Welcome to the twelfth issue of The Bitcoin Act, where every Tuesday and Sunday we track the legal and regulatory moves that actually shape Bitcoin — cutting through noise, narratives, and theater.

Now for today’s top stories:

🇺🇸 Booth: Bitcoin Is the Only Escape from Government Extraction
Jeff Booth argued that governments only redistribute value through taxation and never create it.

💸 Ferranti: Bitcoin Hedges Against Central Bank Independence Erosion
Matthew Ferranti warned that political pressure on central banks can quickly undermine institutional trust, positioning Bitcoin as a hedge against weakening monetary independence.

🇺🇸 Lingle & Phaneuf: AML Laws Now a ‘Catch-All’ for Surveillance Overreach
Christopher Lingle and Emile Phaneuf argued that anti-money laundering policies have become a blanket justification for government overreach.

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Brian Armstrong said the Senate Banking Committee’s Crypto Market Structure Bill’s rushed rollout and late additions risked harming customers, arguing unresolved tokenized equities, DeFi, stablecoin rewards, and SEC authority issues made the legislation too uncertain for Coinbase to support without deeper consultation.

Eleanor Terrett thinks lawmakers and crypto companies are trying to reach a compromise on whether platforms can offer rewards on stablecoins and how tokenized stocks should be regulated, arguing that resolving these two disputes could allow the Senate’s crypto market structure bill to move forward.

Jeff Booth argues governments only redistribute value through taxation, not create it, framing Bitcoin as a market-driven alternative to economic systems he believes rely on extraction rather than productivity, innovation, and voluntary exchange.

L0la L33tz argues the draft market structure bill broadens surveillance by extending KYC obligations into DeFi and web interfaces, warning changes to security laws could expose privacy tools, developers, and self-custody users to increased legal risk.

Christopher Lingle and Emile Phaneuf argue anti-money laundering policy has become a blanket justification for overreach, citing privacy cases as evidence that compliance burdens erode civil liberties while raising costs for developers and everyday users.

Matthew Ferranti argues Bitcoin can hedge against weakening central bank independence, warning political pressure on monetary authorities can quickly undermine institutional trust, with markets reacting to fear far faster than confidence can be restored.

Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin warned that exempting non-custodial developers from being classified as money transmitters under federal law could weaken law enforcement’s ability to track illegal crypto transactions and financial crimes at both the state and federal level.

Michael Novogratz said lawmakers should pass a workable framework even if flawed, arguing regulatory clarity now matters more than perfection, and unresolved issues like stablecoin rewards can be refined once the industry gains a stable legal base.

Vlad Tenev said regulatory uncertainty keeps features like staking and tokenized stocks out of reach for users, pledging Robinhood’s support to help Congress deliver a balanced framework that encourages innovation while defining clear oversight.

💸 33% – The U.S. Supreme Court currently has this chance of ruling in favor of Trump’s tariffs. Polymarket

📈 11% – Jerome Powell faces this chance of being federally charged by June 30. Polymarket

⚖️ 19 – Number of the decree signed by Belarusian President Lukashenko to legalize crypto banks and kickstart a hybrid financial system. Belta

👀 20+ – More than twenty crypto-related kidnappings were reported in France since last year, highlighting rising personal security risks. Cryptoast

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." — Friedrich Hayek

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