Russia Is Planning To Beat America To Bitcoin (CLARITY Act)

0:00Earlier this week, the Russian

0:01Parliament passed a law making Bitcoin

0:03legal for foreign trade. So, the country

0:05under the heaviest sanctions regime in

0:07modern history now has a legal route for

0:09cross-border trade that runs outside of

0:12the US dollar system. And 2 days later,

0:14the United States Senate released its

0:16own version of that law, but within 6

0:18hours, the senators whose votes decide

0:20whether it passes or not said it that it

0:22wasn't good enough. While Washington

0:24spent this week arguing over who gets to

0:25sue the president, Russia quietly built

0:27a legal channel for moving money across

0:29borders without asking for the United

0:31States permission. And that may end up

0:33mattering more to Bitcoin over the next

0:35decade than anything that the Senate

0:37does in the next couple of weeks.

0:39Because this week, the president of the

0:40United States went on camera and said

0:43this.

0:43>> The United States never settles for

0:45second, and we don't under this

0:47administration, I can tell you that. You

0:49see that cuz we have the hottest country

0:51right now anywhere in the world. We live

0:52by the motto, "America first." That's

0:54what's made us very strong, and we're

0:56leading China and all other countries by

0:58a lot in AI and just about every other

1:01category, including crypto. We want to

1:03stay in front in crypto. They'd love to

1:05take that over.

1:06>> We want to stay in front. That is the

1:08sitting president framing Bitcoin as a

1:10race against China and all of our other

1:12enemies out loud on tape while the

1:15Senate spends its last two working weeks

1:17of the year fighting over who gets to

1:19enforce an ethics rule against the

1:20president who already agreed to it.

1:22Here's what nobody covering this is

1:24telling you, and it's the whole reason

1:26that I'm actually making this video.

1:27What happens in the next 15 days decides

1:30whether America writes the rules for

1:32Bitcoin or spends the next 4 years

1:35living with somebody else's. And for

1:36Bitcoin specifically, it matters far

1:39more than anyone is telling you. So, by

1:41the end of this video, you're going to

1:42understand exactly what Russia did this

1:44week, why the seven votes that decide

1:46this bill are being held over a rule

1:48that expires in 2029, and why one number

1:51in the president's own financial

1:53disclosure explains Bitcoin better than

1:55any bill that Congress could write. And

1:57you're going to understand why this

1:58could very well be the starting gun for

2:00Bitcoin's next bull market. Three

2:02things. First, what actually happened in

2:05Washington because the headline and the

2:07reality are two different stories.

2:09Second, what Russia did and why the

2:11world's most sanctioned economy just

2:13made a move that should make every

2:15American policy maker nervous. And

2:16third, the part that actually matters

2:19for your portfolio, which is what

2:21Bitcoin does regardless of which way

2:23this vote goes. Let's get into it. So, I

2:25want to give you a frame before I give

2:27you a single number because without it

2:28the next 15 minutes are just political

2:30noise. Back in June, Senator Cynthia

2:32Lummis, the woman who has been

2:33negotiating this bill since Labor Day of

2:35last year, and the woman responsible for

2:37trying to purchase 1 million Bitcoin for

2:39the US strategic Bitcoin Reserve, said

2:41something that almost nobody picked up

2:42on. She said that the Clarity Act is not

2:45the finish line. It is the starting gun.

2:48I want you to sit with that for a second

2:49because she was more right than she knew

2:51and probably not in the way that she

2:52meant it. A starting gun doesn't

2:53actually decide who wins. It doesn't

2:55decide who's fastest or who trained

2:57hardest or who's got the better shoes.

2:59All it does is tell you that the race

3:01has begun. And here's the thing about a

3:03starting gun. It fires whether or not

3:05you're at the line. And Russia heard it

3:07this week. Asia is at the blocks and the

3:09United States is still in the locker

3:11room arguing about the rule book.

3:13Remember that image because I'm going to

3:14come back to it a couple of times

3:15throughout this video and when I do,

3:17it's going to mean something completely

3:18different than it might to you right

3:19now. So, here's what actually happened

3:22and why it's so important for Bitcoin.

3:23Senate Republicans released updated text

3:25of the Clarity Act. This is the market

3:27structure bill. It's the thing that

3:28decides whether the SEC or the CFTC

3:31regulates Bitcoin and whether you have a

3:33codified legal right to actually hold

3:35your own Bitcoin and whether the last

3:36decade of regulation by enforcement

3:38actually gets replaced with actual law.

3:41The House passed its version a year ago,

3:43294 to 194, and it's been sitting in the

3:46Senate ever since. The single thing

3:48blocking it has been ethics.

3:50Specifically, whether a sitting

3:52president who personally earned more

3:54than $1.4 billion

3:56from crypto ventures in 2025 should be

3:59allowed to keep doing that. That number

4:00deserves a second glance. $1.4 billion.

4:04For context, Coinbase, the largest

4:06publicly traded crypto company in

4:08America, earned $1.6 billion in net

4:11income the same year. So, the president

4:13personally outearned the entire company.

4:16And this week, the bill was revised with

4:18ethics language in it. And guess what?

4:20The president signed off on it himself.

4:22It bans any covered individual, and that

4:24explicitly includes the president, and

4:26vice president, members of Congress, and

4:27federal judges from issuing or

4:29sponsoring a digital asset for

4:31consideration. It imposes a $250,000

4:34fine per violation per day for exchanges

4:37that list one, as well as full

4:39disgorgement of profits plus a penalty

4:41equal to 10% of everything received. So,

4:43the long and the short of it is that it

4:45basically bans politicians from issuing

4:47crypto. The Polymarket odds that the

4:49crypto the act passes this year ran all

4:51the way up to 70%. And as a result,

4:54Bitcoin jumped roughly 3% on the day

4:56yesterday. But then, that same night,

4:58seven Democrats killed momentum. And

5:01this is the part that requires you to

5:02understand one piece of Senate

5:04machinery. And I'm going to make it as

5:05painless as I can because everything

5:07downstream that's going to happen to

5:09Bitcoin over the next several months

5:10might depend on it. To pass anything in

5:12the Senate, you don't need 51 votes. You

5:15need 60. 60 votes to end debate and to

5:18get an actual vote. That procedure is

5:20called cloture. And it is the reason

5:22that almost nothing passes the Senate.

5:24Republicans don't have 60, which means

5:26that this bill needs at least seven

5:28Democrats. And the seven who were always

5:30going to be those Democrats named

5:32themselves in a joint statement opposing

5:34the bill. Angela Also Brooks, Cory

5:36Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben

5:38Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner,

5:40and Raphael Warnock. Their statement

5:42said that the Republican text, as it

5:44currently stands, falls short. And that

5:46ethics, consumer protection, illicit

5:48finance, conflicts of interest, and

5:50market integrity all have to be

5:52strengthened. Three specific problems,

5:54and each one is very real. The ethics

5:56ban has a sunset date written into it.

5:58So, the provision has no effect after

6:01noon on January 20th, 2029. It expires

6:04the day that this administration ends.

6:06And Republicans are calling that a

6:07voluntary standard the president chose

6:09to hold himself to, but Democrats are

6:11reading it as a ban with a timer on it.

6:14Second is that enforcement runs through

6:16the Department of Justice. Senator also

6:18Brookes, who is one of only two

6:19Democrats who actually voted this bill

6:21out of committee, says that she'll

6:22oppose it unless state attorney generals

6:24get concurrent authority. Senator Lummis

6:26went on Fox and explained exactly why

6:28that is a non-starter for her side. Take

6:30a listen.

6:31>> You had several Democrats yet last night

6:33voicing concerns about about the updated

6:35tax, particularly around the bill's

6:37enforcement mechanism. That places

6:39responsibility on the attorney general.

6:42Is that the issue right now?

6:43>> That is kind of a bright line. You know,

6:46we had worked until there was an impasse

6:49with Democrats earlier this month

6:51because they want state attorneys

6:54general to be able to sue elected

6:57officials that are subject to this

6:59ethics law. And so, that would allow,

7:02for example,

7:04an an attorney general from another

7:06state to sue me if they thought I

7:09violated the ethics law. So, when I ran

7:12that by senators, uh they said, "We

7:15don't want that."

7:16Uh and so, this this ethics provision is

7:20not just applicable to the president and

7:24the vice president. It's applicable to

7:26every house member, every senator, and

7:28every federal judge. So, we're trying to

7:32not plan legislation around one person

7:36who holds one office for the next 2

7:39years, but rather over time that will

7:42serve the House, the Senate, the

7:44Judiciary, and the Executive Branch in a

7:47fair way. I think uh

7:51it's going to be a struggle.

7:52>> The third is illicit financing. There's

7:54a section of the bill called the

7:55Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act,

7:57Section 604. That protects developers

8:00and node operators from being treated as

8:02unlicensed money transmitters for

8:04writing code. Senate Judiciary

8:05leadership on both sides oppose it.

8:07Backed by the National Sheriffs'

8:09Association, it survived the text drop,

8:11but unfortunately it's back on the

8:12table. So, if you add it all up, this is

8:14why the Clarity Act hasn't passed yet.

8:16Ethics is publicly rejected by the exact

8:18seven votes needed, enforcement is an

8:20open demand that hasn't been granted,

8:22and illicit finance is being attacked

8:24from three directions at once. And every

8:26one of those has to be resolved before

8:28senators leave town in just 15 days.

8:31Now, I know what some of you are

8:32thinking. Joe, this is Washington. This

8:34is process. Why are you spending 5

8:35minutes of my life on Senate floor

8:37mechanics before you actually get into

8:38the point of this video? Well, because

8:40the money on the other side of this is

8:41not small, and because the read that

8:43almost everyone has on it is wrong. The

8:46crypto industry is projected to

8:47contribute more than $55 billion to the

8:50American economy this year and support

8:51over 266,000

8:53jobs. Coinbase's vice chair went on CNBC

8:56and called it the one yard line. Goldman

8:58Sachs, the $3.6 trillion asset manager,

9:01publicly came out in support. And Mike

9:04Novogratz, the CEO of Galaxy Digital,

9:05said that Trump signs with it. Anthony

9:07Scaramucci says that if it reaches the

9:09floor, it passes. And that's because

9:11young Democrats don't want to run

9:13against pro-crypto packs in November.

9:15And here is the number that should make

9:17every politician in that building pay

9:18attention. More Americans now own

9:21Bitcoin, 18.6% than own gold at 10.8%.

9:25That is not a niche constituency

9:27anymore. That is a massive voting block

9:29during a midterm election year. So, the

9:31pressure is real, the money is real, and

9:33the deadline is extremely real. But

9:35that's the American story, and the

9:37American story is only half of what

9:39actually happened this week. While the

9:41United States spent the week arguing

9:42about who gets to sue who, Russia

9:45already signed this into law. A

9:47comprehensive framework covering

9:48exchanges, depositories, custodians, the

9:50whole apparatus. And most of it takes

9:52effect on September 1st. And here's the

9:55part that matters for you, because on

9:57its face this law looks pretty

9:58restrictive. Retail investors are capped

10:01at roughly $38,000 a year per

10:03intermediary. You still can't buy

10:04groceries with Bitcoin in Russia. Banks

10:06are banned from advertising crypto

10:08payments. So, why does any of this

10:09matter? Because of the exception that is

10:12written into it. Digital currencies,

10:14Bitcoin specifically, are explicitly

10:16permitted for settlement under foreign

10:18trade contracts between Russian

10:19residents and non-residents. Listen to

10:22that again. Retail gets a leash, but

10:24cross-border trade gets unlocked and

10:26Bitcoin is the currency underlying it.

10:29This is not just Russia embracing

10:30Bitcoin. This is Russia building a legal

10:32sanctions evasion lane and putting it

10:35into law. The European Union's April

10:37sanctions package specifically targeted

10:39Bitcoin with the EU stating plainly that

10:42Russia is becoming increasingly reliant

10:44on cryptocurrencies for international

10:45transactions. Russia's answer, 3 months

10:48later, was to make it legal. And Russia

10:50isn't alone in this.

10:51>> I'm still optimistic that if it doesn't

10:53happen by the August recess, it'll

10:55happen this year. I do think um the

10:58regulators now, with the CFTC and the

11:00SEC, can probably rule write most of

11:04what we need. The problem with rule

11:06writing is it's much more reversible

11:09than um

11:10than what you see when it joins statute.

11:12I've been spending a lot of time in

11:13Asia. I've been in Korea and Hong Kong

11:16four times in the last 9 months. They,

11:18on the one hand, been waiting for the

11:20Clarity Act. I actually think if it's

11:22not passed, you're going to see Asian

11:25local governments pass equivalents to

11:27try to catch up and even get ahead of

11:29the US. So, I'm long-term very

11:32optimistic. I just think we need, no pun

11:34intended, a lot more clarity, not just

11:36about US regulation, about global rates,

11:40and about the geopolitics.

11:42>> That was BlackRock, the world's largest

11:44asset manager, saying the quiet part on

11:45camera. If America stalls, Asia passes

11:49its own version and moves ahead, like we

11:50just saw in Russia, and we're about to

11:52see in China. Sooner or later, every

11:55country writes Bitcoin legislation into

11:57law. They embrace the currency. And the

11:59country that writes it first sets the

12:01terms that everyone else has to live

12:02with. That is the starting gun. It's

12:04already been fired. Russia moved this

12:06week. Asia is at the blocks getting

12:08ready, and the most powerful legislature

12:10on Earth has just 15 days and cannot

12:13agree on who enforces an ethics rule

12:15that expires in 2029, anyway. So, real

12:17quick, before you go any further, I want

12:19to know where you guys land on this.

12:20Drop one word in the comments. If you

12:22think that the Clarity Act passes before

12:23the August recess, comment pass. But if

12:26you think that it dies on the calendar

12:27yet again, comment nope. One word, I

12:30read all of these, and I'm genuinely

12:32curious how this audience is

12:33handicapping it. Because the prediction

12:34markets and the people actually in

12:36Washington are miles apart right now.

12:38And while you're down there, if you're

12:40getting value out of this, hit

12:41subscribe, drop a like, and turn on

12:42notifications. It helps the channel a

12:44ton, and it's the only reason I get to

12:45keep making these. Okay, now, back to

12:47it. Now, for the part you actually came

12:49for. I'm not just going to tell you what

12:51this means for Bitcoin, I'm going to

12:52show you the receipts. Because there's a

12:55chart that settles this argument

12:56completely, and almost nobody puts it

12:58next to a regulatory story. Take a look

13:00at this chart right here. This is the

13:01five-year performance of Bitcoin against

13:03every other major digital asset. As you

13:06can see, Bitcoin is up 81% over five

13:08years, and literally everything else on

13:10that chart is down. Many of them down

13:1280, 90, and in some cases nearly 100%.

13:15Now, hold that chart in your head, and

13:17go back to the ethics fight that we just

13:19spent six minutes on. What is that fight

13:22actually about? Well, it's about the

13:23president earning $1.4 billion. dollars.

13:25where did that money come from? Roughly

13:27594 million from World Liberty

13:30Financial, 636 million from a meme coin

13:32booked as royalties on a licensing

13:34agreement, and 197 million from a stable

13:37coin holding company. 1.5 million

13:40wallets bought that meme coin. Two out

13:42of three are underwater. And if you

13:43combine the realized and the paper

13:45losses on it, that's 3.8 billion dollars

13:48after it fell roughly 97% from its high.

13:51And across every single wallet that ever

13:53touched it, winners and losers together,

13:55the entire group is net positive about

13:57236 million. Well, the president

14:00reported 636 million from it. The token

14:03generated nearly three times as much for

14:05one person as it did for every buyer on

14:07Earth combined. Now, here's the part

14:09that got almost no coverage, and it's

14:11the number that I promised you at the

14:12start of this video. That same

14:14disclosure showed that the president

14:15also holds more than 50 million dollars

14:18of Bitcoin in a cold wallet. So, think

14:20about those two things side by side. The

14:22tokens that he launched, printed out of

14:24nothing, made him a billion dollars and

14:26cost retail 3.8 billion, but the Bitcoin

14:28that he holds, he just holds in cold

14:30storage, same as you, because there's

14:32nothing to launch. There's no pre-mine,

14:34there's no insider allocation, no

14:35licensing deal. There is no version of

14:38Bitcoin where somebody prints more of it

14:39and sells it to you. There's a whole

14:41phrase for what this whole ethics fight

14:43is actually about and why we're falling

14:45behind the rest of the world when it

14:46comes to Bitcoin. And once you have it,

14:48you're going to see it everywhere. And

14:49that is issuer risk. Issuer risk is the

14:51danger that comes from the fact that

14:53somebody controls the supply of the

14:55thing you own. Somebody can make more.

14:57Somebody knows things that you don't.

14:59Somebody decides when to sell. Every

15:01single asset with an issuer carries it.

15:02Stocks have it. Bonds have it. Every

15:04fiat currency on Earth has it, and every

15:07crypto token launched by a president, a

15:09celebrity, a founder, all of them have

15:11it in the most concentrated form.

15:13Bitcoin is the one monetary asset with

15:16no issuer at all. And that is what this

15:18entire 15-day fight is about. And

15:20nobody's saying it plainly. Congress is

15:22trying to write the rules governing what

15:24happens when powerful people can create

15:26assets out of nothing and sell them to

15:28you. That is a real and serious problem

15:30and requires real and serious law.

15:33But Bitcoin solved it in 2009 by not

15:35having anyone who could do that in the

15:37first place. By the way, I run a

15:39community for serious Bitcoin investors

15:40called the Hard Money Room. Weekly live

15:42discussions with me plus a live

15:44dashboard I built that scores exactly

15:46where we are in the cycle. Link for that

15:47is at the top of the description. And

15:49now for a quick word from this show's

15:50sponsor, skip ahead to this timestamp if

15:52you'd like. You know how I feel. I don't

15:54think that you should be selling your

15:56Bitcoin, but sometimes you need cash.

15:58You got a bill, a tax hit, an

15:59opportunity, and that's why I teamed up

16:01with Salt. Instead of selling, you

16:03borrow against your Bitcoin. No credit

16:05checks and you keep it every sat. These

16:07guys are the original Bitcoin back

16:09lenders since 2016. Battle-tested

16:11through every cycle and still standing

16:13while a lot of crypto lenders blew up. I

16:15worked out an exclusive deal just for

16:17you. A rate discount on a new loan plus

16:19a free Bitcoin borrowing playbook at

16:21saltlending.com/show. That's Never sell,

16:24borrow against it. And if you want to

16:26retire soon, but you're unsure how to

16:27manage volatility, avoid selling

16:31Bitcoin, and draw income from your

16:33portfolio, you don't have to wing your

16:35retirement or settle for some trad-fi

16:37guy that just doesn't get it. Because

16:38Stronghold was built for retiring

16:40Bitcoiners like you. Picture heading

16:42into retirement with an advisor who

16:44shares your worldview, a plan designed

16:46around your Bitcoin, and a portfolio

16:48strategy that adapts to the current

16:49market regime. So, no matter what

16:51Bitcoin does next, your retirement is

16:54built for it. Book a free discovery call

16:55at stronghold.net/show. Go to

16:57stronghold.net/show.

16:59Special thanks to Salt and Stronghold

17:01for sponsoring the video. And now, back

17:03to the show. So, what does this actually

17:04mean for the Bitcoin in your portfolio

17:07over the next 2 weeks and the rest of

17:08the year? Let me be honest with you in a

17:10way that most people covering this won't

17:12be. If clarity passes before August 7th,

17:14it's genuinely a good thing. Banks get a

17:16clearer path to custody Bitcoin, execute

17:19trades, and integrate it into lending

17:20and prime brokerage. Institutions that

17:22dipped a toe get regulatory scaffolding

17:25to commit fully to the asset. And most

17:27importantly, it replaces rules that flip

17:30with every administration with actual

17:32law, which is much harder to reverse.

17:35But if it fails, comprehensive federal

17:36Bitcoin regulation slides to September

17:39and realistically to 2027 given the

17:41midterms. The SEC and CFTC keep making

17:44policy through rule making instead of

17:46actual law, which makes it reversible

17:48and temporary and prevents a lot of

17:50people from buying Bitcoin and building

17:52infrastructure around it. Here is the

17:54admission that I will make and it's very

17:56real. That difference matters enormously

17:58for exchanges, for stablecoin issuers,

18:00for tokenization platforms, for the

18:02entire regulated crypto complex. If you

18:05hold CoinDesk or Circle stock, the next

18:0715 days are one of the biggest binary

18:09events over your year. But for Bitcoin,

18:12you got to understand what's actually on

18:13the table. Bitcoin is already treated as

18:15a commodity by the United States

18:16government. It already has regulated

18:18futures. It already has spot ETFs. The

18:21CFTC has already been building the

18:23plumbing anyway, legalizing perpetual

18:25futures and clearing the way for Bitcoin

18:27to be posted as margin collateral. None

18:29of which required a single vote in the

18:31Senate. So, the Clarity Act doesn't

18:33decide whether Bitcoin is legal. It just

18:35decides how comfortable a bank feels

18:37holding it. So, three forces are

18:39converging here and none of them are on

18:40the Senate calendar.

18:42Number one is sovereign competition.

18:43Russia legislated Bitcoin this week.

18:45Asia moves next and every jurisdiction

18:47that writes these rules pulls Bitcoin

18:49further from any single government's

18:51control, which is the entire point of

18:53the asset. Number two is the ownership

18:55base. 18.6% of Americans hold Bitcoin,

18:58more than gold. That happened without

19:00federal market structure legislation.

19:02Every year that number grows regardless

19:04of what Washington D.C. does. So, the

19:06political cost of moving against that

19:09rises, making legislation inevitable. If

19:11it doesn't happen this year, it's going

19:12to happen at some point. And number

19:14three, the issuance problem is permanent

19:16and the solution is already deployed.

19:19Every ethics fight, every insider

19:21trading bill, which they also just

19:22passed by the way, every conflict of

19:24interest hearing is the government

19:25slowly discovering that assets with

19:27issuers inherently create corruption.

19:30Bitcoin's answer to that has been

19:31running every 10 minutes since January

19:332009 and newsflash, it doesn't require

19:35anyone's permission or anyone's vote.

19:38Nobody is coming to save Bitcoin. Not

19:40this bill, not a strategic reserve, not

19:42an ETF approval, not a rate cut, not a

19:44president. The asset has to survive on

19:46its own merits, get bought for what it

19:48actually is, and climb from there.

19:50That's exactly how it's always worked.

19:52That's how it worked in 2015, in 2019,

19:54in 2023, and every single time the

19:57people waiting for permission missed the

19:59move entirely. And I'd argue it's

20:01actually the most bullish structural

20:03fact about Bitcoin. Every other asset in

20:06this space needs Washington. It needs

20:08lawmakers to come in and support it.

20:11Bitcoin is the only one that doesn't.

20:12I'll show that chart up on screen again.

20:14The proof is in the performance. The

20:16market has spent two years waiting for

20:18permission, but permission was never the

20:20constraint. And the moment that enough

20:22buyers figure that out is the moment

20:24that Bitcoin finally moves. And nothing

20:26on the Senate calendar is going to tell

20:28you when that happens. Lawmakers and

20:30regulators have always been playing

20:31catch up to Bitcoin, but Bitcoin

20:33continues producing a block every 10

20:35minutes. Nothing can stop it. Senator

20:37Lummis was right. This is not the finish

20:39line. It is the starting gun. But here's

20:42what she missed and here's what I need

20:43you to take away from this video.

20:45Bitcoin didn't wait for the gun. It's

20:48been running since 2009 through four

20:50administrations, from $0 all the way to

20:52$1.5 trillion in value, through two SEC

20:55chairs who tried to kill it, and a

20:56decade of regulation by enforcement.

20:59Russia can legislate, Asia can

21:00legislate, the Senate can fail to

21:02legislate for the fourth year running,

21:03but Bitcoin still works. That's the

21:06entire point. The race that everyone is

21:08watching in Washington is a race to

21:10catch up to something that is already

21:12won. If you want the deeper macro

21:14picture underneath all of this, go and

21:15watch my last video on the business

21:17cycle turning and what that actually

21:18means for where Bitcoin bottoms. You

21:20could watch that one next and I'll see

21:21you over there. Channel members also got

21:23this video early, so hit the join button

21:25down below to support the channel and

21:26become a member. And if you haven't

21:27already, subscribe to the channel and

21:29hit the bell to get notified whenever a

21:30new video goes live and join the hard

21:32money room at the link in the video

21:33description. I'll see you in the next

21:35one.