Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officers Praises Clarity Act Draft

Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, struck an optimistic tone regarding the long-awaited Clarity Act on Monday, claiming there was bipartisan support for the bill in its current form.  

Speaking to Fox Business Monday, Shirzad said it was time for Democrats and Republicans to unite on the Clarity Act — and added that a vote could come as soon as next week. 

“This bill is an extraordinarily bipartisan piece of work,” he said. “It’s ready for final action. We’re very excited it’s going to get done.”

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Coinbase Chief Policy Officer talks CLARITY ACT on FOX

“This bill is an extraordinarily bipartisan piece of work. It’s ready for…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Republicans Hope For Democratic Support On Clarity Act

Lawmakers are hoping to push through the crypto market structure bill this week but the Democrats are holding things back, according to Senator Dave McCormick.

Speaking to Fox Business on Friday, the Republican senator said that a vote needs to happen now. 

“The Democrats are starting to think, ‘We don’t want to give it a win,’” said McCormick. 

Writing on X today, he added: “The time for delay is over. Bring the Clarity Act to the Senate Floor for a vote and let every senator go on the record. America needs clear rules that protect consumers and keep digital asset innovation and jobs here at home.”

NEW: 🇺🇸 Sen. Dave McCormic on CLARITY ACT

“The time…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Bitcoin ETFs Bled Cash Last Week After Winning Streak

Investors cashed out of American Bitcoin exchange-traded funds at the end of last week, ending a seven days winning streak. 

Data from Farside Investors shows that over $475 million was redeemed from the investment products during trading hours on Thursday and Friday, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust handling most of the trading action. 

Risk appetite appeared to be back, too: over a seven-day period, from July 14-22, the funds managed by the likes of Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, and Grayscale, took in just under $1 billion in new investment: $999.3 million. 

The flurry of fresh cash put upwards pressure on the price of Bitcoin. The leading cryptocurrency then dipped on the…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Russia’s Sberbank Sets December Deadline For Crypto Buildout

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, will build crypto infrastructure by December, according to a report by Russian news agency Interfax. 

A key piece will be a digital depository that tracks clients’ crypto rights and records off-blockchain transactions, while also handling wallet transfers to execute client orders, Interfax reported Monday. 

Sberbank this month revealed plans to debut a Bitcoin and crypto wallet plus digital asset custody by December. 

The news comes as the State Duma mulls over a new law “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” which sets up comprehensive Russian regulation of crypto. The proposed law covers retail purchases through licensed…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Strategy Skips Bitcoin Again, Buys Back $25M Of STRC Preferred

Bitcoin treasury Strategy on Monday announced that it had again skipped buying Bitcoin, instead buying back its own preferred stock, Stretch (STRC), for $25 million.

In a filing and post on X, the company said it sold 5,429,160 shares of MSTR common stock through its at-the-market program between July 20 and July 26, generating $544.5 million in net proceeds. 

It was the first time the company did a buyback of its STRC product, one of the firm’s several products that gives investors exposure to Bitcoin via shares that pay a dividend.  

The company still holds 843,775 Bitcoins on its balance sheet — worth over $55 billion at today’s price of $65,576 per coin. 

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF Is A Roaring Success

Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley Bitcoin exchange-traded fund now has close to $400 million in assets under management — despite only launching in April. 

The NYSE Arca-listed fund, which is the first by a bank, got off to a roaring start when it debuted, bringing in over $33 million in fresh cash on its first day. 

Now, the fund has over $391 million in assets, demonstrating the popularity of the product. Many ETFs never reach $400 million in assets at all, let alone in one quarter.

Senior Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas revealed Friday that the product has been one of the most successful funds launched this year so far. 

This week alone, investors…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Investment Giant Fidelity Backs Clarity Act

Investment giant Fidelity is the latest big player to back the latest version of the long-awaited Clarity Act. 

The Boston-based firm’s “Public Policy” account on X said Friday that it was urging the Senate to pass the bill. 

Lawmakers have been hashing out the crypto market structure bill since last year. A new improved draft circulating the Senate this week bans officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto — a sticking point for opposition politicians. 

“The time is now for clear rules of the road that are essential to strengthening investor confidence, providing certainty for market participants, and reinforcing U.S. leadership in global…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

US State Department To Debut Freedom Program With Bitcoin

The U.S. State Department is launching a program that includes Bitcoin as a way to advance digital freedom worldwide. 

Named the Freedom Tech Excellence Program, the initiative will see the State Department work with the Bitcoin Policy Institute, data-analytics firm Palantir Technologies, defense technology company Anduril Industries, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation on issues including online surveillance, encryption, AI governance, and protecting free expression online.

According to the program’s stated goals, participants will focus on five priority areas: First Amendment and free expression protections in the digital age; countering unlawful digital…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

The Fraternal Order Of Police Supports The Clarity Act.

The National Fraternal Order of Police became the latest organization to throw its support behind the long-awaited Clarity Act. 

In a statement Friday, specifically addressed to Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Timothy Eugene Scott, the fraternal organization wrote that it approved of the latest bill. The FOP works to improve the working conditions of law enforcement officers.

The newest draft bans officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto, something opposition lawmakers previously had issue with. On Wednesday, Senator Warren, a long-time crypto critic, said that the latest bill would allow President Donald Trump to make money from crypto, as well as…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

BMAG’s New Focus On Trading Cards

Somewhere right now, on a livestream, someone is tearing open a foil package while hundreds of people watch. Trading cards have become a spectator sport. The card market is at all-time highs, cardboard repriced by the hour, rare cards selling for eight figures, and a general sense of frenzy. But watch enough of it and something strange becomes clear. Nobody is looking at the cards. The audience isn’t consuming images, it’s consuming anticipation.

The card boom has also surfaced hard questions, and the hardest ones surround grading. The past year saw the hobby’s dominant grading house facing scrutiny over grades that shifted after cards moved through its own buyback program,…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine