Bill With CBDC Ban Becomes Law Without Trump's Signing
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GM. A major housing bill carrying a ban on Federal Reserve CBDC issuance became law without Trump's signature, blocking a digital dollar after the president refused to sign in protest.
Elsewhere, Circle won final OCC approval for a national trust bank, Binance said 70% of EU withdrawals fled to self-custody rather than licensed rivals, and the DOJ moved to drop charges against the alleged $722 million BitClub Ponzi mastermind.
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Bill With CBDC Ban Becomes Law Without Trump's Signing
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which bars the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, became law without President Donald Trump's signature. The bipartisan measure cleared the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32 last month before landing on his desk.
Trump declared he would not sign the package, staging a protest over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The Constitution settles the rest: a bill left unsigned and unvetoed for ten days automatically becomes law.
A CBDC is a digital form of fiat money issued and regulated directly by a central bank, and several countries have run pilot programs over recent years. The Federal Reserve probed the concept in a 2022 report, though officials have repeatedly poured cold water on the idea since.
The Fed had already pledged never to issue a CBDC without explicit congressional approval, yet blocking one hardened into a Republican priority. The fight surfaced during last year's push for the GENIUS Act, when Republican votes collapsed over the stablecoin law's treatment of digital dollars.
Circle Wins Final OCC Approval for National Trust Bank
Circle received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, operating as Circle National Trust under direct federal oversight. The bank will initially offer fiduciary digital asset custody services to Circle and its affiliates.
Management of the USDC Reserve, central to Circle's original June 2025 filing, is now framed as a future capability rather than a launch-day function. The charter bars cash deposits and lending, while Senator Elizabeth Warren has contested the OCC's authority to grant such trust charters.
Binance Says 70% of EU Withdrawals Went to Self-Custody
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said roughly 70% of funds withdrawn by EU users after the exchange suspended regional services landed in self-custodied wallets, with only 30% reaching MiCA-licensed platforms. He shared the figures at the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore.
Teng argued the split undercuts MiCA's purpose, noting self-hosted wallets sit beyond the AML and KYC controls binding regulated venues. Binance suspended EU services after pulling its Greek license application, though Teng said several jurisdictions have since invited fresh filings.
DOJ Moves to Drop $722 Million BitClub Ponzi Charges
The Department of Justice plans to drop charges against Matthew Goettsche, the alleged mastermind of the $722 million BitClub Network Ponzi scheme, according to Bloomberg. Washington reportedly ordered New Jersey prosecutors to dismiss the case with prejudice, though final terms remain unsettled.
Goettsche assembled lawyers with Trump administration ties to lobby the department, including Bradford Cohen, a former contestant on 'The Apprentice,' and Brett Tolman, an advocate who has secured pardons for clients. Three co-defendants have already pleaded guilty while his 2019 indictment neared trial.
Data of the Day
The stablecoin market shed $7.7 billion in June, its steepest monthly retreat since Terra-Luna imploded in May 2022, per CoinDesk Data. Total supply has fallen roughly $10 billion since the May peak, a 3% slide well short of 2022's 26% collapse.
Tether's USDT dropped to about $184 billion from $190 billion, while Circle's USDC slipped to around $73 billion. Newer issuers are nibbling at that duopoly, with Paxos-issued Global Dollar topping $3.2 billion and stablecoin rival OpenUSD preparing to launch.
More Breaking News
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- Bitcoin and ether ETFs snapped eight-week outflow streaks with $281.8 million in combined inflows, recovering only about 3% of the $9.46 billion drained during the preceding slide.
- Bitcoin's BIP 110 fork deadline nears with miner signaling at zero, as Michael Saylor and Adam Back warn the anti-spam soft fork risks a dangerous consensus precedent.
- Polymarket filed applications to offer regulated margin trading in the US through affiliate PM Derivatives, trailing rival Kalshi, which secured NFA approval back in March.
- An oracle exploit drained $9 million from Hedera-based Bonzo Lend after an attacker inflated the SAUCE token's price by roughly 12 orders of magnitude.
- Ether bridged to Robinhood Chain topped $70 million in its first week, with the Robinhood layer-2 drawing 194,000 daily users and a $14 million annualized revenue run rate.
- Apple sued OpenAI and two former employees, alleging they took confidential hardware designs and supplier information, after OpenAI's hardware unit hired more than 400 ex-Apple staff.
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