U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent urged lawmakers to move forward with the crypto Clarity Act when they return from recess next week. 

Writing on X Wednesday, Bessent said that the bill would stop “bad actors” from exploiting important digital asset tech. 

Lawmakers were hoping a crucial vote on the long-awaited crypto market structure bill would go ahead in August before their five-week recess. But it was delayed and the Senate will now vote on it next week. 

JUST IN: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he ‘strongly urges’ the Senate to pass the Clarity Act. 🇺🇸

“Failing to do so would send a troubling signal to our allies and adversaries alike…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Bitcoin-focused Block Inc. has become the latest company to apply for a U.S. banking charter. 

The company, which manages Square, Cash App, and Bitkey, said Wednesday that it had submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A.

Block joins a long-list of digital asset firms that have received conditional approval or are awaiting approval from the regulator to have the license. The charter would allow companies — if fully approved — to have certain banking powers, such as custody assets and move client funds.  

JUST IN: Block applies to establish Builders Bank & Trust with the OCC, which would provide federally…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Burger restaurant franchise Steak ‘n Shake has said that accepting bitcoin payments has helped the company grow. 

Writing on its X account Tuesday, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based company said since accepting the largest cryptocurrency, it has achieved double-digit same-store sales growth. 

It added: “And this quarter has been extraordinary, with franchise-partners same-store sales gaining 19%.”

Ever since we started accepting Bitcoin in May 2025, we have achieved double-digit same-store sales growth!

And this quarter has been extraordinary, with franchise-partners same-store sales gaining 19%.

Come have a Bitcoin burger and Bitcoin shake to celebrate!…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Iran is continuing to use bitcoin as a way to skirt around sanctions as the country’s central bank turns a blind eye, according to reports. 

The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that the Middle Eastern country was using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to help the economy. 

Citing conversations with businesses, regime insiders and analysts, the newspaper said that the central bank had “quietly encouraged traders” to get money flowing to help its struggling economy. 

Bitcoin is proving to be a tried and tested way of doing so. 

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has again slammed Democrats over the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act. 

Writing on X on Tuesday, the pro-crypto lawmaker responded to an article from Semafor that reported Republican senators saying the bill was likely to fail when the senate returns next week. 

Lawmakers were hoping a crucial vote on the long-awaited crypto market structure bill would go ahead in August before their five-week recess. But it was delayed and the Senate will now vote on it next week. 

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 U.S. Senate will hold a procedural cloture vote on the Clarity Act one week from today.

Senator Cynthia Lummis says if they fail to pass it next week, “we will…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

British bitcoin exchange CoinCorner has debuted a multisig BTC custody service that splits control of customer keys between the Isle of Man exchange and its US partner AnchorWatch — with holdings insured by Lloyd’s of London. 

The service charges 1.5% a year and is pitched at owners who want cold-storage security without managing hardware themselves, the Isle of Man-based company announced Tuesday.

Its new service comes following the Coldcard wallet hack — where bitcoin holders using a single signature wallet lost funds after hackers were able to exploit the popular products due to a firmware bug in the devices that lead to a weak seed generation. About $115 million was lost in…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

European bitcoin treasury Capital B has announced a BTC buy, snapping up 376 coins — one week after it said Blockstream boss Adam Back was investing in the company. 

The Euronext Growth-listed company said Tuesday that it now owns 3,521 bitcoins — worth over $277 million at today’s prices — making it the 25th biggest publicly traded bitcoin treasury in the world, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. 

Capital B’s buy was for €25.3 million (over $29 million), according to its announcement. 

Just last week, the company said that top bitcoiner Adam Back, who heads up bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream, had invested €7.6 million ($8.8 million) in…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Bitcoin treasury Strategy has halted stacking sats — again. 

Just one week after resuming its bitcoin buying following a 10-week hiatus, the Nasdaq-listed company has put its BTC purchases on hold again. 

Instead, the firm continued buying back its stock, repurchasing $176 million of STRC and increasing the size of its digital credit securities repurchase program from $1 billion to $2 billion, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing and announcement from founder and chairman Michael Saylor.  

Strategy has repurchased $176M of $STRC and increased the size of its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1.0B to $2.0B. As of 9/7/26, we hold 845,050 $BTC and…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Castle, the company behind an automated bitcoin financial stack for businesses, has said it is opening its platform to individuals, bringing its high-yield product to personal accounts along with a first for the category: the option to take dividend income in bitcoin at whatever ratio the customer picks.

The yield comes from STRC, Strategy‘s perpetual preferred stock, which Castle added earlier this year and which currently pays a 12% annual dividend on a semi-monthly schedule. 

Holders can take 100% of that payout in cash, 100% in bitcoin, or anything in between, according to a Tuesday statement. Most Castle customers land in the middle, the company said, covering operating…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Connecting Excellence Group (XCE) has signed binding Heads of Terms for its first proposed recruitment acquisition, targeting a specialist UK and U.S. recruitment business that generated £1.79 million in revenue and £431,000 in EBITDA over the last 12 months. The target also holds 8.216 Bitcoin.

The deal has not yet closed and remains subject to further due diligence, funding and a definitive purchase agreement. [Read XCE’s full announcement.]

Beyond the headline, the structure of the deal offers an interesting look at how an operating company can use M&A as part of a broader Bitcoin strategy.

XCE (AQSE: XCE | OTCQB: XCELF) wants to acquire profitable recruitment businesses, retain…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine