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Greetings Bitcoiner,
Welcome to Issue #654 of Bitcoin Breakdown, where we’re bringing you your end-of-week Bitcoin Digest featuring all the need-to-know Quick Bits snippets and Quick Media. But first, today’s Top Stories:
Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff granted no-action relief to passive, non-custodial trading software, though it covers derivatives only and leaves Bitcoin wallet developers exposed. The US Treasury sanctioned Iranian exchange Bitbank over Hormuz Safe payments, and the Financial Conduct Authority targeted three London sites because no peer to peer business is registered anywhere in Britain.
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🛡️ CFTC Says Passive Code Is Not a Money Business
Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff issued no-action relief for passive, non-custodial trading software providers. The letter covers derivatives trading under the CFTC's statute only, so it is not a shield for Bitcoin wallet developers. Staff relief is not a law, and a future administration could reverse it because nothing here is a formal rule.
Why it matters: The CFTC now says in writing that non-custodial software is not a money business, contradicting the Justice Department's case against the Samourai Wallet developers. That split inside the federal government matters because the relief covers derivatives only. Read more→
🏦 Treasury Sanctions Iran's Hormuz Toll Collector
The US Treasury sanctioned Iranian exchange Bitbank, saying it processes bitcoin payments for Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority. Hormuz Safe, sanctioned July 29, is the outfit Tehran uses to sell ships safe passage. Four exchanges including Nobitex were sanctioned in June, and Shelbit and Aban Tether followed in August.
Why it matters: The Treasury reached the money by naming Bitbank, and more than $130M in USDT was frozen in July from Iran-linked wallets. Self-custodied bitcoin has no operator to sanction because settlement happens between keys. Read more→
⚠️ FCA Targets Three London Peer to Peer Sites
The Financial Conduct Authority and its partners targeted three London sites in the latest crackdown on illegal peer to peer trading. No peer to peer business is registered with the FCA anywhere in Britain, so every such operation is unregistered by definition. Enforcement becomes a question of finding operators because no peer to peer business is registered anywhere in Britain.
Why it matters: Steve Smart of the FCA warned that anyone running an unregistered peer to peer business should assume the regulator is looking. No peer to peer business is registered in Britain, so privacy-conscious direct buyers lose their venues. Read more→
Corporate Bitcoin treasuries bought only 5,900 bitcoin over three months, down sharply from over 100,000 BTC acquired during the same period last year, analytics firm Glassnode reports.
JPMorgan analysts report that elevated short interest on BlackRock's IBIT bitcoin fund creates a 'coiled spring', potentially giving bitcoin strong mechanical upside to outperform gold once institutional hedges unwind.
Bank of Japan, Japan's central bank, lifts benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to a 31-year high of 1.25%.
US House Ways and Means Committee advances the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act to the full House floor, a legislation that would establish federal tax rules for Bitcoin and crypto if passed.
Celsius bankruptcy estate sues BitMEX exchange for fraud, seeking the return of over 6,360 BTC worth nearly $490M allegedly liquidated during the March 2020 crash.
Mike Selig, chair of the US CFTC, vows to advance federal Bitcoin and crypto rules using existing agency powers after lawmakers block the pivotal Clarity Act.
Two Prime launches an on-chain vault on Pareto, lending bitcoin to institutional borrowers with $10M in first-loss capital protection to offer lenders up to 2% yield.
Bitcoin Coinbase Premium, a gauge that can indicate US versus offshore trading demand, hits a monthly low.
South Korean police refer 18 Polymarket users to prosecutors over $12.7M in gambling bets, cracking down on local traders using the prediction market platform.
Revolut reports receiving no direct contact from competing hacker groups publicly demanding ransoms following a recent customer data breach under investigation by Italian authorities.
Chainalysis reveals that state hackers are driving a 420% surge in on-chain malware, with an example being suspected Iranian operatives embedding command-and-control server routing data into the Bitcoin network to direct compromised devices.
Germany outpaces the UK in Bitcoin and crypto adoption, as German banks and wealth managers expand services into the industry while British regulators slowly develop licensing frameworks, according to CoinShares researcher Luke Nolan.
Brandon Keys, host of Green Candle, argues that River's $840,000 bitcoin price prediction is overly conservative because surging institutional adoption, regulatory shifts, illiquid supply, and incoming multi-trillion global collateral demand could propel bitcoin's price far past Wall Street's targets (Sep 15 | 17:18 min watch).
ForrestHODL, a Bitcoin educator, demonstrates how to buy and sell peer-to-peer non-KYC bitcoin using RoboSats and Lightning 'hold invoices' to protect personal financial privacy against surveillance and exchange data breaches (Sep 16 | 22:07 min watch).
Ric Edelman, veteran financial advisor and founder of a $350B wealth management firm, in an appearance on Bitcoin Magazine TV, argues that portfolio rebalancing and a modest 1% global allocation will drive bitcoin past $500K by 2030 while enhancing risk-adjusted returns for diversified investors (Sep 17 | 13:51 min watch).
Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, argues that the collapse of the CLARITY Act hurts political crypto lobbyists rather than Bitcoin, emphasizing that the decentralized network operates autonomously without relying on US regulatory permission (Sep 17 | 2:27 min watch).
Bitcoin Straight Up, an educational channel, explores how ancient empires inevitably collapsed after currency debasement and fiscal overspending, arguing that modern fiat faces identical risks while Bitcoin offers the first unalterable store of value with fixed rules to protect wealth (Sep 17 | 13:16 min watch).
Nico of Simply Bitcoin argues that the Clarity Act failed in the Senate because elites fear pension funds and retirees profiting from 'number go up technology,' insisting Bitcoin needs no regulation to fulfill its purpose (Sep 16 | 4:42 min watch).
