 exahashes per second. Now from yesterday's Bitcoin and episode, high country Bitcoin, I got Psyduck with 734. Sats says Psyduck. Progressively worse with a row of eights. 8,888 sat says, here's the missing sat that didn't go through with the boost. Okay. So that was from yesterday, I guess.
Let's see. Yeah. I didn't I didn't get any boost from yesterday's show. It was probably because it just got up too late. Who knows? But listen. Hold on. I guess I wanna check something here. Abilitic. We'll let it go. Okay. So let's move on to part two of the news that you can use. Bitcoin standard treasury to go public with 30,021 BTC in a SPAC merger. This is Jenna Montgomery from Bitcoin Magazine. Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company has announced a definitive agreement to go public through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald, Upa, u u p o h.
I maybe that mean oh, hold on. Yeah. Sorry. There there was a spot on my screen, and it covered up the fact that it's that word is upon. Upon completion, BSTR, Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, will launch with 30,021 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, positioning it as the fourth largest public Bitcoin treasury in the world. Wow. Starting out at number four, the new equity will be led by doctor Adam Bak, CEO and founder cofounder of Blockstream, and Sean Bill, an institutional investor known for driving one of the first Bitcoin allocations by a United States public pension fund. Quote, as a long time Bitcoin advocate, Kantor is incredibly proud to partner with doctor Bak, one of Bitcoin's leading luminaries to launch BSTR, said Brandon Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Kantor Equity Partners Incorporated and chairman of Kantor Fitzgerald Limited Partners.
This historic transaction marks yet another step towards the integration of the Bitcoin economy and traditional finance. The deal includes up to 1,500,000,000.0 in pipe or private investment in public equity financing, the largest ever announced in conjunction with the Bitcoin Treasury special purpose acquisition company merger, and it comprises $400,000,000 in common equity, up to 750,000,000 in convertible notes, up to 350,000,000 in convertible preferred stock, 5,021 Bitcoin from in kind to pipe contributions, 25,000 Bitcoin from founding shareholders advised by Blockstream Capital, and up to $200,000,000 from CEPO subject to redemptions.
Quote, Bitcoin was created as sound money, and BSTR is being created to bring that same integrity to modern capital markets, said doctor Back, quote, by securing both fiat and Bitcoin funding on day one, including the first convertible preferred round announced in conjunction with the Bitcoin Treasury SPAC merger, we are putting unprecedented firepower behind a single mission, maximizing, Bitcoin ownership per share while accelerating real world Bitcoin adoption. I'm grateful for the trust of the Bitcoin OG community and for the unwavering support of Cantor Fitzgerald.
This announcement lines up with the July 15 report stating that Cantor Fitzgerald was nearing a $4,000,000,000 deal with Adam Back, and today's announcement confirms those details with Bak contributing up to 30,000 Bitcoin valued at over $3,000,000,000 in exchange for equity in the newly renamed BSTR Holdings. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Proceeds will be used to acquire additional Bitcoin and build Bitcoin native capital markets and advisory solutions.
So there you go. There there there you go. Alright. So let's move on to Ebike makers shares soar a 135% on a $500,000,000 Bitcoin treasury plan, Liz Napolitano writing for decrypt.co. Shares of electric vehicle maker Volcon soared a 135% on Thursday after the company announced that it would raise $500,000,000 to kick start a Bitcoin treasury, joining a growing number of firms building BTC treasuries as a major component of their corporate strategy. The firm has entered into an agreement to sell 50,142 well, hold. No. Wrong. I'm sorry. 50,142,851 shares of its common stock at $10 per share through a private placement according to the statement, and the firm will use 95% of the roughly $500,000,000,000 it raises to buy Bitcoin, quote, in an era of accelerating monetary debasement, holding Bitcoin on our balance sheet represents a strategic move to safeguard shareholder value and align with the digital future, Volcan co CEO John Kim said on Thursday.
The deal comes as a slew of public companies are adding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to improve their financials. The company reported a net loss. I knew it was coming. The company reported a net loss of more than $45,000,000 in 2024. Volcan share prices dropped more than 35% this year. Michael Saylor's software firm, Strategy, which began buying Bitcoin or rather buying billions of dollars in Bitcoin in 2020, popularized the playbook. And then they go on to talk about a couple of other companies. So let's see here.
Volcan is a Texas based designer, developer, and seller of electric off road power sport vehicles. Its products product line includes the Brat, a motorcycle like vehicle for city folks and the Grunt ebike for hunters and nature dwellers. So they've lost a shit ton of money. They make electric vehicles. I I don't know, man. Again, it sounds like a hail Mary. And there's two kinds of companies. There's companies that have a revenue stream, and there's companies that don't. And those companies, more often than not, are starting to get into Bitcoin as the only way that they're gonna be able to survive. It it makes me a little nervous, but I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. Because in Russia, Sberbank plans to launch Bitcoin and crypto custody services. Oscar Perez from Bitcoin magazine, Sberbank or Cyberbank. I don't know how to pronounce it, but s b e r bank. So you pronounce it however the hell you want to. Russia's largest lender plans to offer custody services for cryptocurrency assets aiming to lead the country's digital asset infrastructure as demand for Bitcoin and crypto services grows.
The move comes as Russia's central bank has softened its stance on digital assets recently supporting legislation that allows businesses to use Bitcoin and crypto in international trade to bypass Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its conflict in Ukraine. The executive director of Spur Bank, an an Anatoly Pronin, he he said the bank submitted proposals to the central bank regarding the regulation of Bitcoin and crypto assets. He noted that more banks globally are starting to offer custody services, and SperBank wants to ensure Russia isn't left behind. Probably a good idea. Pronin explained that the bank's proposals would regulate Bitcoin and crypto assets similarly to traditional bank assets and would act as a custodian guaranteeing the security of tokens and providing safeguards against hacking and unauthorized access.
Assets could also be frozen, uh-huh, if law enforcement suspects illegal activity. So there you go. Russia's largest lender, Bitcoin custody. Domino's are just fallen all over the place. Again, I'm incredibly bullish. Anything can happen, but I'm just incredibly bullish in all this. So, there's really not much else to say. That that is the last news story that I got for you today. I do hope that you guys are gonna have an excellent weekend, and I will see you on the other side.
Introduction and Overview
Environmental Observations and Biochar Potential
Trump's Executive Order on 401(k)s and Bitcoin
The Genius Act and Stablecoin Regulation
The Clarity Act and Digital Asset Regulation
Market Updates and Bitcoin Statistics
Bitcoin Standard Treasury and SPAC Merger
Volcon's Bitcoin Treasury Plan
Russia's Sberbank and Bitcoin Custody Services
