CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As Deadline Nears

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said the Clarity Act remains within reach, days after Congress missed its July 4 target to pass the crypto market-structure bill. “We’re so close. We have to get this done,” Selig told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. 

Some analysts give the measure even odds of passage before the August 7 recess.

The bill would divide oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a split the industry has sought for years. The House passed the legislation last summer. The Senate has yet to hold a floor vote.

Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, backed the Clarity Act…

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Bull Bitcoin Files Landmark Legal Challenge To Annul France’s DAC8 Crypto Data Surveillance Rules

Bull Bitcoin exchange, recently licensed under MiCA, is challenging the European directive in French courts that sets up a mass surveillance database, putting millions of crypto users at risk. 

Bull Bitcoin, the world’s oldest Bitcoin-only and non-custodial exchange, recently licensed under MiCA by France’s financial markets regulator AMF, has filed a legal challenge before the Conseil d’État, France’s supreme administrative court. The challenge seeks to annul Decree No. 2025-1276, the main measure transposing the European DAC8 directive into French law, on the grounds that it creates a massive surveillance grid and database that institutions can not secure from leaks and…

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Schwab Strategist Backs Strategy’s STRC Playbook Amid Bitcoin Weakness

Strategy remains under pressure as Bitcoin hovers near $60,000, but recent capital moves have bought the company time, according to Jim Ferraioli, director of crypto research and strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

Speaking on Morning Trade Live at the New York Stock Exchange, Ferraioli said the firm led by Michael Saylor faces scrutiny while the price of Bitcoin sits 50% below its peak. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, has funded much of its buying through preferred equity, including its variable-rate Stretch preferred stock, known as STRC.

That product fell near $70 from its $100 par value before a rebound. To defend the peg, Strategy raised…

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Cantor SPAC And Adam Back’s Bitcoin Treasury Renegotiate Merger Terms, Vow New Structure

Cantor Equity Partners I (Nasdaq: CEPO), a special purpose acquisition company backed by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald, and BSTR Holdings said today that they will not complete their proposed bitcoin business combination on the terms set in their July 2025 agreement. The parties plan to negotiate a revised structure and amended terms that reflect market conditions.

The companies said the private placements tied to the original deal will not need to close. A shareholder meeting for CEPO, set for July 10, moved to a postponed date with no fixed timeline. Public shares submitted for redemption will return to holders, the note said. 

The announcement marks a reversal for one of…

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Polymarket Turns On Instant Bitcoin Deposits Via Lightning Network, Powered By Spark

Polymarket, the crypto-native prediction market, has begun supporting instant Bitcoin deposits over the Lightning Network. The feature uses infrastructure from Spark, a Bitcoin protocol built for payments and stablecoins. 

In a post on X, Spark told users they can deposit BTC to the platform with more speed and more privacy than the older method offered.

The move extends a funding push that started in October 2025, when Polymarket switched on standard on-chain Bitcoin deposits. Those deposits carried a wait: most on-chain Bitcoin transactions need three to six confirmations, a window of 10 to 60 minutes, before a platform credits an account. 

The on-chain route carried a…

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Kraken Seeks Final Judgment After $22 Million Award Against Former Auditor

Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has asked the Delaware Court of Chancery to enter a final judgment against its former auditor, Mazars USA, after an arbitrator awarded the firm $22 million. 

The exchange disclosed the request on July 7 through an open letter from co-CEO Arjun Sethi and a series of posts from CEO Dave Ripley.

The dispute traces to December 2023, when Mazars withdrew from Kraken’s 2022 audit days before its completion. Mazars had audited Kraken for three prior years and issued two clean opinions, according to the company. 

In writing, Sethi said, the auditor confirmed it had no disagreement with management, no concerns…

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Vanguard Warms To Crypto With Search For Digital Assets Chief

Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers and a longtime skeptic of cryptocurrency, has opened a search for a head of digital assets, a senior role that would shape the firm’s strategy across crypto and blockchain-based finance.

The job, posted this week within Vanguard Personal Wealth and based in Dallas, calls for an executive to develop the firm’s digital asset vision, identify business opportunities, and lead execution across product, technology, operations, legal, and compliance teams. 

According to the posting, the hire would serve as Vanguard’s “senior subject matter expert,” advise senior leadership on market developments, and represent the firm in…

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New Hampshire’s $100 Million Bitcoin-Backed Bond Faces Final Vote

New Hampshire’s plan to issue what backers call the world’s first Bitcoin-backed municipal bond goes before the state’s Executive Council on Wednesday, the last approval the $100 million project needs before it can move forward, The Boston Globe reported today.

Governor Kelly Ayotte, who has called the effort “historic,” and the five-member council will hold a public hearing Wednesday morning at the request of James Key-Wallace, executive director of the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority. 

Key-Wallace asked the council to find the proposal feasible and beneficial to the public and to authorize the quasi-governmental agency to proceed. He has said the model…

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SpaceX Nasdaq-100 Entry Brings Bitcoin Exposure To Passive Index Investors

Today (July 7, 2026) SpaceX formally joins the Nasdaq-100 Index. The inclusion comes just weeks after the company’s public debut and follows its disclosure of 18,712 BTC on the balance sheet. JPMorgan estimates that index rebalancing will drive approximately $4.3 billion in passive inflows from Nasdaq-100-tracking funds and ETFs.

This development is more than headline news. It creates a structural, rules-based channel for institutional capital to gain exposure to Bitcoin through a corporate treasury vehicle — without requiring active allocation decisions, new mandates, or direct cryptocurrency purchases.For corporate treasury teams, capital allocators, and institutional…

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Tether Invests $20 Million In Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin

Tether said Tuesday it will invest $20 million in a strategic growth financing round for Mercado Bitcoin, a move that deepens the stablecoin issuer’s push into Latin America’s fast-growing market for blockchain-based financial services.

Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry and the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, framed the deal as part of a broader strategy of backing platforms that pair regulatory licensing with market scale. 

Mercado Bitcoin, founded in São Paulo in 2013, has grown from a cryptocurrency exchange into what it describes as a full-stack on-chain financial services platform.

The company now serves 4.5 million users and says it has…

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